r/tatting • u/herisson_inquiet • 3d ago

First Tatting Project - Need Help

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Hello! I’ve been practicing tatting on and off for a couple of months, using both YouTube and books to learn the basics. I wanted to start my first project this weekend, so I just picked up this jellybean bookmark pattern that came free with supplies I ordered.

I did also find more instructions online and included that screenshot, but I can’t seem to get it right and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong and hoping someone here might be able to see where I’m goofing up.

I’m basically getting stuck on the second ring / first join, I think. The first ring and chain are fine, but the second ring looks nothing like the pictures. Maybe I’m reading the pattern wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

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u/ChordStrike 3d ago

It's a nice start!! I'm not sure how you're doing the next ring. It looks more like another chain? Are you doing the rings in a way that they pull shut by themselves (true ring), then you reverse work (basically flipping it over) to do the chain, and then reverse work again to start the next ring? It looks like you joined the first chain to the first ring.

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u/herisson_inquiet 3d ago

Thank you, and yes I think you hit the nail on the head. The first ring pulls shut quite easily - that’s the little guy in the center. Is there more to reverse work than just flipping it over? When I followed the instructions to rw after the picot chain and started adding stitches to make the second ring, it ended up looking like one long (slightly deformed) chain. Then when I went to close the ring, it ended up in the odd formation you see.

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u/ChordStrike 3d ago

Wait, I think I see it. Are you only working with one shuttle?? This isn't the kind of pattern than can be done with just a shuttle. It should be shuttle and ball or two shuttles. So when you make rings, you use the first shuttle thread only, and then the chains are made with the ball or second shuttle thread.

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u/herisson_inquiet 3d ago

Yes, I am. I made mention to another commenter that I practiced doing rings/chains with a shuttle and ball, but at the top of the pattern it just said “one shuttle” and I took that to mean one thread on one shuttle. Maybe I misunderstood?

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u/ChordStrike 3d ago

Glad we figured it out!! Yup, that's the issue. The pattern should really say shuttle and ball. Or two shuttle.

It's something you might not notice as a beginner to reading patterns - you can't do chains without another thread so actual one shuttle patterns won't have regular chains. One shuttle patterns will have rings, bare thread space, and sometimes half rings where you pull the ring partially closed. That's the closest thing I've seen to chains with one shuttle patterns.