{"id":1101,"date":"2021-09-21T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2021-08-22T16:56:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T20:56:16","slug":"tatting-with-rings-and-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/21\/tatting-with-rings-and-chains\/","title":{"rendered":"Tatting with Rings and Chains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Wooden
You can tat all these with two threads.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve been following my series on introductory tatting, you’ve spent the last several installments working with only one thread. If you missed prior sections, you can find the last one here<\/a>. Personally, I love shuttle-only designs for their airiness and their portability, but one cannot live by shuttle alone. So today I bring you a few options for tatting with rings and chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two ways to tat with two threads. You can keep the thread connected to the ball of thread after winding your shuttle. You then make your chains using the ball thread while you create rings with the shuttle thread alone. While this is a traditional way to tat, it offers drawbacks as well as advantages. It allows you to suspend the ball from your wrist in a holder if you like. This keeps it close yet lightens the weight on your hands. A negative, however, is that when you run out of shuttle thread you have to cut both threads, rewind the shuttle, and attach both threads as you continue. That, in a word, is a pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An alternate way to tat with two threads is to use two shuttles. I thought this was a relatively recent way to tat until I came across a 1925 pattern calling for two shuttles. The benefit here is that everything is very portable. Two shuttles fit into your pocket or bag as easily as one, and off you go. Plus, since your remaining thread waits for you on the ball, you can refill an empty shuttle at any time. I have found two drawbacks to this method, however. First, the extra weight from a loaded shuttle can be trying for my hands over time. And second, the two shuttles tend to wrap around themselves and tangle if my attention wanders or I try to go too fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the two-shuttle method remains very popular. Lots of tatters use it and love it. Experiment a bit, if you haven’t yet, and decide which method is better for you. You should also know: in some modern patterns two shuttles are required because they include techniques that simply cannot be completed with only one shuttle and ball thread. So if you regularly tat modern patterns, or you plan to, the habit of tatting with two shuttles may be a good one to acquire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instructions: tatting with rings and chains<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These patterns are all straight edgings. Done two-sided they would make splendid bookmarks. As they are, they would look nice on handkerchiefs, towels, shirts, jackets, bedsheets, hats, handbags, or whatever you fancy. Usually I present these in time order, oldest to newest, but today I’ll give them in simplicity order. All these threads are tatted with size 10 thread so you can see the detail. You make them in whatever size thread you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abbreviations you will need: <\/p>\n\n\n\n