Hi Elena,
I know only one thing relevant to your questions but I'll offer it in case
it helps: the shuttles used in the 18th century for knotting were much
larger than tatting shuttles, several times larger than the largest tatting
shuttle I know of. I have one and embarrassingly cannot find it right now,
and is of the same proportions as a tatting shuttle, but if memory serves
me right, 4 to 5 inches long. Being so large, and with an elaborately
carved 3-dimensional decoration on each side, it would serve very well to
show off the graceful motions of the ladies' hands as they sat knotting. It
would have been extremely hard if not impossible to tat with, however.
I will send you pictures with a scale next to it when I find my knotting
shuttle. (It is quite beautiful.) But the point is that the shuttles in the
18th century were knotting shuttles and quite distinct from the later
tatting shuttles.
HTH
Nancy
Ashford, Connecticut, USA
On Thu, Apr 30, 2020, 13:06 Elena Kanagy-Loux
wrote:
> Dear Arachne,
>
> I am hoping to ask for your thoughts on the origin dates of tatting and
> crochet and see if they line up with what I have gathered over the years.
>
> Tatting shuttles, of course are already depicted in 18th century portraits
> as they were used for simpler knotting techniques, but what we now know of
> tatting doesn't seem to have emerged until the 19th century. Even digging
> through my handy Earnshaw and Levey books I don't seem to get a more
> specific date than that, although Earnshaw dates the inclusion of picots to
> the 1870s. Also, do we think it started in France, or elsewhere?
>
> For the origins of crochet I have seen references as specific as the 1830s,
> in England, developed as a quicker imitation of needle lace (although the
> resemblance of needle lace to crochet has led some to mistakenly believe it
> dates back to the Renaissance).
>
> Do these timelines sound correct to you? I'd love to get your thoughts.
>
> Thank you as always!
> Best Wishes,
> Elena
>
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