How to Tapestry Crochet – Tips & Tricks

One of the newest crochet styles that I have fell in love with is, Tapestry Crochet! I’m going to show y’all some of the the things that I have learned and how I work with multiple colors of yarn.

So, one of my latest projects that I have finished is my Watermelon Pillow Pattern

It’s really not near as hard as it seems. At first, it takes a little bit of getting used to when switching between colors and knowing when and where to put the different strands of yarn, but once you have it down, it’s a breeze!

About Tapestry Crochet

As you can see from the photos above, tapestry crochet is a way for you to crochet while using different colors to make a pretty design or picture on the piece that you are working on. You can use as many or as few colors as you would like in any particular design. I will be showing you how I change colors and work with the yarn.

You can start with an already made design or from one that you have created. I recently just discovered Stitch Fiddle and this is the easiest way that I have found to design charts and graphs for crochet! Plus, most of the features are free to use. You can also make designs from any kind of image you upload or you can design something completely free handed. The possibilities are endless!

For this tutorial, here is the piece we will be working on

Find the written pattern below!

The Blue will be our Main Color (MC) and the the Pink Will be our Contrast Color (CC).

If you are working with more than 2 colors, sometimes the colors will look like this Contrast Color 1, Contrast Color 2, etc. (CC1) (CC2) and so on. Unless they just go by the color names. Everyone has a different way of writing patterns and charts, so it can differ.

Row 1 is the right side row (RS) and row 2 is the wrong side (WS) and so on.

Some Tapestry Crochet projects are worked in the round with the outside being the right side, but you can also work tapestry crochet in a flat piece back and forth as we will be doing.

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Written Pattern

Here is the pattern written out from the graph above

Chain 16, begin crocheting in the 2nd chain from hook

• Always ch 1 at the beginning of every row (does NOT count as a stitch)
• You should have 15 stitches at the end of every row

Row 1-3 (RS, WS, RS): (MC) sc 15 (this means to single crochet 15 stitches with you main color, in this case blue)

Row 4 (WS): (MC) sc 7, (CC) sc 1, (MC) sc 7

Row 4 explanation – (single crochet 7 stitches with main color, single crochet 1 stitch with contrast color, single crochet 7 stitches with main color)

Row 5 (RS): (MC) sc 6, (CC) sc 3, (MC) sc 6

Row 6 (WS): (MC) sc 5, (CC) sc 5, (MC) sc 5

Row 7 (RS): (MC) sc 4, (CC) sc 7, (MC) sc 4

Row 8 (WS): (MC) sc 3, (CC) sc 9, (MC) sc 3

Row 9 – 10 (RS, WS): (MC) sc 2, (CC) sc 11, (MC) sc 2

Row 11 (RS): (MC) sc 3, (CC) sc 4, (MC) sc 1, (CC) sc 4, (MC) sc 3

Row 12 (WS): (MC) sc 4, (CC) sc 2, (MC) sc 3, (CC) sc 2, (MC) sc 3

Row 13 – 15 (RS, WS, RS): (MC) sc 15

How to Change Colors

Here is how to seamlessly change colors.

On the stitch before you change colors, begin to work the single crochet like normal and pull up 2 loops and stop there

pick up the color you are switching to and pull it through the 2 loops completing the single crochet

Continue single crocheting number of stitches directed until you need to change colors again and follow the same pattern as above.

What to do with the other colors of yarn

I like to put the color of yarn that I dropped on the wrong side. There are a couple ways that you can continue. You can either crochet over the color you aren’t using (in this case the blue) by holding it over the row of stitches making sure to single crochet over it. Then you can pick it back up when needed.

Or, you can NOT crochet over the color you aren’t using and let it float along the wrong side and pick it back up when you need it.

This is called floating. A pattern may tell you to let your yarn float on the wrong side and this is what it is referring to. Then, you can just pick it up later on the row or even rows later and you don’t have to worry about crocheting over it every time you make a stitch.

This is what I do on projects that I know you won’t see the wrong side on, especially if it’s something stuffed like a pillow. If you are working something like a blanket, where you will see both sides, I wouldn’t recommend letting your yarn float.

Or, another option is to use multiple balls of the same color for the opposite sides

This is the best and easiest way to do it for blankets.

That’s basically everything about switching between colors.

For small projects, I would recommend using small balls of each color. This way if the strands of yarn get wrapped around each other, it’s easier to move them around and unwrap them.

You can simply take your one skein of yarn and turn it into multiple balls instead of just one, so you can have multiple ends to work with. I do this and it works especially well if you have small sections where you only need a few stitches in certain colors.

Carrying Yarn Under Stitches

I will show you what it looks like if you carrying your yarn under your stitches. But, I sometimes don’t like the look of this because sometimes you can see the other color and I prefer a cleaner piece.

f you will look at the 3rd row down, this is what it looks like if you just carry the yarn under the stitches. I prefer using multiple strands and not carrying it under, as is the top row.

It’s really not a huge difference, it’s just what I prefer to do. Maybe I’m just a little picky, haha!

I will carry my yarn under the stitches if it’s only for a few stitches like maybe row 4, 5 and maybe even 6. But, you get into some of the longer stretches and I’ll use 2 balls of the same color, one on each side. I think this is just my preference for some reason.

BUT, it completely depends on the project. I’m not going to have like 50 different ends to weave in if the color changes and goes back and forth every 3 or 4 stitches, I’ll just carry the yarn under. So, it’s pretty much just what you want or prefer to do. You can try it both ways and see what works best for you.

I think that I have covered just about everything that you need to know to get started with tapestry crochet! I hope that you will enjoy giving this technique a try and I can’t wait to see what you create with it! Be sure to tag me @okiegirlblingnthings on Instagram to share with everyone!

Try some other Crochet Stitches

• Moss Stitch in a Square
• Waffle Stitch
• Granny Triangles
• Solid Granny Squares
• Plaid Stitch