Cover Image Property of PUBLISHER
This image was scanned from my private collection

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • About the Author- A Note From Sparrow
  • Introduction
  • Introduction:
    • Why should you learn tatting?
    • A Note for Lefties
  • Materials:
    • Choosing a Shuttle
    • All About Thread
  • Lesson I:
    • Winding the Shuttle
    • Holding the Shuttle
    • Making the First Half
    • Making the Second Half
  • Lesson 2:
    • Flipping the Stitch
  • Why We Flip the Stitch
  • Troubleshooting the flip
  • Lesson 3
  • Lesson 4
  • Finishing Your Work:
    • The Right Knots
    • Sewing in Ends: Method 1
    • Sewing in Ends: Method 2
    • Blocking
  • How to Read Patterns:
    • Reading Written Instructions
    • Reading Visual Instructions
  • Practice Patterns
  • Advanced Techniques for Beginners:
    • Continuous Thread Method
    • Front Side/Back Side Tatting
    • Using Two Shuttles: Sparrow's Method
    • Reverse Chains & Rings
  • Advanced Practice Patterns

Title: Frivolite: the complete beginner's guide to shuttle tatted lace
Author/Designer: Sparrow Kelley
Format/Publication Date: TPB:2024
Publisher: Self, Wapakoneta, OH
Page Count: 48
Book Dimensions(ht. x w.): 11" x 8 1/2"
ISBN: 9781300722014

SUMMARY- This is a well laid out and thorough book on the basics of tatting. They give you a lot of useful information and no bad information - even their attempt at explaining what we know about the origins of tatting admits we don't really Know know. I'm really hard on the beginner's books, because that is how I learned how to tat when I was about sixteen. It took me about a year of stubborn determination to finally figure out the flip and closing a ring just from the books I was able to find. This was before the internet, so now there are a great many fantastic video tutorials available teaching a lot of different methods for this craft. Finding what works for you is so much easier now. The only notable hole I saw in their instructions was reading the older patterns, which didn't have diagrams and definitely weren't well broken down or include symbolic notation - but that is a really miniscule quibble. I think if I had had Ms. Kelley's book when I was sixteen, I'd have learned the basics with a lot less frustration and time spent. I can't think of any higher praise than that.

Author has a website: www.lady-lace.blogspot.com