Victorian Tatting the Weldon’s Way: Square Medallion

Weldon’s Practical Needlework houses a wealth of information on Victorian tatting. Here’s our 17th installment in this series from Weldon’s Practical Needlework,Volume 4.The following are instructions for how to tat a “Square Medallion.” The material is reproduced here just as it appeared in England in 1889. No alterations or corrections were made.

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Illustrations from _Weldon’s Practical Needlework_, Volume 4.

SQUARE MEDALLION

This is a pretty small medallion, useful for a variety of purposes; it is worked with two threads. Fill the shuttle, and make a loop on the fingers with the shuttle thread, do 8 double stitches, 1 picot, 6 double, l picot, 3 double, and draw up; make a loop close, do 3 double, join to the last picot in the oval just worked, 2 double and 1 picot alternately six times, 3 double, draw up; make a loop close, do 3 double, join to the last picot in the last oval, 6 double, 1 picot, 8 double, and draw up; you now have a corner of three ovals or leaves resembling a trefoil; reverse the work, take the reel thread and make with it a loop round the fingers, and work a bar of 10 double stitches; * reverse the work, make a loop with the shuttle thread, do 8 double, join to the last picot in the last oval, 6 double, 1 picot, 3 double, draw up; make a loop close, do 3 double, join to the last picot in last oval, 2 double and l picot alternately six times, 3 double, draw up; make a loop close, do 3 double, join to the last picot in last oval, 6 double, 1 picot, 8 double, and draw up; reverse the work, take the reel thread and make a loop, and work a bar of 10 double stitches, repeat from *; join the last leaf of he fourth trefoil to the first leaf of the first trefoil, and when the square is complete, cut the cotton, and tie the ends securely in a knot. When working successive squares, join by the corner picots, or the picots next to the corner, to the corresponding picots in the squares already worked.

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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 piecework@longthreadmedia.com.

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