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 where continuous rounds of tiered chains provide a dense highlight to patterns.

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!