Victorian Tatting the Weldon’s Way: Double Stitch

Weldon’s Practical Needlework houses a wealth of information on Victorian tatting. Here’s our fourth installment in this series from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4. The following is another method for working double stitch. It is reproduced here just as it appeared in England in 1889. No alterations or corrections were made.

Illustrations from Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4.

ANOTHER WAY TO WORK DOUBLE STITCH.

The following method of tatting double stitch is employed by some workers, and the stitch presents the same appearance as if worked in the manner described above [see “The Method of Working Victorian Tatting from Weldon’s”]. 1st Movement—Hold the shuttle and the cotton as represented in Fig. 2, but instead of the cotton hanging straight down from the shuttle, let it go between the third and fourth fingers of the right hand, pass the shuttle under the loop, between the first and second fingers of the left hand, and bring it back over that loop and through the loop of cotton held by the little finger of the right hand, draw up the shuttle to the right with a jerk, and raise the second finger of the left hand to stretch and extend the loop, and the thread of the loop will form a stitch upon the shuttle thread. Then, 2nd Movement—Still holding the loop, shuttle, and cotton in the same position, take the shuttle over the loop on the fingers of the left hand and bring it back under that loop and through the loop of cotton held by the little finger of the right hand, draw up the shuttle with a jerk, and raise the loop with the second finger of the left hand, and the second half of a double stitch will be formed upon the shuttle thread; repeat the two movements.

If you missed any part of this series on Victorian tatting from Weldon’s, you can catch up on all of the blog posts here. Find out more about tatting in our video download Shuttle Tatting with master tatter Georgia Seitz.

Featured Image: Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 4, offers up a wealth of information on Victorian tatting.