Weldon’s Practical Needlework houses a wealth of information on Victorian tatting. Here’s our fourteenth installment in this series fromWeldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4. The following are instructions for how to tat an “Eyelet Edging.” The material is reproduced here just as it appeared in England in 1889. No alterations or corrections were made.
_ EYELET EDGING._
THIS is worked with Evans’ No. 16 crochet cotton, with the shuttle thread only. Make a loop on the fingers, work 2 double, l picot, 4 double, l picot, 4 double, 1 picot, 2 double, and draw up; reverse the work, make a loop, do 3 double, 1 picot and 2 double alternately ten times, l picot, 3 double, and draw up; * reverse the work, make a loop, work 2 double, join to the last. picot of the first eyelet, 4 double, 1 picot, 4 double, 1 picot, 2 double, draw up; reverse, make a loop, do 3 double, join to the last picot of the large oval. 3 double, 1 picot, 3 double, 1 picot, 3 double, draw up; reverse, make a loop, work 2 double, join to the last picot of the previous eyelet, 4 double, 1 picot, 4 double, 1 picot, 2 double, draw up; reverse, make a loop, do 3 double, join to the last picot of the small oval, 2 double, 1 picot and 2 double alternately nine times, 1 picot, 3 double, draw up; repeat from • , leaving a space of about ⅛ of an inch of cotton between each loop. For the foundation, crochet 2 chain and 1 double alternately in the picots along the top of the edging.
If you missed any part of this series on Victorian tatting fromWeldon’s, you can catch up on all of the blog posts here. Find out more about tatting in our video download Shuttle Tatting with master tatter Georgia Seitz. If you have created any items from this series, we would love to see them. Please email us at [email protected].