People & Vendors

Today is People and Vendors. More tomorrow.

Maureen was selling the tickets for the drawing. I have photos of the drawing items but I think I'll forfeit showing them. The photos weren't that specific but it was lots of good stuff, publications and tools - none of which I was lucky enough to win! The fellow is Stephen Bowman, Blue Tatting Man, who lives in Southern Indiana and took over my yahoo Teacher's group when I was ready to leave. Stephen is very active in his part of Indiana demonstrating tatting and bobbinlace and other needlearts. He also teaches. He had a different sort of bobbinlace pillow with him and I didn't get a photo of it. My battery died and I did remember to bring the charger but by the time the battery was recharged, I was running down.

I'm sure many of you will recognize our Lace-Lovin' Librarian Diane. And yes, I got another blinged shuttle which I will show tomorrow. One of many interesting happenings - one of the vendors was talking with some people who were Asian and asked to anyone within earshot if anyone was currently tatting. As it turned out, Diane had her handkerchief edging in process with luscious watermelon thread and gave an impromptu demonstration to this very interested group. Sadly, I didn't pick up my shuttle once all day.

Many of you probably recognize Carol Amich on the right. She brought her bats and the ghostbuster display which I'll also show tomorrow. The happy lady on the left is Diane's friend Denise, whom she mentions from time to time as the Blinged Shuttle Enabler (my title, not hers!).

I wish I'd gotten photos of all the tatters who came. Mary Harris from Avon, MaryAnna, I think from OH along with a few others. I remember seeing Dorcas Newkirk though I don't think I had a chance to talk with her and she usually comes with a few of her group's members. Laura Bobay and several members of her Columbia City, IN group. The locals, of course. Someone from the L.A.C.E. group in Downer's Grove, IL whose name escapes me. Millie from up around Ft. Wayne.

Vendors! Vendors are one of the biggest attractions of any lace day event. It's an opportunity to see and touch and really investigate what you're thinking of buying. We had five vendors this year.

Kathy Kirchner with her husband. I believe she is teaching a class today but I have other plans and couldn't go to any of the classes. I bought a set of 12 square bobbins that I like to work with, the only thread I bought (two balls) and a book on Torchon amulet bags. Most bobbin lace books are far beyond my range, both financially and in terms of skill. I looked but didn't find anything except the one I bought. I bought one ball of Venus in size 40 in a green I don't think I have, and a ball of Valdani in a rich brown/gold variegated that I think is around size 40 too. I couldn't find the size on it. You can tell by the length of the space involved that they brought lots of goodies.

The Tatting Corner brought their little corner to us. I think they carry more Lizbeth thread than anyone else I've seen except for maybe Handy Hands. They also have DMC in many many sizes, Omega, Coats and some others that I don't remember seeing yesterday but I know are in the store. I already have almost every tatting book there is so I didn't buy any but I looked, just to make sure. They are also teaching a class today.

This was a new vendor, Fredworks-the Fredericksons from IL, selling mostly bobbin lace pillows that looked beautiful, but again, out of my price range. The fellow there was spinning most of the time but I didn't take the opportunity to talk to him.

Debbie Beever of Lace & Such, from Oklahoma, was also vending and I bought some vintage Home Needle Arts from her. I love looking in those books. I also got a new pricker that I think will be sturdier than my current one and a video by Sylvia M. about Romanian Point Lace. It was used, VHS, and marked down so the price was good and I know it will come in handy in teaching. I was asked by someone again about crocheting the cord - it's hard for people to pick up, even when they see it done. Like anything else, you have to keep doing it to remember how. Debbie is also teaching a class today.

John Aebi and his wife were also there, selling bobbins and bobbinlace tools. He made the commemorative bobbins for our event and I'll show mine tomorrow too. He has beautiful fansticks, if anyone is interested in making lace for a fan. The story came out about how he got started turning bobbins. A LL member, many years ago, took one of her bobbins to him and asked if he could make one. I guess the first one was a bit rough, but they kept encouraging him and now...30 years later....he is a major supplier. If you have any of his work, you know it is exquisite.

No beads! I didn't take part in the organizing this year but I remember last time that we thought about asking Von's if they would be interested in vending some beads for this one or maybe even the lampworked beads from Inspired Fire but I think that idea got lost in the intervening years. Maybe next time.

Tomorrow I'll show what I bought, the few things I managed to photograph that people are working on, and some of the display table.

In the meantime, I've started another foldover-Konior triad-butterfly bookmark. My sister came with her granddaughter. Laina, who is 8, saw my bookmark and made it very clear that she wanted one and the colors she preferred. I also have a birthday cookout to attend for my youngest grandson today and will attempt to make the basement presentable for the plumber's visit tomorrow.

I had hoped to finish the last two segments of figure 3 by today but this whole week has been hectic and tiring so ...another day or so won't matter. Vicki Clarke asked in a comment if I would show the back side of the inserts so I thought I would show that today.

This is the inside of both bags. The black one won't show you much about the process since I added a white background. I didn't take a photo or scan before I stitched it on. I just used a sort of hemming blind stitch to attach it to the top and bottom fabrics which were folded over like a hem. I was more concerned about how I was going to hide the ends that looked so unfinished.

Then next two segments will be stitched on top of fabric instead of taking the place of fabric so maybe I should do a tutorial later on about insertions. I'd like to get a little better at it though.

For this one, on the wrong side of the fabric, I drew around the insertion rectangle to get the size and shape. I then drew another line slightly inside of that one, more at the sides, for a little wiggle room. I didn't want to have to stretch out the lace. I drew a line from corner to corner and cut along the lines of the resulting X. That gave me 4 flaps to fold back. I think I pressed them but it might have been finger pressing held down with straight pins afterwards. Then I stitched a running stitch close to the fold all around with some white perle cotton thread. I was hoping for a more decorative effect but in the end, you barely see it. I also added French Knots in the tatting thread around the edges but it looked not-so-good so I took them out. I trimmed the four folded back pieces that were stitched down now fairly close but not too close. I trimmed them again once I was done with the insertion.

Then I took sewing thread and took the needle through a crochet stitch and then caught a few threads of the fabric in the fold. I went all the way around like that. you can see at the ends that I whipped the long bare threads to the fabric too. Those were actually the tails that I attached to the opposite side to give it stability at the end. I knew I would be hiding it with fabric. I debated about putting a backing on this too since it is a bag and anything put in it could theoretically catch on the lace. Since this is a sample, it's unlikely it will be used that way so I didn't.

I have a publication I bought from Gillian who used to host the Bellaonline Tatting site which is about insertions and mounting tatting. I'll go over it and see if there is a "cleaner" way to do this and then post a tutorial. If you've ever seen the tatted insertions used in the old Anna magazines, you probably fell in love with them. It's still something I want to do with kitchen curtains.

I also wanted to mention that I'm planning on displaying what I've done so far with the vintage tatting at our Indiana Lace Day on April 9th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be held at:

Christ United Methodist Church
3610 S 18th Street
Lafayette IN 47909
NW corner of Veteran’s Memorial Pkwy [formerly 350 S and S 18th)

Looks like we'll have five vendors (John Aebi, Fredworks, Kathy Kirchner, Debbie Beever, Jennifer from Tatting Corner) so this is a great opportunity to buy lace supplies without paying shipping! No charge to get in. There are some mini-classes that cost $10 for supplies and those are limited in number. For more information, email Carolyn Regnier.


I did get the last OWOH win today. It came from Kelly, a mixed media artist from Tennessee. It's a magnet which is now on my fridge. I don't have very many metal surfaces since there are so many electronics around these days but my refrigerator can always use refreshing!