All thumbs

**decky** · 05-08-2015, 04:12 PM

I travel at least once a month and need to have something too do while I'm in my hotel room. So I thought tatting would be a good pasttime. I just had my first lesson, talk about being all thumbs I think I'm the master! I think I finally got it in making the double stitches after ripping out the many bad ones. Guess just like anything else, it's practice, practice and more practice.

**thimblebug6000** · 05-08-2015, 04:17 PM

Well... I never took any formal lessons...but after I found a shuttle in my gmas stuff I tried to learn how.... what a mess! But I know I didn't spend near the time trying to learn it as I have with my quilting. Enjoy!

**Tartan** · 05-08-2015, 04:31 PM

I can't use a shuttle for tatting but found needle tatting on YouTube and I can do that.

**Suzanne57** · 05-08-2015, 04:33 PM

Shuttle tatting is one craft I just could not get the hang of.

**Up North** · 05-08-2015, 04:43 PM

I love tatting! Learned in high school Home Ec class got to leave and go to an elderly lady's home to learn. I have since taught 4 H little girls an and adult group. It does take practice and a hat pin is handy for picking out those knots!

**Material Witness** · 05-08-2015, 05:49 PM

My grandmother taught me how to tat when I was a teen. I made many doilies, and the lace for my sister's wedding dress. We could tat without looking (except for the picots)! Just keep the thread on your left hand loose, and you'll get it in no time! And don't make the knots too tight.

**nanacc** · 05-08-2015, 06:07 PM

I found the shuttle of my DGM, but I wish I could have seen some of her lace. That must have been lost or 'found' by some of the other relatives. I have had to give up of crochet and knitting,so tatting is out!

**BETTY62** · 05-08-2015, 07:00 PM

And I thought tatting was truly a lost art. I remember my Grandmother tatting in my youth. She did such beautiful work. Wish I had taken the time to learn.

**lynnie** · 05-08-2015, 07:37 PM

please show us your work, I would love to see it.

**sparkys_mom** · 05-09-2015, 03:47 AM

My paternal grandmother taught me tatting, cross stitch, Swedish embroidery, embroidery, and crochet (which I hated and still do hate). My maternal grandmother quilted but I never learned how.

There were no knitters in my family. I haven't done any tatting for about 60 years but I do remember I could do it quite easily but she never taught me how to join the results when the bobbin ran out ... not very useful if you can't do that.

**coopah** · 05-09-2015, 04:41 AM

My mother tried to teach me tatting. Her fingers flew and I couldn't keep up. I took lessons and can do it, but don't enjoy it. It was something I needed to do to prove I could. Sort of a mother-daughter thing.

**citruscountyquilter** · 05-09-2015, 05:36 AM

I taught myself how to knit and crochet but tatting I could never master. I have the shuttle but there it sits. Kudos to those that can do it.

**ManiacQuilter2** · 05-09-2015, 06:07 AM

I am all thumbs too. Can't do tatting or knitting. I am only able to crochet a simple double stitch.

**Geri B** · 05-09-2015, 06:50 AM

...oh, now my curiosity is peaked! going to do a YouTube search

**Stitchit123** · 05-09-2015, 07:30 AM

My Great Aunt created some beautiful tatting. She did not use a shuttle it was all done by hand. I still have a few pillow cases and doilies and pictures of me as a wee one wearing fancy dresses that she embellished with her lace work. She tried teaching me but I was what she called her wiggly worm-I couldn't sit still for 5 minutes.

**tessagin** · 05-09-2015, 08:00 AM

I was taught how to tat and crochet by my paternal grandmother. She taught shuttle and needle and she taught a couple of my cousins and myself. We made a big table cloth. When I got married she passed away a few weeks before. We looked all over the house for the tablecloth to no avail. After my uncle died, we found it out in the garage. My cousins used it for a lace stencil to fit the hood of his car and spray painted it. Wanted to use the tablecloth for the bridal table. My cousins and I were sick to our stomachs. They were going to use it for their weddings.

**Caroline94535** · 05-09-2015, 11:08 AM

For years and decades, I tried to learn to tat from booklets and magazines. No luck. I did not know anyone that tatted, but I loved the pieces I found in thrift and antique shops.

I finally found a VCR tape at the library. It's now available as a DVD, Tatted Lace from Start to Finishing with Bev Dillon. "Everything you need for learning and improving your skills."

Bingo! It clicked! I could watch her DVD, stop, rewind, rewatch, and practice.

I learned how to tat. I tat! I'm a tatter! And I now have the cutest collection of eight or so darling old tatting shuttles, all of which I use and enjoy.

The DVD is bare bones but packed full of knowledge. Mrs. Dillon's voice is calm, sweet, and soft. The DVD focused on her hands. It's very informative and soothing...far too soothing. The first few times I watched it - I'm ashamed to say, I fell asleep.

Finally I decided to go to bed early. I got up early and rested; I showered, dressed down to the shoes, had breakfast, drank coffee, and put a straight-back kitchen chair in front of the TV. I opened the windows to a crisp Spring breeze, gathered my shuttle and thread, and turned on the DVD. That's when the magic happened; I "got it" simply because she is such a good instructor.

DH, being the jokester he is, sat at the table one morning, picked up my filled shuttle and started tatting himself. He shrugged, "Well this is easy enough!" He had been listening to the DVD and apparently watched it a time or two himself. Silly Boy.

**nlgh** · 05-09-2015, 02:31 PM

[QUOTE=Caroline94535;7190943]For years and decades, I tried to learn to tat from booklets and magazines. No luck. I did not know anyone that tatted, but I loved the pieces I found in thrift and antique shops.

I finally found a VCR tape at the library. It's now available as a DVD, Tatted Lace from Start to Finishing with Bev Dillon. "Everything you need for learning and improving your skills."

Bingo! It clicked! I could watch her DVD, stop, rewind, rewatch, and practice.]

I learned how to tat. I tat! I'm a tatter! And I now have the cutest collection of eight or so darling old tatting shuttles, all of which I use and enjoy.

Yes, it is much easier to learn from seeing it done than trying to read the instructions. I'm glad to know you found a video that helped you. Videos weren't available when I learned in 1997, and the lady in the group meeting who was trying to teach me had taught herself from books, that weren't even available anymore, she found in her town's library.

It took me a week to learn to do the double stitch correctly. I had cataracts and could not visually and easily see what the thread was supposed to do, so I got a piece of yarn and practiced (using my hand as the shuttle).

My first completed piece was an edging I used to trim an unadorned denim dress that I had just bought. About a year later, I started designing my own pieces. My mother taught me the basics of crochet when I was a teenager. Our next-door neighbor could tat without looking, but I have not achieved that skill yet. I also tried to design some crochet, but was not very successful. I learned to knit in the mid-80's. I like working on small pieces, but not large ones like afghans. If I can make narrow strips and sew them together, I like.

Good wishes to all you multi-tasking needleworking people.

I have moved to be near my daughter, so I haven't done much tatting lately.

Georgia Seitz, who is the tatting forum moderator at Bella Online, also has online computer classes, that are very interesting.

**callen** · 05-10-2015, 04:20 AM

My grandmother was an expert at tatting & boy her lace was exquisite. I never learned & I thought it was a lost art so it's good to see that it is still alive & well. She tried to teach my mom but she could never get the hang of it so unfortunately it is lost to our family. I still have some her pillow cases where she had added some tatting lace to the edges. My grandmother used to make that shuttle "sing" & most of the time, without looking.

**janjj** · 05-10-2015, 06:00 AM

my mother-in-law tried to teach me how to tat. I just couldn't get it so we gave up ! i now do hairpin lace you need a loom which I bought at Hobby Lobby. I am on my 7th afghan. I do hand embroidery also. Been quilting for about 3 years.

**earthwalker** · 05-10-2015, 06:37 AM

I tatted years ago, but just didn't enjoy it at all. Not something that held my interest....I love quilting and stitching, punchneedle and embroidery and even crewel work (tapestry).

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