The
most obvious difference between needle and shuttle tatting is the way
in which stitches are made. To say it plainly; stitches are much
more easily made with the needle. Learning to twirl the thread around
your finger to create stitches is a lot
easier than mastering the 'flip' required in shuttle tatting. (I was
born blonde; twirling things around my finger comes naturally...).
;-)
I
really wanted to give some sort of visual for the differences of
stitches, however, that seems like a moot point as this blog isn't
about teaching so much as just sharing observances. (If you've
stumbled here and are interested in learning stitches, e-mail me and
I'll send you the links from which I learned to tat.).
Here's
a visual of needle versus shuttle using the same pattern and same
thread size.
Can
you tell the difference? The one done with the needle is bulkier (scans of the finished pieces are below).
Now,
my picots are never incredibly consistent, but if you look at the
shuttle-tatted cross, you can kind of see how I'm getting more
consistent. This is the first thing (other than a length of rings
and chains or an all-ring butterfly) that I've completed with the the
shuttle. Of course, every time my rings started to look 'okay' and
semi-consistent, my hands got sweaty and I'd struggle to close one.
>.< I hate when that happens, so here are a few things I do:
Needle
tatting-
If
your stitches aren't sliding off the needle as easily as they were,
stop, un-thread your needle, and clean it. A light detergent, such
as Dawn, will work, but I've used my hand soap (Cetaphil,
antibacterial) and gotten wonderful results.
Shuttle
tatting-
Before
you add more shuttle thread to your left hand, drop the shuttle. Let
it do its little crazy dance. If the thread is already twisted from
the motions of tatting, it will most certainly twist when you go to
close your ring, so never carry over twisted thread. ;-) I like to
drop my shuttle often (not always by accident, either! LOL). When
you're doing ring after ring, this might really help. Just remember
that when you transfer from shuttle to left hand, that thread has
been moved around –sometimes a lot.
Needle
and Shuttle-
When
closing a ring, if you keep pulling to close and there's still a of
thread that just won't come through, that's usually due to twisted
thread. Drop the needle or shuttle once in a while. (Yes, yes, I'm
redundant.).
When
closing a ring (or chain for shuttle tatters working off the ball),
if your stitches are becoming smushed or seeming to blend together,
this tends to be from the oil or sweat on your fingers. Wash and dry
your hands, then open the ring, relax the stitches by spreading them
back out a bit, and then try again. Note: If you've been working for
a while, the thread could just be too wet from your hands.
Sometimes, you need to put the piece down and let it rest.
When
all else fails, untat if you can. This is another thing that varies
between the two and yet is very similar in a way...
Needle
tatting- If you've messed up a stitch or half a stitch and they're
still on the needle, just pull them off toward the pointed end. You
end up with curly thread, but it won't matter.
If
you've messed up a ring or chain before reversing work/tying a knot,
loosen the stitches around any picot or one stitch before a join (I
always go one stitch before when it comes to joins so as not to
stretch the joining picot -even if this means doing the next step
multiple times). Unthread your needle and then us the needle (or a
crochet hook) and pull the core thread around which the stitches are
made. Keep pulling until the stitches have come undone. If
necessary, repeat until the whole chain or ring is no longer
existent. ;-)
Shuttle-
If you haven't closed the ring yet (or are mid-chain), use the hook
or pick (or any other handy tool) to *loosen the stitch enough to
create a loop big enough for the shuttle to pass through. Pause and
observe how the shuttle thread moves through the loop and follow that
path to undo the stitch.
If
the ring is closed, open it up by loosening the stitches at a picot,
or anywhere, if there are no picots. Keep spreading out the stitches
until they seem more workable, then repeat from * until all of the
necessary stitches have been eliminated.
Well,
there are some of my thoughts on some random stitch-minded things.
This has become much longer than I wanted, so I'm going to scan the
pictures and get this posted! If you have any arguments, better
ways, or ANYTHING, I'd love to hear it!
Love
and Happy Tatting to all!
♥,
Stephanie
Grace
Pattern used is by Gina Butler and can be found here:
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/ginabcross5.html).
Full crosses:
P.S.S. - I stink at laying this straight on the scanner --neither of these are perfect, though, so I don't know if it's my scanning or my tatting.... They both cupped a bit, but probably because I don't like my joining picots to show....
Lovely work! I too have trouble estimating the amount of thread required on the shuttle. I tend to over estimate and have thread left over, so use that to make small flowers and butterflies for cards/scrapbooking. It took me years of on and off trying to master the 'flip' but now I am addicted! Looking forward to following your blog adventures. Fiona T (http://onemadtatter.wordpress.com)
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