Victorian Tatting the Weldon’s Way: How to Commence a Circle

Weldon’s Practical Needlework houses a wealth of information on Victorian tatting. Here’s our tenth installment in this series fromWeldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4. The following are instructions for how to commence a circle. The material is reproduced here just as it appeared in England in 1889. No alterations or corrections were made.

Illustrations from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4.

Fig. 17.—HOW TO COMMENCE A CIRCLE. MAKE a loop on the fingers with the shuttle thread, and work 1 double, 1 picot and 2 double alternately seven times, 1 picot, 1 double, and draw up perfectly close and round. Hold the ring downwards between the thumb and finger, and with a pin draw the cotton up in a loop through the first picot of the ring, pass the shuttle through the loop and draw up in a slip knot, like a join; now make a loop on the fingers, and beginning ⅛ of an inch away from the knot, do 4 double, l picot, 2 double, 1 picot and 2 double alternately three times, 1 picot, 4 double, and draw up; * with the pin draw the cotton up in a loop through the next picot of the ring with ⅛ of inch space of cotton from the oval, pass the shuttle through the loop and draw up in a slip knot or join; make a loop on the fingers and beginning ⅛ of an inch from the knot, do 4 double, join to the last picot of the previous oval, 2 double and l picot four times, 4 double, and draw up; repeat from * six times, and you will have 8 ovals worked round the ring; in working the last oval, when you get to the last picot, you must connect the circle by joining the cotton to the first picot of the first oval, finish with 4 double stitches, and draw up close, and tie the end of the cotton securely to the tag end left at the commencement of the circle.

Find out more about tatting in our video download Shuttle Tatting with master tatter Georgia Seitz.

Featured Image: Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4, offers up a wealth of information on Victorian tatting.