Today, I’m going to talk about an instruction that can be confusing the first time you see it. Rotate your piece to work the bottom of the foundation chain.
What does that mean? I’ll show you both in photos and in video how to do it! It’s a great technique for achieving an oval shape in your crochet work (what I’m showing in this demo) but you’ll find it in lots of other irregular shapes as well.
We used it on the wings in this Mix & Match Dragons pattern.
We also used it to get the really odd shapes in the Lovely Leaves pattern. . .
. . . and this totally unique snowflake pattern!
Crocheting into the both sides of a foundation chain lets you create all kinds of shapes!
Photo Tutorial
Okay, so you’ve crocheted your first row, and your piece looks like this:
Now, you encounter the instruction to ‘work the bottom of the foundation chain’. What does that mean? First, rotate the piece 180 degrees clockwise so that the row you just crocheted is on the bottom:
Now, crochet along the bottom loops of the foundation row (working from right to left), just as if you were working a regular row!
Once you’ve finished the row, you’ll have a lovely oval piece!
Video Tutorial
Want to see it in action? Check out this video!
So, think you’re ready to crochet into the bottom of a foundation chain? Give it a try!
Here are handy links to all the posts about crocheting more advanced shapes. . .
- How to Work the Bottom Side of a Foundation Chain
- How to Crochet an Oval
- How to Stitch One Row Below
- How to Crochet an Underbite
- How to Crochet Scallops
- How to Crochet a Pocket Mouth
- How to Crochet Two Rounds Together that Are Separated by a Foundation Chain
- How to Add a Ruffle to Amigurumi
- How to Crochet a Donut Shape
- How to Crochet the Mane on a Lion
Return to the main table of contents for Let’s Learn to Crochet Amigurumi.
Move on to the posts about troubleshooting common problems.
Happy stitching!
This is a great technique, Stacey. Is this the same way you would work from the bottom if you wanted to make a toy in an oval instead of a circle? Can you work in a spiral after making the oval or is that asking for trouble?
Yup! You’d use the same technique, and then continue to spiral!
Yep, you’re right, I was TOTALLY confused with how to do this step when I got to it. I tried it several different ways and could not figure it out. Finally I just made up my own way of making the wings. LOL! They turned out fine, but at least now I can see how I’m SUPPOSED to make the wings. The video’s are a HUGE help for me as I’m a very visual learner. Written instructions are really hard for me to understand.
Don’t you have to put three stitches in the side of the last stitch, before beginning the bottom loops, so the piece will lie flat?
The exact stitches you’ll want to use will vary depending on the project you’re working on. For the dragon pattern, you don’t do three stitches (just follow the pattern instructions exactly), but you may need to for other items you might be making.
Pingback: Crochet Pattern: Victoriana Shawl | Underground Crafter
Pingback: Undertaking in Crochet - Crochet Learning
Hi, as an avid beginner, I am stumped on a particular instruction for a cardigan. The pattern dictates that I start with the hood. I start with ch 31. From there, row 1 calls for 1dc in the 2nd ch from hook, 1 dc in each of the next 28 chs, 4 dcs in the last ch, and finally, (this is where I am stumped), 1 dc at the bottom of each of the previous 29 sts. so I will end row 1 with 62 stitches. Would this tutorial get me there?
It sounds like it – but I’m always reluctant to troubleshoot someone else’s pattern, so please take that with a grain of salt. 🙂