Floss Field.
SearchSaved
All crafts

Changing color · Intermediate

Plaid

A crochet plaid is bands of color that cross: stripes run across the piece and more bands run up it. There are three ways to make one. Stripes can be worked first and the upright lines added afterward, woven through a mesh or laid on with slip stitches. Blocks of two colors can be worked into every row, as in gingham and buffalo plaid. Or every row can be a single color, with groups of double crochet (UK treble) that reach down past a bar of chains into the row before last. The steps here teach the first way.

How to work it

  1. Write down the order of colors

    A plan of a plaid on squared paper, eight squares wide and eight rows tall, with the rows numbered 1 to 8 from the bottom. Rows 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 are the first color, row 3 is the second color and row 6 the third. Two upright lines cross every row: the third square from the left is the second color all the way up, and the sixth square is the third color all the way up.

    Choose three or four colors and write their order as a row of letters, one letter for each row of the piece: a wide band is one letter several times, a thin line is a letter once. The same order is used twice: once for the rows, from the bottom edge to the top, and once for the upright lines, from one side edge to the other.

  2. Work the stripes

    Work the piece in rows of double crochet, changing color by rows in the order you wrote down. For lines that are to be woven in, work a mesh: a double crochet, 1 chain, skip 1 stitch, all the way along, and on later rows a double crochet into each double crochet with 1 chain between. To end the piece as it began, finish with the first band of the order once more.

  3. Weave the upright lines

    When the mesh is finished, thread a yarn needle with a strand cut a little longer than the piece. Weave it up one column of holes, over one bar of chain and under the next, from the bottom edge to the top. Give each column of holes its color, following the same order of colors across the piece.

  4. Or lay them on with slip stitches

    A striped piece of crochet lying flat: two rows of the first color, one row of the second, then two more of the first. An upright line of slip stitches in the second color runs from the bottom edge to the top edge, one loop for each row. To its left a line in the third color is being worked upward: three loops lie on the fabric, one for each of the first three rows, and one loop is on the hook.

    The lines can be crocheted on the finished piece with surface crochet. Hold the yarn behind the work. Start at one edge, the bottom edge in the picture: put the hook through the fabric, pull up a loop, then put the hook in again one row on, directly in line with the first place, and pull a new loop through the fabric and through the loop on the hook. Go on to the far edge, one loop for each row. Keep the loops loose, so that the line does not gather the fabric.

At a glance

Used for
blankets and throws; scarves and cowls; table runners and placemats
Colors
Three or four in the steps here.
The order of colors
The same for the rows as for the upright lines.
The mesh for a woven plaid
Double crochet, 1 chain, skip 1 stitch.
Lines added afterward
Woven through the holes with a yarn needle, or laid on with slip stitches.
Shades
Blocks worked into the rows need a shade that stands between the other two. Stripes crossed by lines added afterward need none.

Plaid is a woven pattern first. In the cloth, bands of color run both ways, and where a band crosses another of a different color the two mix into a third shade. Crochet copies that in two different ways. Blocks worked into the rows use an in-between shade to stand for the places where two bands cross, which is why gingham and buffalo plaid need three shades. Lines added afterward cross the stripes as they are, so no in-between shade is needed and the colors can be any you like.

A woven mesh has the look of woven cloth, with strands running both ways. Slip stitches give lines of chain lying on a striped ground. Blocks worked into the rows carry a second yarn inside the stitches. One color to a row uses a single yarn at a time.

Published patterns use the names plaid and tartan for the same kind of crochet. The plaids on this page are plain checks in an order of colors that you choose.

Tips

  • For a fringe, cut each woven strand longer than the piece, leave the extra hanging at both ends and knot the ends together in small groups close to the edge.

When it goes wrong

The fabric puckers along the upright lines.
The line is tighter than the fabric. Take it out and work it again, pulling each slip stitch up loosely.
My upright lines wander to one side.
Each loop has to go in directly in line with the last one. On a mesh, follow one column of holes. On a solid fabric, follow one column of stitches from edge to edge.

Left-handed

The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.

Variations

  • Blocks of two colors in every row. Every row is worked in two colors, a block of one and then a block of the other. The color changes on the last yarn over of a block, and the yarn not in use is carried along and worked over. One color is in every row: for a band of rows it is paired with a second color, and for the next band with a third. Gingham and buffalo plaid are made this way.
  • One color to a row. Three colors take turns, a new one for every row. Each row is 3 stitches, then 3 chains with 3 stitches skipped, repeated. In the next row, the 3 chains go above the stitches, and above the chains go 3 double crochet worked down into the 3 skipped stitches of the row before last.

Questions

How many colors do I need for a crochet plaid?
The steps here use three or four. Blocks worked into the rows need three shades: a dark one, a light one and one between. Stripes with lines added afterward work in any three or four colors.
What is the difference between buffalo plaid and a tartan-style plaid in crochet?
Buffalo plaid is squares of three shades, with the middle shade worked into every row. A tartan-style plaid is stripes of different widths crossed by upright lines in the same order of colors, and it does not need a middle shade.
Do I weave the lines or crochet them?
Either. Both are added after the piece is finished. Woven strands can be left long at both ends as a fringe. A line of slip stitches is worked with the hook, one loop for each row.
Can I crochet plaid without carrying yarn along the row?
Yes. Stripes crossed by woven or stitched lines use one yarn at a time, and so does the plaid of one color to a row.

Where to go next

Stitches

Patterns