Tapestry Crochet Tips: Changing & Managing Colors
Tapestry crochet tips: changing and managing colors
With the tapestry crochet tips in this tutorial you will learn how to change colors, manage colors to minimize floats and tangling, and how to read a tapestry crochet chart.
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Table of Contents
What is tapestry crochet?
You might wonder first what tapestry crochet is. Tapestry crochet is a very fun, specific colorwork technique that we sometimes use in crochet to make pictures, words, or other designs in our crochet projects. Tapestry crochet involves using two or more colors within the same row or round and changing out the colors of stitches in order to create the intended design.
So what do you need to know about tapestry crochet? What are these tips that I have for you? First, I’m going to share just a few project suggestions, so that you can see some of what we can do with this technique. Then we are going to talk about how to change colors, how to read the color chart for a tapestry crochet project, how to manage colors, and how to minimize tangles.
At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a video that covers all of those tips in action.
What yarn should I use for tapestry crochet projects?
There are a lot of options for yarn to use for tapestry crochet projects. You will definitely want to use a yarn with a smooth texture. A furry or bumpy texture will not make for clean lines in your colorwork projects.
I used Pricewise DK from King Cole Yarn. This is a DK weight 100% Acrylic yarn that you can purchase through your local yarn shop. It is the same yarn I used for my Cowhide Pillow and Cowhide Coaster patterns.
What can you make with tapestry crochet?
There are a lot of crochet projects that use tapestry crochet. I’ll share just a few ideas here, but you can search Ravelry, Etsy, or Pinterest for lots of other ideas.
Recently I released two coordinating crochet patterns that use this technique. I had so much fun crocheting both of these! The one you’ll see in this tutorial and video is my Cowhide Coaster, a small crochet coaster that resembles cowhide.
This coordinates perfectly with my Cowhide Pillow. It’s a fun way to add some western flair to your bedding, living room, or patio! The coaster above actually uses the same cow print pattern as the pillow, but it’s just a tiny piece of it. Can you see which little section of the pillow has the same spot pattern as the coaster? Hint, the coaster above is upside down compared to the pillow.
One of my favorite designers of tapestry crochet patterns is Raffamusa Designs. She has loads of pretty tapestry designs like this bright, fresh lemon potholder pattern.
How do you change colors in tapestry crochet?
Changing colors in tapestry crochet is easy. Once I show you how to do it, you’ll see just how easy it is.
A few important things to note, there is no need to tie knots when you change colors. Knots are unsightly, they don’t feel nice, and they can and will come undone.
Leave your ends around six inches long and weave them in with a tapestry needle when you are finished. You can learn how to weave in ends here. The suggestions here for ends will give you attractive, secure results.
I will explain color changes here with words and pictures. If that is unclear, the video below shows the process in action.
First, when working the single crochet (sc) before the change, don’t complete it. Stop when you have the last two loops on your hook. In the photo below, I have two loops of brown on my hook, and I need to change to white yarn for the next stitch. I will put the brown yarn down on the wrong side (WS) of my work, which in this case, is facing away from me.
Instead of finishing the stitch with brown, I will place a strand of white yarn around my hook. Since I’m starting with a strand of yarn that isn’t already attached to my work, I need to leave my end about six inches long to weave in later. I need to leave that end on the WS of my work, just like the brown yarn I am no longer using.
I will pull that white strand of yarn through the two loops of brown yarn. That will finish the brown stitch, and the new loop of white on my hook will become the top of the next stitch. With that one white loop in place, I work the next stitch as usual with the white yarn.
Great, but how do I know when to change colors?
Most tapestry crochet patterns will include a graph, and some will also include line by line instructions for color placement. Let’s talk about reading a tapestry crochet graph first.
This is the graph for the Cowhide Coaster pattern that I’m using for this tutorial.
As I view this on my computer, the pale gray lines in between the white boxes are hard to see. They will probably be more visible if I turn down my screen brightness. But, there are lines between the white squares just as there are between the brown squares. Each square represents one single crochet (sc) stitch.
The coaster is 20 stitches across, and you can see the columns of stitches numbered across the bottom and the top. The coaster includes 20 rows, and those are numbered up the left and right sides, odd numbers for right side (RS) rows on the right side of the chart, and even numbers for WS rows on the left side of the chart.
The odd numbers on the right indicate that you will read those rows starting on the right side and working across to the left side. The even numbers on the left indicate that you will read those rows starting on the left side and working across to the right side. This changing the direction of reading the chart is necessary because you will turn your crochet piece between rows.
As you can see in row 1, starting on the right side, the first 15 squares are white, and the last 5 are brown. So for row 1 you will work 15 white sc and then 5 brown sc.
For row 2 you will work 5 brown sc and then 15 white sc, since you are reading the chart in the opposite direction this time.
The sc represented by one square will be worked into the sc represented by the square below that one.
If your pattern also has line by line instructions for color placement, those may look something like this:
← Row 1: (N) x 15, (T) x 5
→ Row 2: (T) x 5, (N) x 15
← Row 3: (N) x 4, (T) x 2, (N) x 9, (T) x 5
The arrows at the beginning of the rows coincide with the direction you will read across the chart. Arrows that point to the left are RS rows. Arrows that point to the right are WS rows. Then we have the number of the row. After the colon you will see a letter or color name in parentheses. In this case, N stands for the color Natural, and T stands for the color Taupe, the color names that I used for my coaster.
Then x stands for the math function multiplication, or times. The number after the x is the number of stitches to be worked in that color. So “(N) x 15” means to work one stitch in Natural 15 times.
Tips for managing color in tapestry crochet
There are a few different ways to handle the different colors involved in a tapestry crochet proejct. In some tapestry projects, you might carry unused colors by stitching over them. This creates a thick, dense fabric that is suitable for wall-hangings, baskets, and placemats. I did not use this method for my coaster or the coordinating pillow.
In other tapestry crochet projects, unused yarn might be carried across the back as “floats,” single strands of yarn stretching across the back between two sections of that color. This method will work out just fine for a project where the wrong side will not show when in use, like a sweater.
If you choose the float method, it’s important that your floats not be too tight. They will need just a bit of slack in them so that your piece doesn’t pucker at either end of the float. Also, a bit of give will allow your piece to retain drape and the ability to stretch.
Or, you might use separate bobbins of color for each section so that there is no need for floats or for carrying unused colors. This option is best when you need a fabric with some drape and where the back might be seen and need to look nice.
There are various ways to make bobbins of your colors. You can actually purchase little plastic or cardboard items called bobbins to wrap a small amount of yarn around that will hold that unused yarn until you need it. If you plan to do a lot of tapestry crochet, those might be a good investment.
What I do is make a small center-pull ball of yarn by hand while I’m working. Then the ball just hangs off the project as I work. I start the project by just working from my skein of yarn. When I come to another section of that color, I wind off a small ball of yarn with that color, cut it away from the main skein of yarn, and then my main skein of yarn is free to begin that new section.
To do this, hook the yarn around the thumb of your dominant hand and then begin wrapping several figure 8’s around your thumb and pinky. If the photos and explanation below seem confusing, scroll down to the video below to see it in action.
Then, use your other hand to pinch those figure 8’s in the center where they cross, take the yarn off your dominant hand, fold the bundle in half, and hold it between the thumb and fingers of your dominant hand. Hold the end that you want coming out of the center under your pinky and ring finger for the rest of this process to keep it from getting wrapped into the ball.
Then begin wrapping the yarn going back to the skein around your fingers and the yarn bundle. Wrapping around fingers as well as the yarn, helps to keep you from wrapping so tightly that the yarn won’t come out of the center when you pull.
When you’ve done a dozen wraps or so, remove your fingers, turn the bundle slightly, and begin wrapping again around your fingers and the yarn in a slightly different direction, keeping your center-pull end free.
Once you’ve done this a handful of times, you’ll have a small center-pull ball of yarn. Cut the yarn between this ball and your skein and tuck the end under some of the outer wraps of yarn. Now you have a bobbin for this section, and can use your main skein of yarn for another section.
A lot of people choose a combination of the bobbin and float methods, using floats to move across small sections, and bobbins when the space between sections is larger. On the back of my finished coaster, you can see that I mostly used bobbins, but have a few floats.
How to keep yarn from tangling while you crochet
And this is the golden question! How do you keep your yarn from get all tangled while you work in tapestry crochet?
A few tips will help, but there is not way to avoid tangles all together.
First, realize that the more colors you use, the more tangles you will have. So consider carefully how you will feel about this before you start a really colorful tapestry crochet project.
In the same vein, the more bobbins you use, the more tangles you will have. That’s one reason that crocheters often combine the float method with the bobbin method, using floats to carry across smaller sections rather than adding another bobbin to the mix.
Even if you only use one bobbin of each color, and carry long floats on the back of your piece, you will still have at least two strands of yarn attached to your piece because tapestry crochet always uses at least two colors.
One tapestry crochet tip for minimizing tangles is to alternate the direction of your turns. When you turn your work at the end of each round, don’t always turn the same direction. If you usually turn your work clockwise, alternate and turn every other row counter-clockwise instead. This will help somewhat by untwisting the twist that your last turn caused.
One additional tip for tangles, when you put down one color to pick up another, those strands are going to twist around each other more, or untwist, depending on which one you leave on top of the other. Take a moment to look at the two colors and decide which direction of movement will cause more or less twisting, and place them accordingly.
Not all tangles can be avoided, but these tips will help with the problem as much as possible.
Tapestry crochet tips video
Now, let’s see all of that in a video in case the photos and words were not enough.
And that my friends, concludes my tapestry crochet tips. I would love to see your tapestry crochet projects! You can share them on Instagram and tag me, or you can join my Facebook group and share them there.
Happy crocheting!
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