Turkish ‘Tatting’ ?!?

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In prepping for my upcoming trip to Camp Wanna Tat (my first time there!) April 17-18, 2026 in Kalispell, MT I have been relooking at YouTube videos on Turkish ‘tatting’.  I think that it is called Mekik Oyasi.  ‘Mekik’ meaning ‘shuttle’ and ‘Oyasi’ meaning ‘lace’ (or something like that).  The reason I’m relooking is that one of the classes at CWT is ‘Oya Flower’ by Leesa Kramer.  I’ve played around with the oya flower before, many years ago but haven’t done much with it.

This is my attempt at ‘tatting’ an oya flower today.  The oya flower ends at the top of the motif.  Keep in mind that Turkish ‘tatters’ use synthetic/polyester thread and when they finish with one motif such at the one I made, they either cut the thread leaving about 1/8″ and then melt the thread to finish it–something we can’t do with cotton thread or the Turkish ‘tatters’ leave a space of bare thread from the finish of one motif,  to be able to use the same thread for another motif. 

 

So lately I have been watching Turkish YouTube videos. I posted one of them before on my FB page, questioning whether this is true ‘tatting’.  In all the Turkish videos I have been watching, the rings and chains are created using a modification of SCMR with all the stitches being untransferred.  In this previous post, only one person commented saying that they thought they did see the stitches transferred.  Unfortunately, they were wrong. After watching many more Turkish Mekik Oyasi YouTube videos, I am positive that the Turkish approach to ‘tatting’ is quite different than traditional tatting.

So my question is:  Is it TATTING is the stitches are not transferred?

In the past, it was a popular belief that the definition of ‘TATTING’ was that the stitches were transferred.  (However, that brings us to a different question regarding Split Ring Tatting Technique!!!  We can tackle that question at a different time.)

I chose the above video to share, because it clearly shows how Turkish ‘tatting’ is created.

My bead issue

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  • Due to my vow to wear more tatting in public, I have been making these simple tatted/beaded necklaces.
  • In fact, I just recently completed another necklace on my 3.5 week road trip to CA.
  • After figuring out how to deal with a container of beads while tatting, I found these projects very ‘mindless’ while traveling in our van for long distances.
  • However, my ‘bead issue’ is that I have been seeking out bead store and then buying beads in possibly ashamed quantities recently.
  • The third photo is my ‘stash’ upon returning from my trip.