Monday, January 24, 2011

How to tat - the 2nd half of the double stitch

Let the shuttle thread hang down.  Shuttle goes over the thread on left hand...

...over the thread...

...when the shuttle has passed over the thread, come back under that thread...

...back under the left hand thread, and through...

...the loop from the hanging shuttle thread.

Almost done - now comes the flip...

Make the flip happen by relaxing the tension on your left hand (bring your fingers down, slightly closing left hand)...

...and pull the shuttle thread tight - to the right. There is the 2nd half! Bring your fingers back up on your left hand to tighten the tension. Keep the shuttle thread tight. See how the shuttle thread is the core over which the stitch slides.
The completed double stitch.

These photos are my attempt to show the classic method of shuttle tatting. In actuality, I hold my shuttle in a slightly different manner, but the manipulation of the thread is just the same. I've shown the 1st half of the double stitch on a previous post; to see the 1st half click here.

2 comments:

sewmuchfun4 said...

These are REALLY great tutorials! This is the way I tat, because I found a tutorial MUCH like this on the internet about 9 years ago. I used to have the link on my sidebar, but one day the tutorial was gone. I'm going to add your links.

Beautiful job photographing the steps!!!

:) Ann

Unknown said...

Amazing... very clear with pictures :)

Anusha