This post was originally published April 28, 2015… but it’s so popular that I’ve updated it and added a video!
Crocheting is so much fun because there are so many options! Even a simple single crochet gives you the option of crocheting through the front loop, both loops or the back loop!
Today, I’ll show you where to insert your hook for the most two popular techniques: the back and both loops. I’ll also link to some posts that you might find helpful… and included a video tutorial at the end!
The Back Loop
Every stitch is a V laying on its side. Do you see the V in the above photo? The back loop refers to the top leg of this V.
To use this technique, insert your hook where I’ve put a black dot in this photo:
Why the back loop?
Crocheting through the back loop is my favorite! You’ll want to read this blog post that outlines all of the advantages!
Both Loops
The term ‘both loops’ refers to both the back and front loops. This is the ‘standard’ when a pattern doesn’t specifically reference any loops. This is the entire V:
To use this technique, insert your hook where I’ve put a black dot in this photo:
Video
I know it can be hard to picture what these variations look like when you’re actually crocheting, so I’ve recorded a video for you!
What’s it look like in the end?
You’ll want to have a look at this blog post where I show you photos of how each technique looks, in the round and in rows!
This post is originally from November 2013. I updated it in July 2017 to add the quilted batik tablet cover I made for my iPad Pro.
The day before I left for Quilt Market I decided that a really efficient use of my time would be to make myself a tablet cover using some of my new patterns. 😛
Here’s the result.
I posted it on Facebook and I got a bunch of requests for a pattern.
How about a free tutorial instead?
First you’ll need to measure your tablet. Of course, they’re all just a little bit different.
Add one inch to each dimension – length and width. This is your cutting size. If your tablet is 8″ x 11″ your cutting size is 9″ x 12″.
Cut four pieces of fabric to your cutting size. Two are for the outside and two are for the lining.
Or just make it out of the most fabulous fabric you can find!
For the new iPad cover, I used a fabulous hand-dyed batik fabric from Malka Dubrawsky of Stitch in Dye and added Big Stitch quilting around all the circles.
These are the tablet cover front and back, all quilted, trimmed to size, and ready to assemble.
Back the outside layers with some thin cotton batting and hold the layers together with some machine quilting (if you didn’t already quilt it as part of your embellishment). For the cat/dog cover, I just followed the line of the zigzags in the fabric. Easy peasy! Since the tablet is lined you don’t even need to back the batting.
So. You’ve cut your pieces, added any fanciness you like, and quilted in some padding. Time to start sewing it all together. This is super easy.
Sew your front to your back, right sides together, using 1/4″ seam allowance. Sew down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side. Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.
Do the same thing with your two lining pieces except leave a 3-4 inch opening in the bottom for turning the whole thing right side out later.
Turn both the outside and the lining right side out and press.
I’ve got my turning stick poked through the opening I left in the lining. See how I pressed that too? That’ll make it a cinch to sew up when you’re done.
Now turn the outside inside out again. Leave the lining right side out.
Measure a strip of elastic 3 inches long. I used soft fold-over elastic in a pretty color but you can really use any elastic in any size or color.
Fold the elastic in half and pin it to the center of the front of your cover. (Fold the cover in half to quickly find the center.)
I like to leave a little extra hanging over the raw edge.
Slip the lining (right side out) inside the cover (inside out). Line up the side seams and pin or clip the layers together around the top. The elastic loop should be sandwiched between the two layers.
You can really see my quilting lines here on the batting.
Sew the outside to the lining all the way around the top using 1/4″ seam allowance.
I go back and forth over the elastic a couple of extra times. It’s a stress spot and I like to reinforce it.
Now comes the fun part.
Pull the lining out of the bag. Then pull the whole thing through the opening in the bottom of the lining. Sew up the opening in the lining using either whipstitch or ladder stitch and tuck the lining down into the bag.
Flip down the elastic loop to see where you need to position your button and sew the button in place.
Done!
Here’s the back of my cover. Of course I had to decorate the back too!
And here’s a full view of the batik cover.
It’s the same font and back. 🙂
Here are several free patterns that work with my basic 10-inch applique squares – no resizing needed!
Here are several free patterns that work with just some simple resizing. This post about making coasters has info about resizing an applique pattern that can be applied to any of these projects.
Today I’m going to show you my favorite way to begin crocheting amigurumi: using the sloppy slip knot. I find it easier to do than the magic ring, and it closes up nicely so that you don’t have a hole at the start of your work. I’ve included a photo tutorial and a video tutorial.
(If you really want to use a Magic Ring, I’ve got a tutorial here. But trust me – the sloppy slipknot is soooooo much easier. Once I learned it I never looked back.)
Sloppy Slip Knot Photo Tutorial
Step one: To begin, don’t make a slip knot. Instead, simply twist the yarn once around your crochet hook.
Step two: Chain two stitches.
Step three: Single crochet 6 times in the second chain from hook. Not sure which one is the second chain? Check out where this arrow is pointing!
It’s important to note that you go into the second chain away from the hook, not the second chain that you crocheted. The loop on the hook doesn’t count as a stitch.
This is what your piece will look like when you have done your 6 single crochets. There’s a hole in the middle.
Step four: Here’s the magic part. Just pull the tail, and your hole closes up! And don’t worry, the hole won’t slip open over time.
It’s easy!
If the hole doesn’t pull closed, this probably means that you crocheted your 6 stitches into the incorrect stitch. No worries, try again!
The summer holidays are just starting here in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s time for me to start getting a lot more questions about teaching kids to sew. 🙂
Summer vacation is a great time for some sewing lessons!
Kids love to learn from other kids – so I’m rerunning here a video my daughter made with me a few years ago. (She was 11 at the time.) In it she shows how the machine works, how to sew wavy, straight, and parallel lines, how to use decorative stitches, how to turn corners, and more.
It’s a no-pressure way for kids to get a feel for how the machine pulls the fabric through on its own, how (and how much) they need to steer, how fast and slow they can make it go and more. And they’re not just practicing on random scraps of fabric that they’ll throw out! They’ll use these fancy fabric strips to sew up a horde of slithery snakes!
Every time I teach a group of kids – those snakes are the #1 favorite project. They make so many of them!
If you have a kid just starting out on the machine this is a great way to practice some basic skills. It’s also a good (sneaky) way to see if they’re ready for a book like Creature Camp! Set them loose with this project. It uses a lot of the same skills they’ll learn in the very first project in the book, so if they can handle these snakes they can jump into the book!
Here’s the video. . .
Jo used the same color thread for all her stitching just to keep the pace of the video going. But encourage your kids to change threads as often as they like! It’s a great way to practice re-threading the machine. 🙂
Making those snakes is easy!
Get the Snake Charmers pattern here. It’s a free pattern that’s usually made with regular fabric – but follow the special instructions below to use your practice pieces to make your snakes extra special.
Cut strips of fabric 3 inches wide and 10 inches long. That’s a little bigger than what the instructions call for. All the stitching on the fabric can make it shrink up a bit, so the extra is good. It also can be hard for kids to sew right up to the edges, so this gives them some extra room.
Stitch all over the fabric in any design and colors you like. There’s no right or wrong way to do it so this is a totally no-pressure way to practice. Have fun!
When you’re happy with the stitching, press the fabric nice and flat.
Using the Snake Charmers instructions, trim the pieces to size and sew up some snakes.
Every once in a while a fabric company asks me to work with them on a project – usually for a booth at Quilt Market. When it’s the right company and the right project these collaborations can be really fun. Every once in a while lightning strikes and they’re so perfect that it’s almost magical.
Be sure to listen with the sound on for maximum cuteness. 🙂
I’m in the middle of another magical partnership – this time with Michael Miller Fabrics.
Maybe you saw some of their posts tagged #mmfpets during Quilt Market?
I had SO MUCH FUN making these guys!
Did I mention they’re BIG?
Really big.
Each block is about a yard wide!
When Michael Miller approached me about the project and shared a sketch of their booth, I actually squealed out loud. The concept was just so cute!
They had a bunch of BIG paper doll blocks, with outfits made in soon-to-be-released fabric collections. I would be making their pets – also in brand new fabrics. 🙂
It’s so much fun (and feels so sneaky) to play with new fabrics before they’re even released! Here are some of my favorites from this project. Each image links back to the Michael Miller site if you want more info. (Maybe you want to ask your local fabric store to be sure to bring in your favorite.)
So the whole booth concept was super cute, the fabrics were super cute, and their idea to incorporate my applique patterns was super cute. Of course I said yes!
Before I even started the project, I was already thinking of ways that YOU might want to use some big applique patterns. My plan was just to tell you to enlarge the blocks and then make some suggestions for what you could do with those supersized cuties.
But once I got into actually making the blocks, I realized it wasn’t quite as simple as that. It’s still pretty easy – and boy do they come together quickly! But there were a few Problems To Solve and Quirks To Work Out – so I decided to put it all together in a new online workshop.
No – those aren’t miniature scissors. Those are my regular shears, put in there for scale. 🙂
Update – this class is no longer available, but I’m working on bringing many of the lessons over here as free tutorials.
But that’s not all!
Since the purpose of the blocks was to show off new fabrics, I needed to add some extra doodads and accessories for the pets. That way I could incorporate more fabrics!
That was so much fun that I KNEW you guys would want to play too.
I decided to create a new applique pattern with loads of different hats and eyeglasses and bows and mustaches and speech bubbles and more. I just finished my drawings and I’m going to start making up some sample blocks soon so you can see how they work with all the applique patterns you already have.
So there it is. A perfect partnership – one where every step of the process is a joy and takes me in directions I never even thought of – including back to you. Many thanks to Michael Miller Fabrics for making it fun!
My previous post, how much yarn do I need? has been so popular that I wanted to expand on it a little bit today by looking at adding another stitch into the mix, the double crochet.
Double Crochet vs. Single Crochet
The measurements above show you how much yarn you’ll use for a single crochet stitch for different thicknesses of yarn.
Did you know that different stitches use different amounts of yarn, too?
For my measurement, I measured single crochet and double crochet, both using a size H (5.0mm) hook, worsted weight yarn and crocheting through both loops.
You can use this number to calculate how much yarn your project will use or how many rows you can work on your blanket before you run out of yarn. Cool, right?
Which stitch should I use?
It looks like the double crochet uses more yarn, but keep in mind that it’s also a bigger stitch, too… so one stitch covers more surface area.
(If you haven’t checked out the free Howie pattern, what are you waiting for?)
Carrie (one of the group leaders) designed sleepy eyes for crocheters who didn’t want to use plastic craft eyes… and she’s sharing her pattern with us!
Aren’t they adorable?!?
Maybe you’d like to add sleepy eyes to your next amigurumi!
The factor that’s relevant in how variegated yarn will work up is how long each color repeat is and how much yarn each stitch uses. Although skeins vary, most are about 3-4 feet in circumference, and a variegated yarn will break this length up into a few colors. So, most color repeats are a few to several inches.
You can see here that each color lasts several stitches before switching to a new color.
Crocheting
Crochet stitches, in general, use more yarn than knitting stitches, so a color repeat will last over a fewer number of stitches.
Here’s my crochet swatch
This swatch is done in single crochet, and most of the colors last for a few stitches before changing (as compared to several with knitting). This results in a ‘splotchier’ looking fabric.
You might be interested in reading about the latest craze of Planned Pooling.
Weaving
Totally different from knitting and crochet, because there isn’t a ‘stitch’, the color repeat goes for as long as it actually goes on the yarn. In most cases, a color lasted for an entire row on my scarf.
Also, weaving uses two directions of yarn, the warp and the weft.This results in a really lovely plaid-like fabric. Here’s my swatch:
All together now!
They’re all so different, right?
It just goes to show that when you find that dream variegated skein, you still have choices to make! You’ll want to select a project (and craft) that will result in the colors working up the way you want!
Ugh! How on earth do you applique eyes? They’re so small!
The eyes are definitely the trickiest part of any of my applique patterns, but I have several posts that show you easy ways to deal with them!
Applique
I usually applique eyes using solid black fabric. I like the look of it, and (after some practice) I don’t think it’s too tricky to outline those eyes. Plus I use black thread on black fabric so if my line gets wonky, nobody really sees it. 🙂
If you want to applique the eyes but you don’t want to do the outline stitching, use Heat & Bond Ultrahold fusible adhesive.
The Heat & Bond Ultrahold is too stiff for the main applique, but you’ll never notice the stiffness on such small pieces as the eyes.
Careful! If you choose this option, you need to be sure to dry your quilts on a less hot setting. If your dryer gets as hot as the wool setting on your iron, that’s hot enough to re-melt the adhesive and the eyes could come loose.
Machine Embroidery
I’ve got two different posts showing how you can embroider eye shapes by machine.
See? Lots and lots of options for those pesky eyes. 🙂
Here are links to all the posts showing how to applique with fusible adhesive – my favorite method. It’s fast and easy and (with the right materials) it holds up beautifully to rough use and repeated washing.
I’ve had SO MANY people ask how they can use QAYG with sashing. So many!
I don’t usually use sashing (or borders) in my quilts – but for this dinosaur quilt I really wanted them to divide the long panorama-style rows of dinosaur landscapes.
So it’s the perfect opportunity for a video!
I need to clarify one thing up front. This is NOT the sashing you often see in QAYG quilts. In most QAYG with sashing, that sashing is designed to hide the seams between the blocks, and it’s usually pretty skinny (usually maxing out at about an inch wide).
This is more traditional-style sashing (or borders) that you can make any width you like.
It’s done just like adding sashing to a regular quilt – except that you quilt the fabric to the batting before you cut it in strips and sew it to the blocks.
It really is that simple.
Here’s the video showing how. . .
See how easy that is?
You use the exact same method if you want to add borders to your QAYG quilt.
I promised links to a few more helpful videos and tutorials related to this one, and here they are.
There’s a printable download with fabric requirements, cutting guides, and assembly diagrams for quilts (six different sizes) with sashing and borders here.
And that awesome dinosaur skeleton fabric I used for the sashing? Sorry. It’s been discontinued now. 🙁 But the good news is that there’s ALWAYS a great selection of dinosaur fabrics in the world. 🙂
Find links to all the posts about pattern size and layouts here.
