Column: Riding Drag                                         Copyright: Debra Coppinger Hill 

Article Name: Tatted lace                                Print Date: August 24, 2007

Tatting is a lost art with few women these days know how to make delicate lace in this manner. My mother tats. Over the years she has taught me the skill and though I can say that I can tat, I will never be able to make the shuttle fly like she does. There is music in the clicking of the shuttle. It is a comforting song that says “I care enough to make this for you.” Happy Birthday Mother; thanks for the beauty you have added to my life.

Tatted Lace

     Her hands were never idle,

she could quilt and she could sew.

She made the clothes that we wore,

and the curtains for the window.

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She could make something out of nothing,

it appeared as if from thin air,

And each thing that she made us,

was filled with love and care.

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The materials came from feed sacks,

opened and washed, then neatly pressed,

And from odd bolt endsof yard goods,

into which she made our Sunday best.

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To make it all so special,

to make a feed sack dress stylish and grand,

She edged it with the finest lace,

that she tatted herself, by hand.

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We’d watch the balls of ecru thread

unwind, as her magic she did weave,

The shuttle moving at a pace so quick,

our eyes it would deceive.

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We watched her tat for hours,

and a certain peacefulness it did bring,

Drifting to sleep at her knee,

the clicking shuttle, a lull-a-bye would sing.

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Now I’m grown and can afford store-bought clothes,

the very best money can buy.

But I never find anything that I like,

and I’ve begun to understand why.

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The workmanship cannot compare,

to that craftedby her hands.

For I still have pieces of that lace,

and the test of time it does withstand.

 -

And like the love, she put in it,

when she crafted it for me,

I know where-ever I am in the world,

there also,She will be.

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And in the twilight, through the window,

I still see her hands and face,

The shuttle clickingto and fro...

making tatted lace.

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For more information on Debra Coppinger Hill go to Cowboys-n-Cowgirls.com or TradeWestOnline.com or contact her at ridingdrag@gmail.com