Instruments for placing complex sutures into animal tissues, including instruments useful in arthroscopic surgical techniques which minimize incision size. Manipulate the flat tissue by, for example, rolling, wrinkling, folding, bending or tucking the tissue so that a needle can be placed through the tissue more than once. Sutures are placed, for example from top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top with a single pass of a straight needle. Roll, wrinkle, fold, bend or tuck the flat tissue so that a needle can be placed through the tissue more than once. Suturing a loop through the tissue that another suture will pass through result in sewing both sides of the tissue. This will allow surgeons to place complex locking and grasping suture configurations that will significantly improve the repair.