Is that a shuttle in her hand?

[wosny]

I was reading a biography of Lewis Carroll last week and this photo of his Aunt Lucy made me wonder... Could she be tatting? I thought I'd ask you as you've been so knowledgable in the past. Probably dating from the 1860s or so, and posed because at that time photography was a very cumbersome and complicated business, I'd love to think it was, but

Comments

[moniqueleigh]

It does look possible, but I can't really tell if that's a shuttle in her hand or just a threaded needle. If we could find a larger version of it, perhaps we could tell for certain. :) Tatting was certainly quite popular at the time of the photograph, so it's very possible, but I've not found any reference (in an admittedly limited) search to Miss Lutwidge's being a tatter. Hrmm, will have to remember to look for that next time I get an opportunity to read any Carroll bios. :)

[wosny]

Yes, I think piroshki has a point when she points out the position of the fingers...but all in all I have to conclude just "maybe".
The bio was by Morton N. Cohen and was published in USA, and I think the photo belongs to him...

[needledreams125]

If it's tatting it could also be possible to be Needle Tatting, which was suppose to be popular before the shuttle. Or could be "knotting" that was also popular at that time and used a knotting shuttle.

Anyway, it's a very interesting picture!

[moniqueleigh]

I've heard that about needle tatting, but I've never seen any evidence for it. All of the old books (or reprints) I've seen that mention tatting are always about shuttle tatting. I've seen that sometimes they'll talk about a tatting needle, but if they have a picture, it's actually a shuttle!

My understanding is that a knotting shuttle is significantly bigger than a tatting shuttle. I'd imagine that would have been easier to identify in a picture like this one. *shrug* But I've never actually seen one myself, so.....

But, yes, it is very interesting! :D

[needledreams125]

Hi Monique. If you have the Riego books you can see the needle tatting. It's not like the modern needle tatting (related to Barbara Foster) but using a needle as a shuttle.

On Riego's book 2 there are illustrations of this method. You can have the whole book for download from Georgia Seitz site.

http://www.georgiaseitz.com/public/publicindex.html

[moniqueleigh]

The Riego books are gorgeous! There's actually an older reference to tatting though. In 1843, The Ladies’ Handbook of MiIlinery, Dressmaking and Tatting supposedly (I haven't seen it myself) mentions a tatting "needle" and then shows a shuttle in the engraving.