Teacher

Mimi Dillman
of Washington

Email: ntrop@ix.netcom.com

Website: http://home.netcom.com/~ntrop/mimi/cluny.html

Bio | Class 1 | Class 2 | Conference | Samples

April 1, 2005

Bio
I've been fascinated by string for as long as I can remember. My favorite schoolyard occupation was hunting for lumps of knotted, discarded kite string and then untangling them and rolling them into balls for later use (in what?? taking up space in a box of course, my very first stash). If I had known about tatting at the time, you know what I'd have been doing with it!

However, I was born in Houston, Texas, into a tatting-challenged family (and despite my best efforts it remains that way). So I had to find out about tatting from books about crafts that added Tatting as an afterthought to more mainstream crafts like knitting. It wasn't until 1982 that I finally was able to find a tatting shuttle while
browsing at Lee Wards. That summer I taught myself the flip, rings, and chains from a Better Homes & Gardens book. For years my only books were those from Dover and DMC. And truth to tell, I got bored, then distracted by bobbin lace (another one I had wanted to make since I saw my first piece of Maltese bobbin lace, which, incidentally, is full of leaves!)

By the time the 90's rolled around, I was living in the Seattle area. As a member of the Lacemakers of Puget Sound, I was fortunate enough to be taught other more advanced tatting techniques by ladies such as Bev Dillon, Mona (Monica) Hahn and Diana Howe. It was Mona who taught me to successfully make a cluny leaf. I haven't done much bobbin lace since!

And how many clunies have I made? I lost count at 1400. I've got my "1000 leaves" bobbin from the Heartland Lace Guild a couple of years ago. I'm probably the only person to qualify by making them with a shuttle instead of bobbins :-)

Besides being a bit fanatical about clunies, I am also a card-carrying member of the T.A.C.T.: Tatters for Alternatives to Cut and Tie. If I can avoid C&T with a continuous thread path, I will. (Thank you Dora Young and Judi Banashek!)

My patterns have been published in the IOLI Bulletin, on the web, and in the newsletters of the Lacemakers of Puget Sound and the Heartland Lace Guild. I have taught on-line for Georgia Seitz' On-Line Tatting Class, to the Lacemakers of Puget Sound, at the Spokane Shuttlebirds Tatting Workshop, and at Bobbie Demmer's tatting workshop in Montana.

Class 1

"Beginning Cluny for Shuttle and Needle Tatters"

Time: Friday, 1 to 3

Technique: Clunies
Project: Kite

Intermediate Level: Know Rings, Chains and Split Rings are helpful

Description:
Beginning cluny leaf weaving on the hand. Time permitting, we will try using a loom.

Supplies:
Size 10, light color please! (20 is ok, too)

Class 2

"4 Shuttle Cluny and Color Variations"

Time: Saturday, 9 to 11

Techniques: Clunies, split rings, multiple shuttles
Project: Bookmark

Advanced Level: Must be comfortable with multiple shuttles.

Description:
#1 Weave your clunies in a different manner - 4 shuttles give you more freedom in setting up a loom, and lead to other design possibilities.

#2 Make a bookmark or insertion with clunies a different color from the surrounding work.

Supplies:
#1 - 4 shuttles wound as 2 pairs CTM; can be two different colors size 10 or 20

#2 - 3 shuttles required, 2 of one color, 1 of another. Any size thread, but 20 is recommended.

#1	#2

Conference: Friday, 3:30 to 5:30, with Sue and Jo Ellen.

Samples of teacher’s work:
Photos by Robert Stevens.

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