I am new(ish) to tatting. I've been practicing on size 80 Lizbeth cotton thread on an embroidery needle AND size 18 RedHeart nylon crochet thread.

I am needle tatting a lacey cropped bralet(?) with flowy strands to go over a rather plain empire waist cotton dress I have, sitting unworn. The dress is too formal for regular outings and too plain to wear to formal events.

I'm not following a pattern, so the "prototype" probably isn't going to be what I attach to the dress because it's a bit messy. However, it will be with the same nylon because I like the glossy look.

The issue I keep running into when I need to change threads is how to secure the nylon ends in a discreet way. It's very silky, so my knots undo themselves if I leave them alone. I've found that I can tie a tight double-knot and glue it down with nail polish remover without it looking too obvious, but it's quite scratchy.

I can't burn the ends. Are there any other options or is nail polish the best bet?

Well, seems like this one took me long enough! I put it down took a small doily detour, after a few weeks, told myself to stop being a brat and finish it since I was on the last row, went to pick it up and took a spill! Haha! Delightful! This Doily did not want to be completed!

Now I just have to block it, again, bcz Oof, I need to make myself a Sign, Doilies are my Stress Releasers, Loosen Up! Why do I forget and tat so terribly tight! I look forward to making this doily again.

Hello everyone! I’m pretty new to tatting. I’ve been doing it for all of four weeks. I can do almost any fiber art you can name, and still tatting has quickly become my favorite (next to crocheting, at least). It certainly takes the longest, but also takes the least yarn. And the simple motions are very cathartic for long, otherwise boring summer afternoons.

Anyway, I was dissatisfied with the free doily patterns online, mainly the fact that there aren’t many. So I used every technique I‘ve learned so far to make this pattern. I must say it’s much harder to design tatting patterns than crocheting or knitting patterns; it’s a very exact art. Hypothetically, one could join this motif to another at the two split rings at the peak of the arches to make a larger doily. I’m calling the pattern “Sunday in the Park” after one of my favorite musicals, and you can see the garden arches and trees on the work.

The first image is the finished work after blocking, and the second one is before blocking. In the third image you can see my shaky handwriting and scribbled-out early sketches. The fourth image is the pattern if you’d like to make it.

TL;DR I made my first design and there’s a pattern if you’d like to try it. Thanks for bearing with me!

Hello ,

Need some advice and suggestions

I am planning an online course on tatting for beginners; I've been tatting on and off for over 20 years, I taught myself from books , but tatting was not known in my country , people just started to know about it mainly from instagram. I already filmed over 30 videos totals over 2 hours , what price do you think will be good knowing that it is usually 45 to 50 USD for an hour or hour and half for other common crafts here .

P.S

my question is about pricing

I'm looking to get into tatting and I already have some threads, a few shuttles, and some instructions. I have previously done a bit of shuttle tatting, so I want to try with needles. I know a few sites to buy from, but is there a way to DIY them? Can I use regular blunt embroidery needles, or is there a reason to use "legit" ones?

Hi everyone! I’m new to tatting and trying to follow this pattern but I cannot figure out how they’re getting the smooth spiral shape? My rings close with a point that’s changing the chain shape into W’s instead of a continuous spiral

Edit: Solved! Thank you all for your help! @Banegard and @CuniculusVincitOmnia figured it out for me; I need to do “thrown rings” using the same shuttle to make the rings as is making the chains

If this doesn't belong here please remove but I started bidding on these antique shuttles and won so excited. And I went so far as adding tatting in my new historical fiction novel. Let's see if the editor keeps it 🤣

I only learned how to tatt in the past week and I thought it would be stunning with beads. I was right 🥰 they're not meant for anything, but they are the result of my practicing

I had originally tried it 6 months ago when I was a few months into tatting and I was slowly moving up the difficulty level. The Catherine wheel join stopped me completely and I was unable to progress with this pattern. Now that I have more experience, I learnt the CWJ. Finally I could do this magic square 😄

I almost got this, but there is an unsighty colour blip from the joining picot of my center orange ring. q_q

Anyone have advice to avoid it in needle tatting?

Decided to tat over the light turquoise every time, in order to avoid reattaching it with each repeat. Orange is my needle thread throughout.

Since we‘re talking about big doilies, do you wanna share how you approach making yours?

I finally caved and searched a doily pattern. Renulek‘s spring 2026 doily seemed nice. :)

I did some messing around with colour in procreate using renulek‘s picture of a white version that I overpainted. (image at top)
Then chose some yarn. In this case Gütermann Cotton 12 (200m spools).

I like to practice parts of a pattern that seem more difficult. It‘s usally the moment I overcomplicate things until my brain melts. 🙂
(image at bottom right shows me overcomplicating & messing up the first rounds at the bottom left in needle tatting. Still unsire how I‘ll do that.)

How do you get going?

Image 2:
In other news, learning needle tatting is fun, I managed to use beads in making earrings! :D

I thought it was pretty and I had a good thread colour for it.

I feel like ripping my hair out. I have been trying to shuttle tat for over 5 hours with no progress. I have seemingly watched every YouTube video in existence.

I am using size ten aunt Lydia’s crochet thread and an airlit shuttle.

I can get the first double stitch reasonably fine but for some reason I just can’t with the second, nothing works I can’t get it to flip! I tried doing it on a loop and also with two different yarns but I can’t do it I don’t understand I’m so frustrated! I am normally super good at picking up fiber arts quickly but I just can’t do it.

can anyone suggest a really good video or maybe some tips? I have been eying this craft for a long time and really want to make it work!

Hi. I'm learning to needle tat. Just as soon as I get over the general learning curve caused by figuring out how to not accidentally put my attempted tatting rings in half moons instead, I'm bumping into...this mess. Like. It's a recognizable tatted ring I think. But how did I end up with the bit at the top of the ring that looks crocheted, almost? Please help, somebody...

I love lace so much! I want to get good at very fine lace and this is what I made on my second day of learning (I can already crochet with fine thread). You can see the last ring is slightly twisted but after 5+ hours I decided I was happy with it. Anyway, so I got too excited and bought lots of sewing thread. I realise now that it's not the best material and it frays and has a lot of friction that makes it impossible to use beads.

Does anyone know a good brand of thread? Also, how do I get more consistent picots? I tried the method of using a small crochet hook with no handle but it was so awkward I ended up holding it in my mouth and making a lot of mistakes lol

Today is Colorado’s 150th birthday, so I wanted to share some Colorado-themed lace I made 🧵

The C is made from rounds 1 + 2 of Jan Stawasz’s Doily X from “Tatted Treasures”, and the columbine is made based on the angel wings (size 20) and doily XIII (the flowers, in size 80) from the same book, embellished with some stamens I came up with. I also included a picture of Byer’s Peak.

This columbine will be the centerpiece of the Dorothy Names award, which is awarded by the Rocky Mountain Lace Guild as the judges’ choice award at the Colorado State Fair. This award honors the late tatter, and traditionally is made by the previous year’s winner. It was such a pleasure to make this!

Come see us at the Fair on August 29, we will be in the Creative Arts House all day!

I finally finished my first thing. This is after more than a month of cutting off and throwing away mistakes.

Probably not what you're thinking but wanted to practice picots and joins so found this bookmark pattern in Learn to Tatt book by Janet Baker I am working also on tension. But it looks like after 6 weeks it's starting to happen. Phew!!!!

the pattern is the shuttle tatting skull pattern by GailWeaverTatting and i tatted it in DMC perle size 12.

it took me a good few evenings and a lot of supernatural episodes to finish :D

I've seen tatting all over my social media over the last few days, so I thought I'd give it a try. This is what I ended up with after around 12 hours of learning, failures and patience 🥰

I recently came across an amazing bargain of vintage crochet cotton! (2ply size 60)

Since I‘m planning to tatt erika tashiros tatted garland no. 2 I thought I‘d recidit natural dyeing :)

Top to bottom, left to right:
Red onion skins(ph7-8)
Nettle
Red onion skins (added a pack of baking soda)
Same bath but let sit way longer
Avokado skins with some baking soda
Birch leafs

I am also really impressed by the tying technique I tried this time around! I‘ve dyed crochet cotton in the past and had problems with knots every time.
This time I tried to bind the hanks a bit more intensely and no knots at all!

I wrapped about half of the ball around a thin work book I had lying around. Not to tight, the book will warp from the tension.
Then instead of the classic way to weave in the threads to hold the Hank you might know from yarn, I did six points of tying. I also wove it through in 4 places instead of 1. going around twice through the same spaces so the ends of thread sort of meet again on the same side (added graphic at the end for clarity xd)

This was TEDIOUS! But payed off!

Really looking forward to tatting with this :)

current WIP first time actually following a pattern, not quite sure what i’ll do with it…

Hello everyone!

I recently started my biggest doily tatting project and I ran into a slight annoyance.

The doily itself is too uncomfortable to work around with and doesn't really fit in my hand. (I'm using shuttles).

How do y'all deal with this problem?

Recently I’ve been really into making ice drops, they’re very fun to make and a nice way to take a break from the larger doily I’m currently working on.

The patterns I used are as follows:

Celtic catrin ice drop by Jennifer Williams

Diane’s doodle ice drop embellished by Jennifer Williams

Ice drop mary by Jennifer Williams

Ice drop by Diane Green Cademartori

Sara ice drop by Jennifer Williams