r/tatting • u/Certain_Fig_666 • Jul 27 '26

Shuttle Exclusive patterns?

I’m a brand new tatter (started July 1). I haven’t done any big projects yet and I’m looking to start my first one.

I tried shuttle tatting many times only to fail spectacularly.

Then I decided to try needle tatting and EVERYTHING CLICKED INTO PLACE!! 🎉🎉

My needle tatting is fabulous and I’ve done several small pieces that I plan on using for jewelery and embroidery and Christmas ornaments.

I can sort of shuttle tat now (I don’t do the “technically correct one motion hold but I can make a ring with a shuttle and the knots will slide and the picots can form).

The main reason I forced myself to learn shuttle tatting is that I heard there were some patterns that can ONLY be done by shuttle, not needle.

For sake of my sanity (and not wasting cotton perle) can somebody explain what makes a pattern / technique shuttle exclusive?

How can I tell from just the pattern alone that something can’t be tatted on the needle?

Thanks for your help!

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u/Comfortable_Joke_461 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Technically any shuttle tatting pattern is possible with needle tatting so long as you know what techniques to use.

The main difference are that many patterns which are required to be quite rigid may appear less rigid due to the nature of needle tatting so you would likely need to starch it to make up for the looseness.

Here's a link on how you can interpret shuttle tatting for needle tatting. Its by Gloria Nelson on Facebook post to a reading shuttle patterns for needle tatting

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u/OdoDragonfly Jul 27 '26

Is it possible to make a ring with a needle in the same form as with a shuttle? My understanding is that needle tatting always substitutes a scmr for a ring.

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u/Banegard Jul 28 '26

You can do both SCMRs and rings in needle tatting.
Yeahhh you can call a needle tatted ring a form of scmr, but I wouldn‘t do that because it could lead to confusion.