By Carolyn Hanson
I’m hooked. If you have never tried Tapestry Crochet you are in for a delightful surprise. Tapestry crochet uses simple stitches to make intriguing designs and patterns in 2 or more colors where the resulting fabric is reversible and dense. It is perfect for purses, wallets, cases, blankets, and even area rugs. I just finished 2 cases; one for phone cables in 2 colors and another for my laptop in 3 colors.
Tapestry crochet is to crochet, as Intarsia is to knitting. It’s a method of introducing detailed design into the body of your project. In knitting, the design colors are carried in the back of the work creating floats. However, in tapestry crochet, the floats are not visible and a double-sided fabric is generated.
Learn more knit and crochet skills via this link: https://theconnectionsnj.com/category/creative-corner/
How tapestry crochet works:
- All colors are carried along in every stitch and row throughout the project.
- The working yarn color covers the other non-working colors hiding them with each stitch, making the fabric reversible. So if your project has 3 colors, 1 color creates the stitch and the remaining 2 colors are hidden.
- Colors are easily transitioned from one to another according to the design. The most critical step is to switch colors with the last yarn over (yo) to complete the stitch. This makes an invisible transition between colors. See https://youtu.be/_wGsqonuccofor details on the transition technique.
- All stitches are the same; either single, half-double or double crochet throughout the project. Single crochet is the most common.
- The design is printed on a grid, like a graph paper. Rows are numbered and start with 1. The pattern design is read from the bottom to top and from right to left. Each box in a row represents one stitch and one color. This example shows a 2 color design. While working the white stitches, the red yarn is held in the back and covered by the white yarn. In the red sections, the red yarn is the working yarn and the white is held in the back and covered. It’s easy to mark progress with a sticky note along the active row.
- Tapestry crochet can be worked in the round or in rows.
For purses, wallets, and cases, I like using tightly spun mercerized cotton. This is especially helpful when using a small hook, 2.75 mm or C. This assures minimal yarn splitting and creates a smooth surface. For blankets, use any of your favorite yarns. There is no limit.
It’s fun and easy to create your own designs. Just grab a sheet of graph paper or create a grid in Excel. Use colors or symbols to represent your design. Tapestry crochet works great for letterings, geometric designs, etc. Find lots of designs on Pinterest or full projects on Ravelry.com
Some tips:
– It’s tedious to work with designs that switch colors every 1 or 2 stitches. Beautiful, but slow going.
– Always check progress against the chart. It’s easy to choose the wrong color or forget to change colors.
– Don’t allow for too much slack with the carried yarns and don’t pull too tightly. Too much slack means that the carried yarns are visible on the reverse side. Pulling too tightly to remove slack will cause the stitches to compact horizontally making the fabric tight and causing the work to decrease in width.
– Working in the round results in a cleaner design since the right side is always in the front. The cherry design above was worked in the round while the flower design is in rows. You can see that the stems of the cherries are more clearly defined than the flower stems.
I’m onto my 3rd tapestry crochet project now; a wristlet with multiple pockets in a geometric design. This one is going to be an original in fuchsia and slate gray. Still gathering inspiration. Let me know if you try it.
Carolyn Hanson is a local knitting and crochet designer, teacher and fiber artist. She can be contacted at
cchanson3@gmail.com.