MaryM's Original Daisy Bullion Edging©2001
- tatting with crochet hook, crochet tatting, cro-tat, tutorial, how to -
Copyrighted. Please copy, reproduce, collect or redistribute with permission only.

My Full site is sometimes closed by Geocities due to heavy traffic.
Here are other, single sites for the same patterns:
Snowflake
Daisy Bullion Edging
Bookmark
Valentine heart

Finding little to not-much on the internet for tatting with crochet hook, I dreamed up this little design. (Of course, Crochet Tatting is quite an old art, recently come into vogue again - It is described and pictured in "The Godey's Lady's Book" in the 1850's!)
I think this is a nice quick edging, and thought you might like it too. Because crochet tatting is scarce online, I thought I'd present it in tutorial form, in case confusion might arise. I hope you like it, find it quick and useful, and will quickly
email me if you have any question.

I used No. 10 cotton, and a cro-tat hook for that size thread. You can use any thread or yarn, with appropriate size crochet or afghan hook with a long, straight shaft, and having a small enough head to pull the thread through multiple loops without hanging up on the thread or yarn.

For the "crochet" functions, you will use the hook. For the "tatting" functions, you will use the shaft of the hook.

Begin with a normal first crochet loop. I just ignore this loop.

Begin the Ring (R) on the shaft of the hook:
A tatting stitch is a two-part double hitch stitch (ds).
First half of the double hitch stitch (ds): wrap the thread over finger from the front as shown, pick thread up and off the finger onto shaft; slide loop thus made down shaft to the first (ignored) loop. (Some people like to use the "ignored" loop as the first part of the first double hitch stitch (ds), but it seems to confuse others. So I just ignore it!!)

Second half of the double hitch stitch (ds): wrap the thread over finger from the back as shown, pick thread up and off the finger onto shaft; slide loop thus made down to the first half of the stitch. Double hitch stitch (ds) made.

Make another double hitch stitch (ds).

Now make a picot (p). A "picot" is a space formed between double hitch stitches.
Make the first half of a double hitch stitch (ds) about 3/8" up the shaft of the hook. Note that the size of the picot will be half of the length of the space when it is drawn up.

Form the second half of a double hitch up next to the first half as usual, and then snug the new complete double hitch next to the others, forming a decorative loop with the space of the thread. Picot made.

To complete the ring: Do (double hitch stitch, picot, double hitch stitch or [ds,p,ds] ) 3 times, then another double hitch stitch (ds). Your shaft should now contain 4 picots with an extra double hitch stitch (ds) on each end.

Now to use the hook!
Use third finger to pull down loop of thread as shown. This firms the thread so you can use the hook on it.

Anchoring the stitches on the shaft with your thumb and middle finger of your thread hand, yarn over (yo) and pull thread carefully and gently through all the loops on the shaft. You now have one loop on the shaft.

Gently release the loop on your third finger, and anchor the new ring with thumb and forefinger of your hook hand. Gently pull the thread back toward the skein to gently tighten the loop into the ring stitches.

Snug the ring stitches closer to the shaft, to form a half-closed ring. (In most patterns, you would be instructed to close a ring completely.)

Again with the hook, yarn over (yo) and pull through leaving about 1/4" space to the ring. You will work the bullion stitch (bs) onto the spacing thread.

Bullion stitch (bs):
Yarn over (yo) 5 times, and gently push the wraps together down to the loop on the hook.

Gently slide the shaft down without loosing the loops - ! - and insert the hook into the center of the ring under the spacing thread.

Yarn over (yo), and pull thread through all loops on the shaft. One loop left on shaft.

Yarn over (yo), and pull through leaving the bullion long. If you tighten this step, you get a "bobble" instead of a bullion! You now have one loop on the shaft.

Chain 5 (ch 5).

Slip stitch (sl st) into the last picot made. Bridge made. One loop remains.

That's it! Repeat everything again, until you reach the length you desire.
You could cro-tat this edging directly onto the item to be trimmed by catching the fabric with the hook when making the 3rd or center chain of the ch-5 bridge.
©2001MaryM All rights reserved.

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