3D solid tatting

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 Who knew these cute little birds would be the cause to anger some people who then went on to make them an extinct species in their ecosystem! This pertains to only one specific FB group from which many of us have been booted out while others have left voluntarily. We now have a new group started by Vicki Clarke, called 3-D Tatting. All birds wiped out from that one group are now flocking together in this group, LOL, and others as well.

Bluebird in solid tatting

Continuing from my last post about flat solid tatting, see how wonderfully it can be applied to tatted amigurumi models!!! All pics in this post belong to Carolyn Craig who is the experimenter, designer, and tatter. I will quote some of what she shared with me privately with permission to use whatever was needed.

What is Amigurumi - Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting or knitting small, stuffed yarn creatures or objects. The word combines "ami" (meaning knitted or crocheted) and "nuigurumi" (meaning stuffed doll). Amigurumi are typically worked in spiral rounds using basic crochet stitches like single crochet and invisible decrease. They can now add tatting to the list for amigurumi. CRAIG

Solid Tatting by CAROLYN CRAIG - is the same as amigurumi. It is continuous rounds instead of joined rounds in a spiral, but it can also do flat solid tatting which is continuous. 

3-D Lips

After her 2D solid tatting in 2020, Carolyn tried these lips, working them in continuous rounds and stuffing them before sewing them closed

The Lips became the body of the birds. I am a retired art teacher. I have used basic shapes in clay, paper, and other materials to make different objects for class projects. I see how some can be made with the solid tatting, I just have not mastered all the ways it can be used. CRAIG

3-D Mouse Family

"The mouse family in solid tatting with jute... continuous spirally circle of tatting"

3-D Robin

This Robin is worked in yarn. 

You can see how she is experimenting with different threads/yarns as well as sizes to get the desired result.

The collage shows how the body is being worked as a single entity, a continuous round which includes the head in a different colour. Before the body is closed completely, it is stuffed. The tail, wings, beak, eyes are added later.

Below we see the assembly parts of a solid tatted Sparrow. 

3-D Sparrow

"This sparrow was done in 4 ply acrylic yarn with a Moonlit shuttle. The sparrow is continuous solid tatting in a spiral to form body and head. The spine and tail are solid flat tatting in one piece. The wings are regular tatting."

The second image is the parts of sparrow solid tatting in a continuous spiral - body and head, Flat solid tatting which is continuous - spine and tail, and regular tatting - wings with moonlit shuttle in background. 

If you look close at the flat spine and tail, one of the two stitches used to create SOLID TATTING can be seen in the top and bottom row……. CRAIG

TIP: Carolyn uses two types of lock join to achieve her compact 3D solid tatting. For the most part the lock join made through the wasitband of a double stitch which she calls LFW (LJ through front waistband). It is the horizontal bar of a DS when the DS is facing us; the LJ is made within the stitch, between two half-stitches. The 2nd is when the LJ is made through the back waistband - LBW. This is simply like joining between two DS. Since 3D model is tatted all from the front, the LFW is used much more. LBW is used for increases/decreases to shape the model. 

3-D Bluebird

"The blue bird is with size 3 tatting thread (but tail and wings are still in size 3 thread instead of size 10)"

 

A closer look at these beauties!

These are but 3 solid birds designs. Her aviary consists of 7 or 8 different birds and you can see them in her FB timeline or the 3-D Tatting group (besides a few other groups). There are many active preservationists who stepped in to prevent extinction! Carolyn will be sharing her process and experiments in detail in future.

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3D in Tatting - There are numerous ways to tat 3D models with or without stuffing. Some are worked continuously (as in the listing below) while others can include joining motifs, bowl shapes, covering a balloon or ornament, etc.  These could include in no particular order ....

• Bobby Demmer's bauble tatting (which the Shuttle Brothers used to tat mice, etc.) (https://janeeborall.blogspot.com/p/exclusive-tatting-club.html), 
• Richard Embrey's helix tatting (2019) (https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2024/01/helix-tatting-pictorials.html), 
• Rhoda Auld's bobble tatting 1974 (which Ninetta Caruso used to make hollow tubes/ropes), to name but a few. (https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/search/label/stacking)
• Angeline Crichlow self-published a booklet titled Solid 3D Tatting (1995) where she mostly used block tatted segments to create numerous shapes and creatures. She has several models, but no birds. (https://www.somethingunderthebed.com/CURTAIN/REVIEWStat/REVIEWS_AtoD/Crichlow/CRICHLOW8.html) 
• 3-Dimensional from Endrucks directory (https://docs.google.com/document/d/10F9PdUIL_GcOelRsk5vKhaXXZnDQjaoJstaJU8ZPEJ8/view) displaying a range of 3D models derived from Endrucks' (1920) patterns. Also check out the eye candy section to see many many more models and ideas in the FB albums and roundups from games involving 3D tatting in #Endrucks1920Project. 
• Therese Dillmont's layered rings (1886) adapted & stacked for a 3D hollow for a tree trunk or a bangle, etc. (https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2016/12/miniature-conifer.html)

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I wasn't going to, but this is adorably cheeky to not share! Here's what some veteran masters of tatting are doing in the above FB group .... Anita posted this yesterday and then left the group and told me I could share after several other tatters expressed their desire to copy/paste. 

Please note that this is the vintage edging (recreated by Anita) that inspired my threader holder motif here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/04/literally-out-of-box.html

And now I am told Martha Ess has also posted something similar listing all our greats who inspired her 3D design using block tatting and it reads like a true historical timeline. 

Cheeky but civilised and disciplined and following all rules! 

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Many thanks to Carolyn for allowing me to share her lovely work and details and to ALL others mentioned who allow us to use their ideas and techniques so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel.

2D solid tatting

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 Carolyn Craig's journey of 3D solid tatting started with a flat 2D fabric which she first made and shared publicly in 2020.

This was the piece. In her words -

"My first piece of solid tatting was for a tapestry purse in 2020. I tatted a flat piece of solid tatting for tube at the bottom of the purse for a scarf or umbrella."

This is what the 2D solid tatting fabric looks like without the appliqued tatted letters. It is worked continuously in to and fro rows with a shuttle and ball. Thus we work from the front from left to right, turn work and go back from right to left in continuous succession and repetition.

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Above is my first attempt when she privately discussed her process with me. I chose to start with a ring and worked in continuous chains around it.  It is worked all from the front and the joins are made through the waistband of each double stitch (she calls this LFW - lock join front waistband) of the previous round.

My mistake was to use knitting cotton size 10. This is not as firm as crochet cotton. Also I couldn't always make out the joining point and probably fudged.

Nevertheless it gave me enough of an idea of how Carolyn worked her solid tatting.

One can continue this piece and end up with a 3D model but more on that in the next post.

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Meanwhile Carolyn has created a PDF with her pictorial on flat or 2D solid tatting. She graciouslygave me permission to share her work here. I like the applications she included towards the end. 

2-D Solid Tatting with Carolyn Craig April, 2026 PDF - 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-ti9Ut7j9KXvrubxncW1mK3lnhvRnFE/view

The tutorial starts with a foundation chain rather than a ring and I followed along ....

 

Her tip about using a marker or pin is Really helpful. 

This time I used Anchor crochet cotton size 20 in single colour and worked off a ball with single shuttle.There were some errors and I had to re-tat the 3rd row ... practice will make it neater.

This is how it looks from the back - like knitting!!! Seed stitch as some members said.

TIP: In a square or rectangular piece where we alternate between working rows from the front and the back, all joins are made through the 'hidden picot' since we are not deliberately making any picot.  Carolyn terms this the LBW (Lock join to back waistband), 

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Carolyn pointed out that while some pinholes are fine in a flat piece, if we wish to use it for 3D, the space should be as minimal as possible to avoid any stuffing from being visible. So I continued with tighter stitches ....

You can see the difference between the upper and lower halves. 

Texturally, too, the upper half is stiff. Although I do like the lower one - it feels more cloth-like when handled. Each has its use.

The same sampler from the back. The seed stitch pattern is more obvious in the lower half than the upper one, though it could be my own fault.

At present this is set aside. Oh by the way, I used 7 double stitches per row and am certain there was some fudging at some of the turns.  

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So far, when worked in ROWS of 1DS chains, it is nothing different than Dora Young's patterns. The difference is merely in design; in the combination of dense and open areas. And she deliberately made 'picots' at each lock join. 

Since I last posted, this is how far my Dora Young's Round Pinwheel Doily from her 'All New Knotless Tatting Designs' (2nd ed) has reached.  As of 5th Oct 2025, it is 14 cms or 5.5 inches in diameter. The dense pinwheel is complete and only the open chain rounds are left. However, I ran out of thread and couldn't decide on how to proceed. 

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To recap, 

Solid Tatting is simply dense area(s) in any tatted lace. Usually the dense is interspersed with lighter/airier portions in interesting designs. Solid tatting also includes tatted formations such as blocks, coils, tallies, onion rings, etc. Remember how many of Eleonore Endrucks'  patterns have broad and diversely shaped blocks interspersed with more open areas? Die Schiffchen-Spitzen, 1920 -https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LEVftXweztBIOWh4sL4BB7bX65ssoOsOn4oXIgCepY/view. The difference is that she uses longer chain segments as well as segmented blocks rather than single DS chains. Even before Endrucks. we come across a couple of projects in Lady Hoare's book (1910) where continuous rounds of tiered chains provide a dense highlight to patterns.

UPDATE: Double Chains also offer a solid design option, however they require a minimum of Three threads - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2024/09/pleasure-and-pondering.html

However solid tatting can also be applied to 3D models as we shall see in the next post. 

Many many thanks to Carolyn .... the best is yet to come! 

new blooms

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I have a lot of tatting to share, but this simply couldn't wait!

 It took a month and half for this orange jasmine or madhukamini plant to flourish in this way! We got a flower here a flower there, but not in such glory. A quick count today revealed at least 15 flowers, not to mention their lovely fragrance. 

And I wonder if you can see there are several more buds waiting to open in the next few days. Sadly the flowers remain open for only a day but they do spread so much joy. Gardening requires patience and perseverance.

Here's how the plant looked when I first posted pics here https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/03/spring-magic.html