I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch remember the '80s? Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on All Rights Reserved.
The very best way to get familiar with tambour embroidery is just to do it — that is, sit down with a hook, a piece of fabric in a hoop, and some thread, and try it. Work your way through the basic movements of the stitch, until you understand how it works. And more practice.
And even more practice! Practice until you can stitch in all directions with it. The more you practice, the more the stitch makes sense, and the easier it becomes to stitch in all directions. Before you start, make sure you set up your tambour hook correctly. The knob on the handle and the opening of the hook should both point in same direction.
Wherever the knob is, you want to line up the opening of the hook on the same side, right in line with the knob. The knob will tell you! While you practice, develop the necessary habit of entering and exiting the fabric vertically.
Entering and exiting the fabric at an angle can cause the hook to snag on the fabric. The video below starts with the thread anchored on the side of the fabric. You can anchor the thread different ways — for example, in this article, you can see how I used waste knots to anchor my threads.
