Tatting lace

Needle tatting is usually the easier place to start. The long needle keeps the knots visible and easy to handle, so the crucial flip is simpler to grasp, and many people get a recognisable motif faster this way. Shuttle tatting is the traditional, more portable method with a slightly steeper learning curve. Plenty of tatters learn the needle first, then pick up the shuttle later, and the lace they produce is nearly identical.

The flip is the transfer of each knot from your working thread onto the core thread, and if it has not happened your knots will not slide. This is the single most common beginner stumbling block. When tatting works, the completed double stitches slide freely along the core thread so you can draw rings closed, and if they lock in place, the transfer failed. Practising plain chains in thick thread until the flip is reliable solves it.

A size 10 crochet cotton to start. Real lace often uses fine size 20 or 40 thread, but those make the knots tiny and impossible to read while learning, hiding both the structure and your mistakes. A thicker size 10 in a colour you can see clearly lets you watch each knot and flip form. Move to finer thread only once the motions are automatic and your tension is even.

Less than it looks, which is part of its appeal. Tatting is built from locking double half-hitch knots that do not slip, so the finished lace is surprisingly hard-wearing and historically trimmed handkerchiefs and linens that were regularly washed. It tolerates gentle laundering far better than delicate bobbin or needle lace. Treat fine cotton lace with reasonable care, but it is made to be used rather than only displayed.