There are very few tatting books that really appeal to me. There’s the odd doily in the odd book but over the sixty plus years of collecting there aren’t many doilies that I’d care to tat twice!! Must admit there are one or two that I’ve done several times but those were back in my teenage years when patterns were few and far between.
There are designers whom I respect beyond all measure like Dora Young, Mary Konior, Elgiva Nichols to name but a few but sadly these people have all died so there will be no more books from them.
BUT we have a ‘very much alive’ designer whose every book is a ‘must have’. Who and why I hear you ask.
It’s Martha Ess and the ‘why’ is because she ALWAYS comes up with the BEST ideas/designs. I’ve had the pleasure (and believe me - it is a pleasure) to have test tatted a lot of her patterns over the years and she not only comes up with fantastic designs but she also tests my BC3 too. She has the knack of putting in little tricks that you thing ‘what is she doing that for’ and a bit later on find yourself saying - ‘oh, that’s WHY - what a great idea’. Not necessarily a new technique but a new way of doing something. Martha ROCKS.
So her latest book (Whimsical Tatting) is full of the most appealing designs and you can order directly from Martha herself which she’ll sign for you too. Here’s the link.
I’d suggest you look at her other books on that page too. You never know what you’ll find. I’m not showing you the cover of my copy as you can see that on Martha’s blog but I am going to show off a picture from the book and Martha’s thank you too.
