The basis of all tatting is the double stitch. This video shows you how to do that using two shuttles with two different colors of thread, so that you can see the stitch “flip” between one thread and the other more easily.
Following is another video that shows the actual “flip” (also called “transferring the knot”) used in the double stitch in shuttle tatting. I really love the large cord and large shuttle used in the following video. This video wasn’t around when I was trying to learn to tat, but I truly wish it had been, as it would have sped up my learning time immensely!
The Double Stitch In Tatting – General Info.
If you are a total beginner, you could also wind some thread onto one shuttle and follow along with the instructions, with the ball of thread replacing the second shuttle.
First off, knot the ends of the two threads together (unless you are using one shuttle and one ball), and hold the knot between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand.
If you are using one shuttle and one ball, wind some thread onto your shuttle. Once you have sufficient practice thread wound on the shuttle (if you are just practicing, a half full shuttle will likely suffice). Don’t cut the thread between the shuttle and the ball.
Wind the thread from one shuttle over your first finger and around your other fingers in a way that feels comfortable to you. It doesn’t really matter how you wind around your other fingers, as long as it is enough to keep the thread around your first finger taut. This will be your “working” thread.
With the second shuttle, leave a little bit of slack and then scoop the thread up over your fingers.
To do the first half of the double stitch, move the shuttle “under” the working thread, then around, and back “over” the working thread and through the archway made with your fingers.
Now, as in the above video, the white thread is wrapped around the red thread, but you don’t want that. Instead, you want the red thread to be wrapped around the white thread.
So, in order to fix that, what you need to do is relax your left hand and tighten up your right hand, which will cause the knot to “flip.”
So, in other words, the white thread in the video is now wrapped around the red thread. When you relax your left hand and tighten up your right hand, the red thread “flips” and becomes wrapped around the white thread.
To turn that into a stitch, use your left hand to very gently pull the thread close to the knot that you originally started out with. And that’s it…you have completed the first half of a double stitch!
To make the second half of the double stitch, have your shuttle face the working thread again, but this time, move the shuttle “over” the working thread and then back “under” the working thread. Now the threads have to flip again, so relax your left hand and tighten your right hand, and then gently move the stitch up close to the first half of the double stitch. That’s it…that is the complete double stitch!
The key part of the double stitch in shuttle tatting is to make sure that you always transfer the stitch from the working thread to the shuttle thread.
Don’t worry! If you are feeling pretty awkward at this point, just know that it will take some time to really get smooth with making the double stitch.
It literally took me over a week of constantly trying to do the flip before I learned it. First, for me it started happening accidentally just once in awhile, then it started happening more and more, but still sporadically, and then finally something “clicked” and I actually “got it.”
Once you have learned the flip, even if you don’t tat for awhile, it truly is like riding a bike, and is very easy to again pick up once you have learned it.
If you keep at it, I promise you’ll get much better! Happy Learning!