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Lesson Info
Quick Overview of Crochet and Drape
So we're gonna get started first off talking about the way that different stitches lay and how the fabrics drape. Alright, so there's two things that can really change the way the flow works with your fabric with crochet. The crochet stitch in general is relatively dense. If we're talking about a knit stitch, it's just one loop over the other. Crochet is actually sort of a form of a knot. So there's gonna be a lotta density to that. So often people think that means there's not gonna be a lot of room for drape, but really all you have to do is work on the height of the stitch or go with a lighter weight yarn to get kind of a really nice flowy fabric. So I'm gonna show you just some of the different stitches, and you'll be able to see sort of the level of fluidness. Fluidness? That's not really a word. The level of flow verses how like stiff the piece is, and we'll talk a bit about the weight of the yarn that we used as well. So the tightest stitch hands down is single crochet. This is a...
single crochet piece and you can see it's curling. It's curling for two reasons. It hasn't been blocked, but really it's because it's a worsted weight yarn used with a size H hook. It was really tight which would be perfect if I were working on a plushy or a pillow or something that was gonna be stuffed, and I didn't want anything. I wanted it to be airtight, but as you can see if this was gonna be anything that you were gonna put on your body, that's really not, that's gonna be pretty stiff. That's gonna be, you're gonna be like in a metal robot, really constricted. This is also single crochet, and it's less constrictive because not only is it a thicker yarn, you'd think "oh thicker yarn, it's gonna be stiffer" but the combination of that and the bigger hook really is not so stiff. It's not great. I mean it's not flowy for a garment, but you know what, it would be really great for a pillow, really great for you could probably get away with a scarf. Not a lot of flow, but it would be super warm, but I would consider this for some, like a place mat or some home decor objects. Half double crochet is just a half a step taller than single crochet. So it's also a half a step flowier for lack of better term. It has a little bit more movement to it because there's a little bit more height to it. So the height of the stitch really does add to how the piece will move. This is still a relatively chunky yarn, but because you've got that height and you can see that there's a little bit more holes, anytime there's a hole there's air flowing through it, you're gonna get that nice flow. So again this is a relatively fluid piece. This I would actually be okay with using for a scarf or a beanie. It would do fine, but it's really a nice go-to stitch because it's also great for home decor projects. So next up is double crochet. I have two swatches with double crochet. One in that same worsted weight, same size hook as the single crochet we saw earlier, and you'll see this is pretty, it's pretty malleable. The flow is really nice. This is gonna be really good for a hat. I would feel totally okay for a kid's sweater with this. A scarf would be fine, and then if I wanted to kind of kick it up a notch, I would just up my hook ante go up to a chunkier yarn and a bigger hook which is just gonna make the stitches bigger right? So bigger is also gonna create more of a hole in between the stitches. So this part of the stitch is called the post, and the taller the post is the more space in between the two stitches there's gonna be. That's gonna give you more flow. So even though these are the exact same stitches, you're probably gonna get a bit more flow with this because there's more room to breathe. By far out of all of these stitches, the most kind of airy and flowy is this triple crochet piece. That's because these stitches are really, really tall, and so it's pretty net-like almost. There hasn't been any specific open work done, but because of the height of the stitches, there's not gonna be any of that tight construction. So this a thick yarn. So it's gonna be probably less breezy than a lightweight like a nice lightweight linen, but it's still really kind of open weave. I would love a scarf out of this. I think I would be really cool, an extra big scarf like a wide scarf. It would have a nice flow to it, but would still be super warm. If you want to get into something that is really nice and light and airy and doesn't feel so bulky and chunky, you can do something. These are a couple of swatches that I did for scarves that I've designed for magazines. So this was kind of a wedding related scarf project, and this has a combination of shell stitches, which we're gonna be learning. We're gonna be learning shell stitches in a bit, but also just the use of chains has really opened up the piece so that it doesn't feel bulky at all. Setting aside that this is a very fine, this is a lace weight yarn, so that makes a big difference, but also the combination of that with a stitch pattern that involves a lot of openness, so chain stitches that are then just connected with one single crochet a lot room for air, and just visually you look at this and you see there's a lot of negative space. That to the eye is gonna feel like it's light and airy and delicate. This piece also this is from a big scarf that I designed, and I ended up not being into this color way, but the actual finished scarf I was happy with and really because it was super wide and huge. It's a huge piece, but because it is really more negative space than it is crochet it feels really light, and this is actually a sock weight yarn. This is yarn that was intended for knitted socks, which is a really great sort of example of how you don't need to use a fiber for what it was specifically intended for. I know often as crocheters we don't see as many products specifically marketed to us especially when it comes to yarn. Often crochet gauges aren't included on labels, and if you look on websites you don't know which hook to use, but really there is not a yarn that's specific for crochet verses knitting. If it's string, if it can be made into a strip, you can crochet with it. So this was a sock yarn, but instead in this cool sort of really geometric. I love the sort of open-weave squares fabric. So it gave it a really nice drape. And so lastly this is a project that we're gonna be talking about later. This is actually part of the bonus material. This has a combination of stitches, and the only reason that I wanted to really point it out now is that it has the double crochet, which we just talked about being great for a scarf, but because there's this through line of cables you're gonna get a little bit more construction, a little bit more of stability through line for this scarf. Is it really gonna change the way that it lies? Not much, not really cause it's thin, but it does give it some interest. It will lay a bit differently than if it didn't have the strength of the cable right through it, and then lastly this is just a scarf. This is actually from Crochet Maker 101 if you took it. This is just a few stitches. Sorry, this is triple crochet and half double crochet, and I just wanted to show you on a bigger piece how you can have sort of these relatively tall stitches and this is in probably a worsted weight yarn, but it's still really sort of lush and soft, and it doesn't feel stiff at all even though it's all of these knots of the crochet stitch. It still really drapes nicely. So that's really just a little bit about drape. Hopefully that will give you an idea of how different weight yarns and different stitches can really make in the project that you are venturing out on. So that we've touched base on this, I'm ready to grab my hook and get started.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase