Wednesday 15 September 2010

Shuttle tatting vs. needle tatting

I am encouraged by the posts written by Agasunset and bought a tatting needle. I decided to learn this technique. Apparently tatting needle is much faster to do, which is the undoubted advantage. But at this stage I'm doing a lot faster tatting lace by shuttle. Now I would like to write about the differences that I see at first glance between the two techniques. Yesterday I did two flowers, the same pattern, same thread, the first made with a needle, a second with a shuttle. As you can see on the picture below the size of the two flowers are similar. The difference manifests itself in the thickness of the individual chains or rings. Next difference, which strikes the eye, is the distribution of colours on a multi-coloured, variegated thread. In needle tatting there is a continuity of colour both in rings and chains. In the shuttle type of tatting is a lack of this continuity. You can see very clearly the difference between colour of rings and chains. I must admit that generally I like more the final result in shuttle tatting, but the distribution of colour is far nicer if you are using a tatting needle. I used a sample of Lizbeth 40 (which was a pleasant surprise that I got along with purchased needles) and tatting needle size 7.


10 comments:

  1. You have given a good comparison of shuttle and needle tatting. I do agree that the colour flow of variegated thread shows up much better with needle tatting because the stitches are made continuously from the ball. Another advantage of needle tatting is that you can tat with much thicker thread which is not practical with a shuttle.

    Having said that, I still prefer the shuttle because it gives a finer and crispier appearance in the finished tatting, as you have shown in the two flower motifs.

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  2. Good comparison. I haven't tried needle tatting yet, I'm too attached to my shuttles. There do seem to be some advantages with needles though.

    On the point of a thicker thread (as mentioned by Jon above), a few months ago I found some really large shuttles that are great for this. The only downside is they don't have a crochet hook on the end.

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  3. Great comparison! Thanks for sharing it.

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  4. that was useful - thank you. May I as, did you buy the Lizbeth thread in the UK?

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  5. I'm a needle tatter and it may be that you might need to use a slightly smaller needle. I'm still fairly new to this craft but I started with crochet thread size 10 and a size 5 needle. Basically, your needle should be the same width as your thread.

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  6. I really enjoyed the comparison, how different were the patterns? I have been trying to figure out how to convert a needle tatting pattern to shuttle tatting. Could you show the differences there? Please?

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  7. With shuttle tatting you just use one with the rings another with the chains

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  8. I am not sure exactly what that means nyamburah? I have the same question!

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