7/100 MC
The thread here is some of the vintage sample that Ladytats sent to me.
It is wonderful to work with and feels like silk.
Seems that I have tatted the same Jennifer Williams design that Frivole also tatted today! Here is mine. I really like this pattern because of the Josephine Knots to which I am very partial and the double picots.
******
Speaking of double - a little anecdote...
Remember these?
These photos depict the dollar store hankies that I tatted edgings for, using a Karey Solomon and a Bessie Attenborough pattern, respectively.
Seems the two people I gave them to are not at all enamoured with tatted hankies! I watched their faces when I gave them the hankies; the hankies were small surprise gifts for these two friends of the family. The women looked mystified and then - it appeared to me - slightly horrified!
Goes to show you - you have to be very careful to whom you gift these things! I had thought they would be delighted, as they travel to hot countries and they could have popped these little cotton numbers in their handbags, just to have like a kleenex... oh well!
Live and learn. I was so uncomfortable with their reaction - gave them at the same time, so the effect was double! It was one of those situations where you mentally scramble to find a new topic immedietely, to take the emphasis of the situation immedietely. Ohhhhh..... : (
Afterthought: You must understand; these are wonderful women! I love them - and I am certain they would be appalled at my emotional outburst here!
I imagine that this form of artistic expression just leaves them cold. Nothing wrong with that. My reaction was reasonable, but I was foolish to subject myself to tatting-rejection in the first instance. Perhaps I should have asked before I gave them the packages if they liked tatting and would enjoy receiving it. Then there would have been choice.
Oh phew! They don't know what they're turning their noses up on! I think they're beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely motif by the way.
Oh no! Some people just do not appreciate hand work. I've had to train my in-laws about how much work goes into handmade scarves, bookmarks, etc. so that they can appreciate not only the finished product but also the time I spent working on something for them.
ReplyDeleteYour motif is beautiful!! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd apparently the recipients of those gifts just didn't know what treasures they received!! :)
How disappointing. I love hankies, and if I were the recipient, you would be embarrassed by my gushing!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to have to go back to Jennifer Williams site soon. I love what you and Frivole have been doing!
I love this new motif. It does look slightly different in the different colours and the orientation of the shape! How interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, what a shame about the hankies. Perhaps it's not the tatting, could be the idea of receiving hankies? I know we are discouraged from giving hankies as it has a negative connotation. According to what I hear... when someone presents a hankie, it spells the end of a friendship, or something to mourn about.
Don't feel bad. I'm sure your friends appreciate the kind thought of a handmade gift.
It's true that not everyone appreciates handwork these days. Or that might not even be the problem. Hankies aren't everyone's thing either. They may simply be wondering what you expect them to do with them, since, in many people's minds, surely one wouldn't blow one's nose on something so pretty.
ReplyDeleteJennifer's patterns look interesting!!! You are having a fun time. Your hankies look beautiful. I love the edging pattern on the left. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that's why we have the expression "casting pearls before swine"- not that you love your recipients any the less, but perhaps tatted gifts need to be restricted to the cognoscenti. It's one of the very best things about belonging to a tatting group!
ReplyDeleteI love your handkerchiefs, have done since I first saw them on your blog.
And finally - did you know that Jennifer Williams has a whole book of Christmas tatting patterns? I didn't buy it last year, but I am considering the purchase this Christmas.
I think your hankies are very pretty. But use means laundering and actually ironing. that might have been the thought... "now where is my iron?"....
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you like the thread. It was simply sitting in my stash, and now it is being used. I am so glad, and I am sure my grandmother is pleased too.
I'm glad that Jennifer Williams's patterns are coming to more notice. I discovered them a couple of months ago, did blog and put a link to her site, but didn't create any ripples. I think her patterns are great.
ReplyDeleteIt's embarrassing when you realise that a gift is way off the mark. Someone else would've loved them.
Your little motif looks beautiful and gorgeous colours,
ReplyDeleteI think I would feel the same as you, but we must be aware that not everyone likes homemade items and will treasure them like we do, some people just don't understand how much work went into making the edging and how long it takes you to make it, plus of course the cost of the thread etc. don't take it to heart when they get home and look at your present they may change their minds.
The hankies look gorgeous
Margaret
Honestly Fox, the same motif twice? What is it about great minds?... :-))
ReplyDeleteAbout the hankies though, the reaction I often get from people is "what - you wipe your nose with it and put it back in your pocket??!". But as you said, I then tell them that you can just use them to wipe your brow if you wish or clean your glasses or dry your hands... so many uses for such a wonderful item - how could anyone not be happy with such a gift!
I honestly thought that because they travel where it is HOT, they would like to have the cotton in their gear. I was so startled by the strange reaction that I wanted to just get away from the topic - so no questions were asked about the reaction. One day I may inquire...
DeleteFox ; )
Forgot to say on the JW motif: your picots are a better length, did you use a 1cm gauge? And yours is creatively four-sided instead of five and one more thing: the thread is really beautiful, I like the gentle colour changes.
ReplyDeleteI like your handkerchiefs, they're very pretty. But, as others have commented, not everyone likes the same things. Which is one of the reasons I sell my work rather than give it away.
ReplyDeleteMarilee - I tat those hankies for the sheer enjoyment of it and I love to give things away. If I could sell the hankies, perhaps I would, the market for hand-tatted hankies is very small I think! Usually the recipients - in fact all of the people I have given them to - have really appreciated the gift, so I did not hesitate to bring these two along when I went visiting. You just never know!
DeleteFox : )
How very disappointing to present a hand-embellished gift and not have the anticipated reaction! I think your hankies are beautiful! And your JW motif is so pretty in that thread.
ReplyDeleteFrivole, I used a 1 3/4 inch gauge. And, I am tatting it again with 5 points!
ReplyDeleteFox ; ))
Thank you everyone! I did enjoy these comments about hankies as gifts... It is interesting to hear what you all said.
ReplyDeleteFox : ))
You know, it might be the fabric and not the lace that left them cold. Personally I don't care for print hankies. I love the lace, but I'd really, really, really love it on a solid coloured fabric. I have a tatted plain white hanky with a white edging that I use for tear jerker events like weddings and funerals because tissues just don't cut it. I tatted a floral hanky for my sister and she has it displayed on her hutch in the dining room under her vintage china teacups so that the lace shows, but the plain white one with the blue tatting she actually uses. Giving something that you spent hours on to unappreciative people can be a slap in the face. Been there, got the fingermarks to prove it. I've since decided that I tat things with love and give them with love and if the recipient doesn't appreciate it, I've already given the love, it doesn't have to be received, but it's THEIR LOSS, not mine. I tatted a cross bookmark for a lady at church who looked down her nose at me when I gave it to her and said to everyone standing around us, VERY disdainfully, 'O that's tatting, nobody bothers to do THAT anymore'. Being less that gracious, I responded with, 'Well, I'm somebody and I did'. Afterward I made up my mind that when I give tatting I've done my bit and let go of the responsibility of it with the giving.
ReplyDeleteGood point - had not thought of that!
DeleteI’m not partial to floral prints, but for some reason LOVE them in cheap - very cheap - hankies! So, they are tatted for my enjoyment - and if someone likes them, well, so be it. It was just that I suppose I am not used to that kind of reaction. I was not so much hurt as just plain embarrassed and so taken by surprise.
Fox : )
Oh, so sad! And awkward. Whatever reasons they might have had for not appreciating the hankies, never think it reflects on the beauty and value of your tatting!
ReplyDelete