About

Who Are We

"Tatters" are people who indulge in the act of "Tatting", i.e. making a particular type of lace using tatting shuttles or tatting needles.  All of the backgrounds to these pages are examples of tatting made by one of our members.

We gather on a regular basis to tat, chat, exchange tips and tricks, ponder ways to convince the general public that tatting skills have not gone the way of the dinosaur, and generally revel in the company of other tatters.

A Bit of History

The Vic branch of the Tatter's guild has grown from a Melbourne group of social Tatters called "In Tatters", which met periodically at members' homes.

However it was the dream of one of the founding members (Diana Eckett) to form a more publicly accessible group, to make the point that tatting is NOT a lost art, and to encourage and support aspirant Tatters.

To that end, it was decided to attempt to form a Guild.  "The Tatters' Guild of New South Wales (inc)" kindly agreed to change their name to "The Tatters' Guild of Australia - NSW Branch (inc)", allowing us to form a guild by the name of "The Tatters' Guild of Australia - VIC Branch (inc)".

Our first meeting as a guild was held on the 5th of May, 2001, in the Ringwood room of the Ringwood Library.

Sadly, Diana passed away less than a year after the Guild's formation, after battling illness for many years, but saw the Guild grow from its original core of less than a dozen tatters to a regularly attending body of between 20 and 30 Tatters, and many more non-local members.

Since our inauguration we have become a fairly regular fixture at the "Stitches and Craft"  and "Quilt and Craft" shows in Melbourne, plus being approached to demonstrate at other venues.