Greetings I have always heard that tatting didn't come into use before the 1700s and so haven't been doing it for Tudor/Elizabethan. Yesterday I was told by a lady that needle tatting can be documented to quite early and she said it's mentioned several times in the Canterbury Tales. She also mentioned that it's related to making fishing nets.
I'm wondering if any of you knowledgeable folks out there can help me. I'm having a problem with her data for a couple of reasons. 1) If tatting shows up in the Canterbury Tales, I know word meanings change over hundreds of years. Do we know that tatting then is what we call tatting? 2) It's quite a reach from fishing nets to the tiny rings and picots of tatting. I believe they're related but I don't consider net making proof of tatting. Any help would be appreciated. TIA Julie _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume