Free Form Crochet - Techniques

Good morning,

Today I am featuring crochet techniques with two of my free form afghans.  This first one was made with wool yarn many years ago.  I had made a number of test motifs and blocks that I had tossed into a box, then...

...I grouped the earth tones together and sat on the floor to piece them together.  It turns out that many more "putting together" pieces are made as it is assembled, than there are motifs.  Each motif added is slipped stitched into place where a connecting shaped place has been made to fit it perfectly.  There is no sewing involved.

I kept the work flat by working on the floor and testing all curves and corners to be sure they were flat as I made them.  No blocking was necessary.  I did measure carefully by putting masking tape on the carpet using a T-Square to be sure I produced a true rectangle before working a border around the whole thing.

Since this is made of wool, I keep it in a cedar chest.  I have often said I will frame and hang these, but have never gotten to it.  At both of these are being kept safe until I get around to doing that.   :)

This afghan of blues and greens was made with acrylic yarn.   I made it a year or so after the first one.  It was before washable wools were available so I  had gone into acrylic yarns to make items for the kids that would be tossed into the washer often.  I grouped those blue and green motifs and blocks that I had made while designing other projects.

I used the same system of sitting on the floor to make this one.  If I did it again, I would surely work at a large work table.

Making these afghans and other items this way taught me so very much about piecing work together, working around corners, keeping work flat, spacing solid and lace pieces....  They were wonderful projects that produced results that could never be repeated.

Another fun way to use this sort of free form crochet is to make a coat, jacket, dress, or skirt.  If you want to measure your subject and work from those measurements, I have a form on line you are free to use to write down the measurements.  I developed this because I was tired of sending emails home while I traveled to get measurements of the kids.  Now I just measure everyone before I leave and I'm set.   You may want to rearrange or get different measurements than on the form, but this one works for me.

You can also use a sewing pattern and make pieces to fit the pattern pieces - without the seams - then crochet or sew the pieces together.  The more basic the sewing pattern, the better.

If you like to experiment with crochet I hope this has given you technique ideas to make your own projects.

Very best,
Lois

My original design items and patterns are available for sale here:

EvensensProductions.Etsy.com