Today I tried needle tatting!
We're continuing from last week when I had The Worst time trying to teach myself shuttle tatting. I did eventually figure it out but still sucked at it, so this week I tried needle tatting because it seemed faster and less likely to be a knotty mess beyond repair if I screwed up.
And it was! And I actually kind of love it. So now I have another hobby🤦♀️
I started out following Just Vintage Crochet's tutorial and made a tiny doily. That alone was much further than I ever got with shuttle tatting.
I made the top one first. There were only supposed to be 7 rings and chains, but I got overzealous and lost count which is literally my signature move doing any fiber art that isn't sewing 🙄 and it was too late to go back by the time I realized my mistake.
Genuinely asking, can you even unpick a mistake in needle tatting once you've pulled your loop closed? Or do you need to start over from 0? Why is there so little room for error in tatting?
After making a second doily, this time with the proper number of elements, I then found a random shuttle tatting pattern tutorial on YouTube and wanted to see if it could be done with needle tatting instead.
Short answer, yes. I made 2 of the squares, and the second repeat (bottom) was already way better than the first one. I would have made more, but by then I'd already spent about 2-3 hours with my head bent over my lap and my neck was killing me, so I had to take a break.
Since tatting is a knotting technique and I was using a cotton crochet thread that is heavier than DMC pearl cotton of similar diameter, the lace I got is pretty stiff, so it's more suited for making doilies and coasters than the type of lace you put on clothing as a trim. I imagine it could make a nice edging decoration for, say, a Peter Pan collar, especially if you used DMC pearl cotton, but it would probably be uncomfortable to wear if the whole collar were tatted lace. That said, the square repeat pattern could be made into a belt if you wove a ribbon through it. In fact, now in addition to wanting to make an entire doily for my kitchen table (I live alone and can decorate my living space like a grandma if I want), I also want to make a belt for the stola-inspired chiffon robe I made a few weeks ago. Oh! And I think the little rings could be made into a simple trim that could go along the neckline of a drawstring gown... you know, in case I want to make the screen-accurate version of the casual secret daily cosplay I made a few years ago... which I already have the fabric for...
