SHAPING CROCHET
or right side slope inwards or outwards. Your
pattern should tell you where to place your
shaping stitches to create the desired effect,
with patterns like working on sleeves and
shoulders for garments – or for designs that
don’t need to be this precise, you can try
something new and experiment!
SHAPED MOTIFS
By working shaping stitches in the round, you
can create all sorts of motifs. Fortunately, in
crochet, the techniques for increasing and
decreasing in rounds are exactly the same as
in rows, so you’ll only need to learn the
techniques once.
EVEN SHAPING
Sometimes a pattern might ask you to
increase or decrease a certain number of
stitches ‘evenly across the row or round’. To
do this, take your stitch count (such as 50)
and divide by the number of stitches you
need to increase or decrease (such as 5).
This comes to 10. To make the shaping even,
you would work the first shaping stitch after
5 stitches, then another shaping stitch every
10 stitches, so that the last shaping stitch is
worked 5 stitches from the end, for an even
look across your row.
If all this sounds a bit complicated, don’t
worry – just follow our step-by-step guides to
learn each shaping stitch and practise
crocheting them for yourself. Experiment to
see the different effects they create and you’ll
soon get the hang of it. Turn over to start
learning how to use shaping now!
INCREASE
Vital for shaping your fabric...SHAPING AND TURNING CHAINS
Once you start shaping, you might wonder what to do with the turning chain when you’re
increasing or decreasing. Unless your pattern instructs you otherwise, at the start of the
row, work the turning chain as usual and then increase in the first stitch you’d usually work
into, or decrease over the first two stitches you’d usually work. At the end of a row in treble
crochet, it’s neater to work a plain treble stitch into the top of the t-ch, so always work your
increases or decreases right before the last stitch.LEARN THE LINGO
In a pattern, a simple increase of one
double crochet stitch will be shown as
‘2dc in next stitch’. A larger increase of
two stitches will be shown as ‘3dc in next
stitch’ and so on.END OF ROW
If you’re increasing at the end of the row,
you will affect the outward slope of the
left-hand side of the finished fabric.START OF ROW
If you’re increasing at the
start of the row, you will
affect the outward slope of
the right-hand side of
the finished fabric.SLOPING SIDES
If you increase at both ends of a row,
you’ll widen the fabric on both sides
and create outward-sloping sides.
If you do this in double crochet on
both sides, you can create a
triangular shape, like this.SLOPING SIDES
If you decrease at both ends of
a row, you’ll narrow the fabric
on both sides and create
inward-sloping sides. If you
do this in treble crochet on
both sides, you’ll create a
triangular shape, like this.END OF ROW
If you’re decreasing
at the end of the row,
you will affect the
inward slope of the
left-hand side of the
finished fabric.START OF ROW
If you’re decreasing at
the start of the row,
you will affect the
inward slope of the
right-hand side of
the finished fabric.LEARN THE LINGO
Decrease stitches are especially
useful in garments, when you need
to shape armholes and necklines.
In a pattern, a simple decrease of
one treble stitch is called tr2tog
(treble two stitches together). A
larger decrease of two stitches is
called tr3tog.DECREASE
Create interesting shapes...