Stella Estey
1908-2002 My aunt Stella was by far my favorite family member. Not just because she taught me to tat, but we were alike in so many other ways. She was born and raised in Boston and retired to a small town in Maine. On the left are two shuttles handed down to me from Stella. The black one is made of hard rubber and dates to around 1880. It belonged to her aunt Star who taught her to tat at the age of twelve. The golden pearlize two-layer celluloid shuttle was Stella's first shuttle given to her by aunt Star. Below are four sampler pages I put together from some of Stella's tatted pieces that were in her tatting box that was left to me. |
Bobbie Demmer
1926-2014 The first time I met Bobbie was when she invited me to the 1995 IOLI convention in Bellevue, Washington to give a talk on Tatting Shuttles. I had small children at the time and could only come up for a couple days. I will never forget the powerhouse of tatters I met there and their wonderful bulletin board of ideas. It was a wonderful moment in tatting history. The next time I saw Bobbie was when she moved to Montana to pursue her dream of providing a place where people could come and share needle arts without costing too much, and Camp Wanna Tat was born. How do you thank someone who has enriched your life with so much love and so many wonderful friends? Her dream brought joy to my life. My mentor, my friend, I will always miss you. |
Shuttles given to me from Bobbie Demmer.
Angeline Crichlow
Mrs. Crichlow was the fourth generation in a family of tatters. She was kind enough to share with me and my friend Katrina her tatting shuttle collection one evening in 1995. She was a wonderful tatting designer and author of many tatting books. She also taught tatting and founded two tatting groups. The doily on the right was designed and tatted by Mrs. Crichlow. When we asked her if she had patterns for all the doilies in her house, she said, "no I just start tatting". The sterling tatting shuttle was given to her by her daughter. The carved bone shuttle was given to her by her mother. Both of these shuttles are from the 1920's. Also on the right are three shuttles made by Mrs. Crichlow from hair barrettes. |
Opal Louise Brown, Morley These two shuttles came into my collection in 1997 from a friend who was traveling through Salem, Oregon. They came in clear plastic fishing lure boxes with notes typed by their owner, Opal Brown. Both of these shuttles date to around 1915. If any one in this area knows something about this tatter, please drop me a line. |
Esther Elizabeth Vivarttas
This tatting shuttle was given to Susan Groh in 1976 by her mother, Althea McClellan Temme, because she was the first of 3 daughters who learn to tat. Along with the shuttle her mother wrote a note telling of its history. This shuttle belongs to Susan's grandmother, Esther Elizabeth Vivarttas. It was carved for her by her father Captain Vivarttas on board a sailing ship when she was 10 or 12. He died when she was 13, around 1895. This shuttle is dark brown with open ends. The hand carved letters E.E.V. are raised 1/32" on the front and a raised diamond shape decorates the back. |
Mrs. Bertha Strahan Jamison
By Sadie Allison
I would like to share with you the story about the switch cane shuttle. Switch cane is a pole-like cane easily grown in the East-Texas area. It is used primarily in the making of fishing poles. We have a tatting club in Lufkin, Texas (Chat and Tat) that meets once a month. One of our members heard about a lady named Mrs. Bertha Strahan Jamison, 96 years old, that lived in a nursing home but tatted every day out in the lobby. We invited her to our club meeting. Our members were excited and anxious to meet this lady that had been tatting for 88 years. At our next meeting Mrs. Jamison arrived all dressed up and looked very pretty. After introductions, we settle in to tatting and chatting. Mrs. Jamison took her shuttle out of her bag and we noticed right off it was different. As we ask her about her shuttle, she told us that she had never owned a "bought" shuttle. She had always taken a pocket knife and whittled her own shuttles out of switch cane. That particular day she was using a shuttle she had whittled in 1940. It was a beautiful dark brown and shined like glass. She said over years of use the oil from her fingers had "polished" the shuttle to the beauty we saw that day. She had other hand whittled shuttles with her that were not dark but were in different stages of change. We were all very impressed.
The next tatting meeting I brought Mrs. Jamison a "Susan Bates" shuttle since she had never had a bought shuttle. She tatted with it for about five minutes and said, "honey you can have this shuttle back, I'm just to use to my whittled shuttles. Since my husbands hobby is whittling, he whittled shuttles for members of our club. At times we would use them or at least show them to Mrs. Jamison so she would know how much we respected her and her way of tatting. Mrs. Jamison was a member of our club for two years, dying peacefully at the age of 98. I asked Mrs. Jamison about the shuttle unwinding if you dropped it and she said to me, "honey, you just don't drop the shuttle."
By Sadie Allison
I would like to share with you the story about the switch cane shuttle. Switch cane is a pole-like cane easily grown in the East-Texas area. It is used primarily in the making of fishing poles. We have a tatting club in Lufkin, Texas (Chat and Tat) that meets once a month. One of our members heard about a lady named Mrs. Bertha Strahan Jamison, 96 years old, that lived in a nursing home but tatted every day out in the lobby. We invited her to our club meeting. Our members were excited and anxious to meet this lady that had been tatting for 88 years. At our next meeting Mrs. Jamison arrived all dressed up and looked very pretty. After introductions, we settle in to tatting and chatting. Mrs. Jamison took her shuttle out of her bag and we noticed right off it was different. As we ask her about her shuttle, she told us that she had never owned a "bought" shuttle. She had always taken a pocket knife and whittled her own shuttles out of switch cane. That particular day she was using a shuttle she had whittled in 1940. It was a beautiful dark brown and shined like glass. She said over years of use the oil from her fingers had "polished" the shuttle to the beauty we saw that day. She had other hand whittled shuttles with her that were not dark but were in different stages of change. We were all very impressed.
The next tatting meeting I brought Mrs. Jamison a "Susan Bates" shuttle since she had never had a bought shuttle. She tatted with it for about five minutes and said, "honey you can have this shuttle back, I'm just to use to my whittled shuttles. Since my husbands hobby is whittling, he whittled shuttles for members of our club. At times we would use them or at least show them to Mrs. Jamison so she would know how much we respected her and her way of tatting. Mrs. Jamison was a member of our club for two years, dying peacefully at the age of 98. I asked Mrs. Jamison about the shuttle unwinding if you dropped it and she said to me, "honey, you just don't drop the shuttle."
Susan Kelchner
I bought the shuttles below from Bob Kelchner after I appraised his wife's collection. He was happy to share this picture and information about his wife: Susan Kelchner became interested in tatting when given a vintage shuttle by my aunt. She acquired a large collection over time through gifts, antique shows, auctions and flea markets. She also learned to tat. She passed away on Aug.11, 05 at the age of 69. She was a happy, loving person. We were married for nearly 49 years, have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. |