David keeping tatting tradition alive

While sailors in the Navy have a rum-swilling, tough guy image, they were actually experts at knitting, sewing and embroidery not so long ago.

David Wareham learned the skill of "tatting" as a child, and kept it up during his time in the Merchant Navy. Today he is one of the region's most skilled practicioners, and says he is determined to ensure future generations keep the practice alive.

"Like a lot of people, I got into crafts when I was young," says 70-year-old David.

"There was no television and so a lot of lads my age used to sit with their mothers learning to make items by hand.

"In the Navy everyone did something when they got back to their bunks after a shift. We made rugs, knitted warm socks and jumpers, embroidered items and used knots to make decorative pieces."

David, of Hassop Road in Great Barr, is now a keen tatter, which involves making small knots in a piece of thread and using a shuttle to create doilies, bookmarks and necklaces.

David and his wife Patricia are also into lacemaking, spinning wool, crocheting, knitting and making tapestries.

After leaving Rookery Road School in Handsworth at 15, David worked at Dunns hat shop before joining the Merchant Navy two years later. He says: "I was only in the navy for a few years and then I worked for 40 years at Concentric Pumps in Erdington making pumps for cars and also machinery.

"During that time I never lost the skills I had picked up as a child and I was the founder of the Walsall Handspinners.

"I used to have nine spinning wheels in the house but now I just have two.

"One weekend 10 years ago, I was doing a spinning demonstration at Tamworth Castle when I heard there was a lady in a different room showing tatting.

"I went to have a look and I was so interested I asked her where I could go to learn how to do it."

David's first wife Linda was also keen on tatting and after she died David met his present wife Patricia at the Walsall Spinners.

"I know it is not a normal hobby for men," says David.

"There are four that I know of and each one of them is very skilled and spend hours creating very intricate items.

"Also, there is a lot of counting involved in tatting as you have to combine two knots with weaving the shuttle in and out of the thread.

"At the moment I'm working on a doily, which has taken me months to make, and it will go in the centre of our dining room table."

David is keen to pass his skills on to other people and says he is willing to hold classes for budding tatters.

"A few years ago I had an aneurysm and regularly had to sit for hours in the waiting room at Selly Oak Hospital," says David.

"One day I took along my tatting and I had people looking over my shoulder and asking me how I did it.

"It is such a fascinating hobby but often people haven't seen it being done before.

"If anyone wants to learn how to do tatting, they should get in touch with me," he added.

"I'm a member of an organisation called the Ring Of Tatters and we are always on the look-out for new people, especially men, to join us.

"If anyone wants me to do a demonstration at their club then I always go along because it is wonderful to pass on your skills to people."

David says he does sell some of his work to pay for his travelling expenses to exhibitions and shows.

"It is difficult to put a price on something that has taken you months to make – it tends to have more of a sentimental value," he says.

"Also, you don't do it for the money but from the enjoyment you get from sitting down with some thread and creating a piece of art just by using your fingers.

"When I go out to clubs and shows it is usually the women that have a go and then give up, saying they can't do it. But I encourage them by saying, 'You are not going to be beaten by a man, are you?'

"I think a lot of ladies are surprised that a man is so good at a craft that is dominated by women, especially as it does drive you up the wall when you make a mistake.

"However, it is a relaxing hobby which keeps my hands warm and my brain active – and it also takes me back to my years on the ocean waves."

* To learn more about tatting contact David on 0121 3251964.