Main Pattern

This is a pretty basic tatting pattern. Variations similar to this can be found all over the Internet and in almost every book on tatting. Below are some additional ideas of how you can use the basic pattern to create your own ideas. The possibilities are endless, and the stacked version makes a very stable fabric. (NOTE: Images to follow.) If you need help reading the patterns, you can read about that here.

Ring 3-3-3-3, rw; * chain 4-4, rw; Ring 3+3-3-3, rw; repeat from * for desired length.

Variation #1

Ring 3-2-1-1-2-3, rw; * chain 4-4, rw; ring 3+2-1-1-2-3, rw; repeat from * for desired length.

Variation #2

Ring 3-3-3-3, rw; * chain 2-2-2-2, rw; ring 3+3-3-3, repeat from * for desired length.

I think you get the idea here. You can combine any stitch and picot combination, as long as you keep the stitch count the same (12 stitches in the ring, and 8 stitches in the chain).

Corners

Corner options are pretty limited, but it also depends on if your rings or chains will be the outside edge of your project.

Corner Variation #1 - Inside corners

After completing at least one repeat of the above edging variation, work one more chain. For the next ring, join the first Picot to the corresponding picot of the previous ring, and join the 2nd picot into the 2nd picot of the previous ring. Make one more chain, and one more ring, joining the first picot to the corresponding picot of the previous ring, and the 2nd picot to the joined picot of the last two rings. Complete this ring as before. Continue with a chain and ring as determined by your edging.

NOTE: For this corner, the ring will join next to each other, and in the top center of each ring. If you used the 2nd variation above, you will have to fudge the picots a little bit for it to work out.

Corner Variation #2 - Outside corners

After completing at least one repeat of the above edging variation, immediately work another ring, joining the 1st picot to the last picot of the previous ring. Work one more ring, joining as before. Resume edging pattern with a chain, joining the 1st two picots to the last two picots of the previous chain, then ring, as usual.

NOTE: When coming out of the corner, I keep making the mistake of joining to the top/center picot of the previous ring, instead of the last picot. Make sure you keep an eye on which picot you're joining to.

Stacking

Variation #1

Row 1: Using your choice of the main pattern from above, work a length as desired.

Row 2: Using the same pattern, repeat Row 1, joining the picots in the rings to the corresponding rings of the previous row.

You can be done after two rows, or you can repeat Row 1, joining the center picot of the chain to the center picot of the chain in the previous row. Then, repeat Row 2, joining it in the same way to Row 3.

For corners, if you used Inside Corners for the first row, used Outside corners for the 2nd row, and vice versa.

Variation #2

Work the same as Variation #1, but this time, join the ring picots to the chains. Repeat for as many rows as desired.

For corners, see Variation #1.

Variation #3

This is the one I used for my Tatted Yoke.

I did Row 1 & 2 as in Variation #1, then Row 3 as in Variation #2, and Row 4 as in Variation #1 again.

For corners, see Variation #1.