Shuttles or Needles?

[moonswirl.livejournal.com]

Hello fellow tatters!

Have any of you tried tatting with needles? I first heard of tatting from a needle-tatting pattern I saw in "Fancywork" magazine some years ago. I picked up a set of needles and learned to tat with them, not even realizing there was this whole other world of shuttles out there...

Eventually, I caught on to shuttles - but had a hard time learning the technique until I came across the wonderful photo instructions on Jen's Tat-ra Sutra site. (highly recommended instrux for those new to the craft, btw!)

I prefer shuttles these days, but I was wondering what other tatters think. Do tell!

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Needle tatting is probably easier to learn, but it tends to look a lot looser in the finished work. If you choose a fine enough needle for a given size of thread, it can look just the same, but in my experience, people tend not to.

[moonswirl.livejournal.com]

I did notice that my needle pieces are a bit looser than the shuttle pieces - even though I am using the recommended size thread for the needles...(i have a set of graduated sized needles)

I thought it was something I was doing incorrectly.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I think the suggested sizes are slightly on the large size (otherwise it can be difficult to pull the thread through). It's not something I've played with enough to have a really good feeling for, though, since I started with a shuttle and like it just fine. I learned to needle tat just so I'd know how, and that was enough for me.