The
   Online Tatting Class
      Founded By Georgia Seitz

OUR FOUNDER - Georgia Seitz

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Georgia established The Online Tatting Classes (TOTC) in 1999, building a website and opening a Chat Room, taking tatting into the digital world. Shortly after, in 2000, Georgia along with Dianna Stevens and Patti Duff influenced and counseled Joy Critchfield, Tat Days Chair for 2003 & 2004. They began activities to become a Charter Chapter with IOLI, International Organization Of Lacemakers Inc. with the charter being awarded in 2003. Shortly afterwards, in 2002, she along with two other tatters consulted with the Palmetto Tatters Guild for the Guild’s first tatting conference held April 2003

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Georgia first attended Palmetto’s Tat Days in 2004 where she witnessed a registration check being refused by the Guild. This action by the President at that time established the precedence for a scholarship fund. Georgia reinforced and grew the scholarship fund for the annual Palmetto Tatters Guild's Tat Days, one of the largest tatting conventions in the United States, to help tatters offset the financial costs to attend. She oversaw the Silent Auction and live Auction as well as being the Auctioneer, to raise funds for the guild and scholarships. Each year she collected items and organized many tatters to donate their tatting and quilting skills to make items for the live Auction. The scholarships continue to help those who want to attend, learn from the many classes offered, and enjoy the fellowship and wonderful camaraderie at this event.

The Online classes and website grew, and Georgia became a much sought after teacher, traveling to teach at many other tatting guilds and venues. She has taught hundreds, if not thousands of in-person classes and published many tatting books.

One of her many interests was helping with the Antique Pattern Library. Her work in gathering and sharing vintage, out-of-print tatting books with the world of tatters has been an invaluable act of preservation! Georgia was also the Tatting Editor for Bella Online for 10 years. Her contributions to the world of tatting are tremendous

 

The volumes of time and energy she has put into all of these endeavors, plus her many other activities promoting tatting, have been a wonderful, invaluable gift to tatters around the world!

 

After 20 years, Georgia officially retired in January of 2020 and closed her AKTatter Country Store. She is loved by many and her presence in class is truly missed. She still participates in the tatting community though. We wish her a long happy retirement full of threads that make beautiful lace!
 

At that time, to keep the classes going, Susan Fuller continued to teach her Tatting Design Class and took over teaching the Regular Monday Class as well as managing and updating the Website. Cynthia Stevenson continued teaching the Beginner's Class. In October of 2020, Tamie began teaching the Monday Class.
 

Passing the baton (shuttles) to the next generation. In December 2020, Georgia turned
The Online Tatting Classes and website entirely over to Tamie Montgomery.

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Tamie Montgomery - Owner, Administrator and Teacher

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Tamie is not the owner or affiliated with Palmetto Tatting Guild in any manner. As some would think she was. She was merely a supporter.

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Tamie, having inherited some tatting shuttles at a very difficult time in her life, embarked on her tatting journey.  First on the list was finding out what these shuttles were for. After many failed attempts to find someone to teach her, she ran across Georgia's site. She was eager to learn, just as many new tatters are, so joined the classes, and fell in love with tatting from the start. She felt Georgia had given her a lifeline.

Tamie began making personal YouTube videos. She felt truly blessed to be able to help new tatters learn the joy of making just one little stitch and what could be accomplished by doing so. She was overjoyed at the happiness it gave students when they completed their first butterfly or snowflake. What started out being a way to share what she had learned, so others could learn by watching her tatting, soon grew in popularity. 
 

Tamie offered to make videos for the Online Tatting classes and in 2004, Georgia recruited her and she began making videos for TOTC. Georgia inspired her and personally taught her many tatting techniques to use in the videos and taught her that with patience first, the rest would follow. Tamie was happy and felt that in doing these she could repay Georgia for the gift of her tatting knowledge. Tamie was hooked, the tatting bug had claimed her, and she couldn't have been happier.
 

From all of her accomplishments and work, a new opportunity arose. Georgia asked if she would take over The Online Tatting Classes and the website. In December 2020, she grabbed that baton and took off running. Since then, Tamie has taken the classes in the direction of Georgia's vision - into the digital video world. Tamie seeks to continue Georgia's legacy and teaches in Georgia's honor, and with her blessing. 

Moving tatting forward into future generations makes both her and Georgia very happy. Tamie's goal is to keep the classes going for many years to come to come. 

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Katia Vallee - Needle Tatting Teacher

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Katia, a French-Canadian woman, was raised by her grandparents, whom she considers her true parents since they have been a constant presence in her life from an early age. Growing up in a household where her father worked as a carpenter and her mother was involved in various textile arts, Katia was fully immersed in the world of sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and more. She accompanied her mother to workshops and attended her classes, which ignited her passion for crafts and inspired her to follow in her mother's footsteps.

 

At the age of 12, Katia's curiosity was sparked when she stumbled upon a book on tatting and an old metallic shuttle. To her surprise, she discovered that the book had belonged to her aunt and that her mother had been unable to learn from her sister-in-law due to a childhood injury to her index finger. 

 

Determined to master the art, Katia embarked on a self-taught journey, meticulously and diligently studying the English book, and acquiring the fundamental techniques of shuttle tatting. Over the years, she dedicated herself to honing her skills and expanding her knowledge through independent exploration.

 

In 2005, following her mother's passing, Katia came across a needle tatting workshop. Curious, she decided to participate and received valuable information, but she felt that something was missing for the art to truly come alive. Motivated by her desire to fulfill her mother's dream, she turned to the internet and discovered The Online Tatting Class. Enrolling in the class, she found a mentor in Georgia, who solidified her foundations and recognized her potential as a teacher. What began as a personal pleasure soon transformed into a vocation and a deep passion for Katia, with a mission to preserve and share this endangered art form.

 

Around 2014, Katia took a break from her pursuits for personal reasons. However, in 2020, she was approached to resume her teaching role and showcase her skills at a fair celebrating traditional crafts. Motivated by this opportunity, she dedicated herself to revisiting the basics and resumed classes with The Online Tatting Class. Challenging herself to master both shuttle and needle tatting, she diligently recreated patterns using both tools to deepen her understanding of the underlying techniques. Her unwavering dedication and attention to detail enabled her to excel in both forms of tatting. In September 2023, she became a moderator for The Online Tatting Class, and in March 2024, she took on the responsibility of teaching needle tatting. Her objective is to elevate the status of needle tatting techniques to be on par with shuttle tatting.

 

This eventually led to a partnership between The Online Tatting Class and Katia, known as Tatting Muse, with the objective of complementing the needle tatting classes and promoting the technique.

Katia takes great pride in the opportunity to promote needle tatting within The Online Tatting Class and to continue the legacy of her needle mentor, Georgia Seitz.

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