Thread in the colors of your choice. A shuttle with or without a hook. (If your shuttle does not have a hook, then you will need a small crochet hook as well. Scissors.
Wrap your thread around the shuttle until it just borders the edges of the shuttle. Don’t wind to much thread onto the shuttle or the string may get dirty. After you finish winding the shuttle, leave about 18 inches (46 cm) of thread hanging from the shuttle to begin tatting.
Grasp this part of the thread with your thumb and index finger to secure the ring of thread on your fingers.
Completing one of each type of knot (through and over along with over and through) is known as a double stitch in tatting.
Complete the double stitch by doing an over and through stitch. Pull this stitch to secure it and then follow with another picot or a double stitch. When you are finished with one picot, you should have a small loop secured between two double stitches.
To connect a picot using a crochet hook or shuttle hook, insert the hook through the picot you want to connect, and then loosen it slightly so that your shuttle will fit through it. Push the shuttle through the loop, then tighten the loop again. Follow this with a double stitch.
You can also use chains to connect rings of double stitches and picots. To do this, you would need to tie your second piece of string to the ring next to the last double stitch instead of tying two pieces of string together.
If you are adding a chain to a ring, then you will need to pinch the string where you tied it to the ring.
Make sure that you leave a few inches to extend between the knot you are pinching and your pinky. If you are adding a chain to a ring, then you will still need to do this. Wrap the string extending from the ring around your pinky finger. The ring thread will be your base for the chain and the new thread will be your working thread.
Keep adding double stitches and picots to your chain until you complete your project.
