Add Some Flair to Your Crochet With Chain Stitch Embroidery

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Among the many great techniques we showcase in the Spring 2012 issue of Interweave Crochet is chain stitch embroidery. Designer April Garwood brings this technique to light in her Plaid Skirt, a fun, flirty garment with endless possibilities for color experimentation.

And while the garment looks so impressive, chain stitch embroidery is actually quite an easy technique. If you make a crochet chain stitch, you can do this! In fact, once you try it you’re bound to find yourself using chain stitch embroidery to add some pizzazz to many of your crochet projects. Here’s a close-up look at the embroidery technique used on the Plaid Skirt:

Closeup on the Plaid Skirt by April Garwood

Now, to get you started, here’s the process up close. Note: once you start, you may never stop embroidering everything in sight. You have been warned…

Chain Stitch Embroidery Instructions

To begin the embroidery, insert your hook and pull up a loop in the space between two stitches.

Next, yarn over and pull up a loop in the space between the 2 stitches in the row above. Repeat from * to the end of the work.

Repeat Step Two in the opposite direction, taking care to insert the hook in the small space where the second row and the first row of chain stitch embroidery meet.

Don’t worry if the chains aren’t perfect, a little blocking in tepid water and gentle manipulation of the fabric will even out the stitches.

If you’re doing more free-form embroidery (anything other than straight lines), a little trick I use is to take a washable fabric pencil in a contrasting color of the yarn you used and sketch the shape you want to embroider directly onto the crochet. Use those lines as a guide as you stitch.