139 Crochet Border Patterns, A Book Review

A book of crochet border patterns

Today I have a book review for you. This is Every Which Way Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman, a book of crochet border patterns. Usefulness and patterns aside, it is a joy just to look at with all the beautiful colors and designs in it! Read on for all the details about what’s in this crochet book.

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What I made using this book of crochet borders

This book came at the perfect time for me! I was almost finished with a lace table runner, and I needed an idea for the edging. I went with #89 (each of the edging patterns is numbered, rather than named). I tweaked it though, to make it fit my piece, below.

In the book this border was worked with the first two rounds in pale gray yarn and the last two rounds in dark blue yarn. As you can see, I worked both rounds in white thread. The beauty of the edging patterns here is that you can customize each border to fit your project.

What’s inside this crochet book?

The first chapter discusses design concepts: choosing the right border for your piece, customizing your border, a discussion about swatching to get things right, mechanics, joining rounds, and so on. I suggest at least skimming these sections to see what’s there and then reading more carefully any sections that you feel will benefit you.

Next is the collection of border designs. There are an astounding 139 crochet border patterns in this book! You may never run out of borders to try with so many options! Each border includes a full color photo, notes and written instructions for special stitches, written instructions, and a symbol chart.

One handy thing about each border is that the author has labeled each with specific attributes. In the appendix, there are tables of all the attributes, telling which border pattern have those attributes. So for instance, if you know you want a lacy border, you can look through the tables and know easily which border patterns are lacy. It’s really helpful!

The appendix contains information about how to read crochet patterns. It explains the formatting of patterns, which is super helpful to learn if you aren’t already familiar with it.

There is a section about learning to read symbol charts, which is also an excellent skill to pick up! Next there is a symbol key that gives you the stitch name that goes with each symbol.

Next are the attribute tables that I mentioned above. After that is something really cool! It is a four page photographic index of all the border patterns. Each border is photographed in full color and a small picture of it is in the index along with it’s identification number and page number. So you can look at all the options in a quick glance!

The last two things are a glossary with written instructions and line drawings defining the abbreviations used in the book and showing you many of the less common ones.

Last is an alphabetical written index.

Can you show me some of the crochet border patterns?

Yes I can! I couldn’t possible include all my favorites. Color wise it really is just such a joy to flip through this book and look at all the pretty designs! I picked out just four crochet borders to share with you here.

My teacup and saucer are protecting the designer’s work by blocking most of the words, but you can see what these pretty borders look like in the photos below.

Border #4 uses two colors. The first color is a base round and the instructions tell you that you will need a multiple of 4 stitches plus 1 more on each side and 1 additional stitch at each corner. Then the instructions tell you wear to begin the first round of the teal color.

It explains how to work the picot stitches in the last round and a symbol chart is included with the repeats marked in yellow. It also tells you that this crochet border pattern is reversible, narrow, and undulating.

Pretty, right?!

Next up is border #17. We get the same types of information for each border pattern. Number of stitches needed in the base round, where to start, explanations of special stitches, written instructions, a detailed symbol chart with repeats marked, and its attributes.

I really like the lacy look of this one!

Border #40 is actually on the cover of the book in the lower left corner. This one is more solid than the others I have to show you, but still very delicate and pretty. You’ll see the same kinds of information here as with the other border patterns.

And my last example for you to see, border #53 uses 3 colors and some clever long chain sections. So lovely! Same great information here as we’ve seen in the others.

One more excellent detail about Edie Eckman’s book of crochet borders is that it is spiral bound! That means it will lay flat and stay open while you are working from it, so you won’t need to make a photocopy, or fight with your book, or break the binding to keep it open while you work!

I would love to see what you make with the crochet border patterns in this book! You can share them on Instagram and tag me, or you can join my Facebook group and share them there. I’ll see them in either place.

Happy stitching!

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