Chainless Foundation Crochet Stitches

Small aqua crochet swatch using chainless foundation crochet stitches for the first row. It sits on a whicker mat. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Chainless foundation crochet stitches tutorial

You can use chainless foundation crochet stitches to crochet both your foundation chain and the first row of stitches at the same time. There are a few great things about this. First, it saves time by doing both tasks at once. Second, you won’t have to stitch into a foundation chain, which most crocheters would agree, is tedious. Third, you avoid the problem of miscounting chains and then having to unravel your first row of stitches to fix your chain count.

Read on below for photos, videos, and written explanations for both foundation single crochet and foundation double crochet stitches.

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Foundation single crochet stitch

To make a chainless foundation single crochet stitches (fsc) you begin by chaining 2.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn stitched into two crochet chains. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Then you will single crochet in the 2nd chain from your hook, or the first chain you made.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn having been stitched into one foundation single crochet stitch. An arrow points to the chain underneath the stitch. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

The arrow in the photo above shows the chain underneath the first single crochet. You will insert your hook under 2 loops of this chain.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn in the process of crocheting chainless foundation single crochet stitches. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Next, yarnover and pull up a loop through the chain.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn having crocheted three foundation single crochet stitches. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Then, yarnover and pull through one loop. That forms the chain that will be under the next stitch. Then, yarnover and pull through both loops. That forms the next single crochet stitch.

In the photo below you can see 7 completed chainless foundation single crochet stitches. The arrow points to the chain under the last one, which is where you will insert your hook for each additional stitch you need to make.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn having been stitched into several foundation single crochet stitches. An arrow on the image points to the chain underneath the last stitch made. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Once you have completed the number of chainless foundation single crochet stitches needed for your project, you will turn and begin crocheting into the tops of them just as you would for standard single crochet stitches.

Chainless foundation single crochet video

If you feel that a video would help you, the video below demonstrates how to stitch foundation single crochet stitches.

Blue crochet hook and gray yarn on a white background. The yarn has been stitched into several foundation single crochet stitches. A white banner over the image has text that reads: Foundation single crochet. Banana Moon Studio. A red and white play button is centered over the image. — Click to watch it on YouTube

Foundation double crochet stitch

You can use the chainless foundation double crochet stitch (fdc) in any project that has a first row of solid double crochet.

Making foundation double crochet stitches is very similar to single crochet stitching. To start with, you will chain 3.

A blue crochet hook and aqua yarn on a white background. The yarn has been stitched into three crochet chains. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Working in the bottom ridge loop of the first chain you made, or the third chain from your hook, work a double crochet stitch.

A blue crochet hook and aqua yarn having stitched one foundation double crochet stitch. An arrow points to the chain underneath the stitch. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Next, insert your hook under two loops of the chain underneath the stitch you made. The arrow in the photo above points to the chain.

Blue crochet hook and aqua yarn in the process of stitching foundation single crochet stitches. The hook is inserted in a chain to begin the next stitch. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Yarnover and pull up a loop through the chain.

Blue crochet hook and aqua yarn over a white background in the process of stitching a foundation single crochet. The hook has just pulled up a loop through the previous chain. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Yarnover and pull through one loop. That forms the next chain.

Blue crochet hook and aqua yarn on a white background in the process of crocheting a foundation double crochet stitch. The chain under the next stitch has just been formed. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Yarnover again and pull through two loops. Yarnover one more time and pull through the last two loops. That finishes the next double crochet stich.

Blue crochet hook and aqua yarn over a white background having just finished stitching a second foundation double crochet stitch. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

The photo below shows the chain at the bottom of the last stitch. You’ll yarnover and then insert your hook there to start the next chainless foundation crochet stitch. Repeat these steps until you’ve finished the number of stitches needed for your first row.

Blue crochet hook and aqua yarn over a white background. The yarn is stitched into several foundation double crochet stitches. An arrow points to the stitch underneath the last chain. Text on the image reads: Banana Moon Studio.

Chainless foundation double crochet stitch video

Aqua yarn stitched into several foundation double crochet stitches along with a matching skein of yarn and a blue crochet hook, all over a white background. A white banner with text reads: Foundation double crochet. Banana Moon Studio. — Click to watch it on YouTube

Conclusion

You could use this same method with any of the basic stitches. Before making the stitch, you yarnover the same number of times that you normally would. You insert the hook in the previous chain. You always yarnover and pull up a loop, and then yarnover and pull through one loop to form the next chain. Then you complete the stitch as you normally would.

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Happy crocheting!