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UPDATE ARCHIVE for 2017

November 30th, 2017:

If you haven't heard about "TAT A BRUSSELS MOMUNENT" for the World Lace Congress in August of 2018 taking place in Brussels, here's the link: http://www.canarithy.be/cinema . If you are a tatter, I hope you will participate! This is a very ambitious project and will need all the support it can get. Many hands make light work...



If you need to contact me, use "akamoraih[at]gmail[dot]com" and you know to replace the "[at]" and "[dot]" with the appropriate symbols, right? Spammers look for those symbols when trolling for addresses to try - hence the shallow encryption. There's a mailing address on the contact page now, if you need to mail me stuff, and if you're having trouble figuring out the incryption, I'm fairly active now on www.Craftree.com under the name Moraih. I enthusiastically encourage people to check it out!

October 20th, 2017:

With the help of the stellar scholar Becky Clark, organizer of data without peer, we have reorganized and cleaned up all the pages for American Thread Company, Coats & Clark, and Lily Mills Company. Becky patiently searched out and filled in titles for booklets, and even found some that had on-line pdfs available! I will continue to add those links as I find time. I'm also working on writing a history for each of these companies to try and do justice to all the work and hours that Becky poured into this project. I think the updated pages provide a clearer picture of these three thread company's publications, and if there's a particular discipline you care about, it should be easier to compile a list of titles to search for. I believe that a healthy library to support your particular craft and fuel your creativity and inspire you are an essential part of any discipline. Have a bat-tastic Halloween, and if you need help finding something in particular, all you need do is ask! Happy, Happy Leigh, signing off...

September 2nd, 2017:

I have completed cataloging all the Piecework Magazine issues that I have - that's only roughly half of them. I've compiled a list of all the tatting articles I've cataloged so far and placed it below the review for reference. If you have any interest in history and quality patterns at all, Piecework Magazine is for you. So if you haven't subscribed, get thee to their website: https://www.interweave.com/needlework/ And for those of you who aren't aware, Interweave Press provides SEARCHABLE INDEXES of their periodicals. I've put these links on the catalog page and in their stubs on the bib pages. I'm a big fan of searchable databases. So far as I can tell, Interweave Press is the only publishing house who bothers to do this. They deserve our support for so many reasons, but this one is also a biggy! And no, this is not a paid solicitation. They don't know me from Adam. I just think excellence should be enthusiastically applauded and rewarded.

I'm starting McCall's Needlework and Crafts next...

August 18th, 2017:

Sytske( Antique Pattern Library ) has obtained permission to digitize and make available all the back issues of "Workbasket"! I'll be helping with this project.

I have completed cataloging all the Modern Priscilla that I have - that's only roughly half of them. I've compiled a list of all the tatting articles and placed it below the review for reference. Since they are no longer under copyright, I am creating pdfs of all those articles and will imbed links to access them in that list and within the catalog so they can be accessed at will by anyone who has an interest! This is going to take me some time, however, as I will be working on it while trying to finish other tasks as well. If you need a particular article, please e-mail me and I'll move it to the top of my TO DO list for you.

I'm diving into "Piecework" next, but don't have many issues after 2004.

I've completed the catalog of issues for Soft Dolls & Animals. I'm very sad to see it go. It has been a great pleasure and inspiration to me. Thank you, Scott Publications, for many wonderful years.


July 19th, 2017:

The Bead & Button catalog is done! I'm still missing a small handful of issues from last year, but it is otherwise complete and up to date as of this writing.

I'm still waiting for our next guild meeting to borrow a run of "Pieceworks", so I'll be cataloging more of Modern Priscilla while I'm waiting. I still only have roughly half the issues, so if you come across any bargains, please get in touch...


June 11th, 2017:

I came across a small handful of two tatting newsletters I had previously not heard of and took a brief break from the "Bead & Button" cataloging to set up pages for them and catalog what few I had: Lacemaking Today and Lace Magazine of the World

The "Bead & Button" cataloging is moving apace(I'm up to issue 80), but it is getting less and less interesting as they become formulaic and less interested in anything that isn't seed beads, glass art beads and crystal beads. I particularly am missing the long running "Origin" series of articles that covered the history of certain types of beads and buttons...

I've been asked twice in the recent past about cataloging "Pieceworks", so I'll move onto that next once I've finished the B&Bs. At one point Interweave Press had a nice searchable index of their issues, but that has apparently disappeared. Anyone know why?


May 20th, 2017:

I'm making progress on cataloging a full run(except for a couple of recent issues) of "Bead & Button", but the really exciting news comes once again through the spectacular super-powers of Becky Clark! She knew I've had trouble finding out more about a group of fiber artists who began publishing in the 1910s on my "TO DO" list for a long time, but have been too busy with the cataloging to really pursue it - so she used her geneology super-powers to not only find out a whole lot about them, but found the great granddaughter of none other than Mary E. Fitch! Sharon not only graciously shared an article she wrote on her great grandmother, but shared some spectacular photos that I hope I've done justice by. If you have javascript disabled, you may wish to enable it for the slideshow. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Becky Clark and Sharon Heim for sharing!


April 28th, 2017:

I've completed cataloging the issues I have of Creative Crafts and Canada's marvelous Craft's Plus. I'm missing a lot of issues from both runs, so I'm hoping going ahead and getting the catalog started on both will nudge someone into filling in some of the holes. My goal this year is to get as much of my backlog of magazines catalogued as I am able to wedge into each day. The more I get done, the more widely useful it will be to everyone! I've had a scattering of information requests from as far away as Scotland, Australia and Hong Kong this past week, along with all the usual 'local' requests. I got to make one lady extremely happy by unearthing a couple of articles about her grandmother, who was an exquisite doll maker. Connecting people to our history really jazzes me. It makes all this work worthwhile!


April 1st, 2017:

HAPPY TATTING DAY to everyone!!! I'm still working dilligently on some test tatting for a friend, and on cleaning up some scans of an antique German tatting book I'm converting to a PDF file. Cleaning up the front cover took a good bit of time, and the back cover is taking about three times that, but I'm almost there... I'll be at our local Lace Day at the Seymour Center in Chapel Hill, NC all day, celebrating all laces with my local guild.

MARCH 22nd, 2017:

Thank you to an anonymous donor for her donation of a big stack of The Bulletin back issues! Her generosity allowed me to fill in quite a bit more of the catalog for that title.

MARCH 4th, 2017:

March has started off with a bang! Hope Wright has donated her bibliographies of antique tatting books to the Bibliography Project, along with a listing of ALL the tatting references in the famous Godey's Lady's Book !!!

FEBRUARY 1st, 2017:

I've nearly finished cataloging what I have of Women's Household magazine - another Tower Press periodical that published the occasional tatting pattern, and had many doll articles, including a short run of paper dolls by R Lane Herron! The tatting patterns were mostly by the amazing Myrtle M. Hamilton.

JANUARY 1st, 2017:

When I started the Bibliography Project, it was with full blown fury at the Library of Congress and the systemic wrong that had been perpetrated on 53% of the U.S. population for over 200 years. I am still furious, but now I have hope, and that was never there before. I started this knowing full well it was a hopeless task, and considered myself just another sadly deluded person tilting at Windmills because I saw dragons. I did it anyway, because some dragons have to be slain, imaginary or not. Thank you for riding along with me, my friends. It has given me more than I can ever repay.

Who knew I'd get so far? It wasn't done alone. I've gotten so much enouragement, made friends, and found fellow enthusiasts who have contributed a great deal of time, materials and badly needed expertise in computer skills, foreign languages, historical knowledge and social skills. I am deeply grateful and love you all. So "I" is no longer really applicable. It's really "we", and we have all accomplished so very much. Just discovering there have been more than a thousand tatting books put into print over the last 150 years was a revelation none of us could have imagined. That knowledge had never been gathered all in one place before. We still wouldn't know this without all of your help.

2016 was a milestone year, whether anyone realizes it or not. A woman was appointed Director of the Library of Congress for the FIRST TIME since it's creation in 1800. Librarian has been one of the few professions where women have traditionally found a niche, so isn't it amazing that our national library has been exclusively a men's club for 215 contiguous years? I wonder if that has any connection to the fact that the LoC cannot be concerned with "women's hobbies?" I think it very likely. I do not expect our new director to work miracles, or for the culture of this national edifice to magically heal in three years or thirty. But a crack has been made in the poorly laid and far too small foundation, and natural erosion will inevitably take place. The damage was done from the very beginning. That damage is permanent. But we can hope that the next 200 years will bring the Library of Congress more in line with its promise to the American people. It was meant to conserve our history and culture through printed medium - all our history and culture, and not just what has been important to a small club of men. In the meantime, we all work to build a better foundation for that missing wing of our cultural heritage. 2017 is our next dragon, my friends. The LoC has been the windmill we've been tilting at for 15 years, and the foundation has cracked! Huzzah! We shall slay this dragon yet! And may we all find peace in the clearing at the end of our paths, and know joy in the journey there.

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