My Great Aunt's Tatting

On one of the on-line groups that I belong to, there has been some discussion about old table linen. I mentioned that I had a tatted doiley that my Great Aunt had done & I promised a pic, so here it is. My mother had this piece in her collection for many years before she gave it to me. I have had it in my possession now for nearly 30 years so it was made quite some time ago. Considering my dear old Aunt would be well over the century mark in age if she were still alive, I consider this piece very colourful for her generation. I am not sure if she planned the colour in the piece, or if it was just made from scraps of left-over thread, but I personally find it very inspiring.

I have my Great Aunt to thank (I think) for my interest in lace. Little packages used to arrive in the mail for my Mum, & inside would be little pieces of tatting. As a young teenager they had me intrigued & I asked my Mum to teach how to tat. When she said "no", I had to ask "why not?" & the answer promptly came back that she did not know how to tat herself. So I was given a "how to tat" book, a tatting shuttle & some thread to figure it out for myself. I sort of did but knew I was doing something wrong. It was about 6 years later I finally learned properly. Although I have now mastered the tatting knots, I very rarely tat. It is extremey slow & I think I would much rater have a needle in my hand. Maybe one day I might learn how to needle-tat.