Hats & Tats

Some photos from the Autumn Hat Exhibition last Sunday at Yuga Cafe - was lots of fun & there were lots and lots of Hats!

And that's the piano I played:  do hope everyone heard all the good notes and that no-one heard the mistakes!

And Now to the Tat tat tatty tat - Tatting

I'm going to be teaching how to tat this week so a good time to get out the threads and dust off those shuttles ...




They say that tatting developed from net-making - fishing nets that is and I guess that does make sense. 






It is an easy form of lace-making that was very popular in the 1930s & 40s ... I really can't understand why it is not more popular now.

I like to make lace edgings ... not sure what I'll put these on though the pink would look nice on a pretty frock for my granddaughter.
In 2008 I tatted about 5m of mauve lace for this 'Munchkin' costume ... can you see it on the Jabot and at the cuff?

My Munchkin was Quite a Dandy

I don't usually use tatting to make motifs and this butterfly was the first time I'd used beads on the thread.  The beads weren't difficult though I had problems with the slippery metallic thread and my picots are quite un-even! 

Tut tut Tat tat








As I'm going to be teaching How to Tat I was looking at the diagrams in all my books - they seem to leave out half the 'moves' - so I looked at some YouTube clips but there the hands move so fast ... I'm not sure I could learn from them. 

So, being an inveterate DIY person I've decided to Do It Myself and make a set of How to Tat notes with LOTS of photos to show every step.  Last night we set the camera on a tri-pod and my hubby darling took oodles of photos ...  now to put them together with some words...

Oh but my poor old hands look so wrinkly and old.  Sigh! I used to be proud of having pretty hands!  Guess they've done a lot of work though.   I'll just have to be proud of having hands that can Do & Make things ... and have the wrinkles and age-spots to prove it!

Some of my bits are on Display!

What an exhibitionist!

And what a busy week it has been ... I've a bit of costume-sewing work at the moment AND I've been helping out back-stage at this year's Theatre Costume Showcase at Ultimo TAFE so I've been doing 12+ hour days and all at full-pace with not a moment to sneeze!

Part of the Showcase is an exhibition in 'The Muse' and the Munchkin costume I made last year is on display with all the other Munchkins.

Our Munchkins were full-grown adults walking on their knees, hence the over-sized foam 'shoes'. My Munchkin was an over-weight dandy c.1810 so he had a 'fat-suit', mad baggy trousers (lots of ribbon etc sewn into stripes), vest, tail coat, towering high collar with shirt frill and cravat (tied in the 'Romantic' manner) also mauve knitted gloves, a walking stick and a purple top hat.

The mauve lace on the shirt frills is tatting - I did most of it while on the bus to work and got lots of stares!

The Showcase exhibition is free and well worth a visit - with lots of fabulous work on display. Munchkins, Crinolines, Tutus ... and some spectacular Major Works.





AND today was the opening of The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef at the Powerhouse (just up the road from The Muse!).

An amazing gathering of creativity and it really does look like coral reef. Had great fun trying to find my small contributions ...








Unfortunately I can't claim the gorgeous pink 'nautilus' but one of my corals is underneath it.