Crochet Lace Patterns

The families of crochet lace

Crochet lace is not one technique but several, and knowing which one you are looking at tells you how hard the pattern will be. Filet lace builds pictures from filled and open squares of double crochet and is the most forgiving place to start. Pineapple lace, the staple of shawls and doilies, repeats a fan of trebles fanning out from a chain base and is worked in rounds or wedges. Irish crochet builds separate motifs, then joins them with a fine mesh. Broomstick and hairpin lace use a tool to hold enormous loops, giving a fabric no other method produces. Bruges lace is worked as a ribbon that curves back on itself.

Choosing a project by ambition

• First lace: a filet crochet bookmark or a simple edging, where you only need to count filled and open blocks.
• Next: a granny-based lace shawl worked in rows, where the repeat is short enough to memorise.
• Then: a pineapple shawl or table centre, following a chart round by round.
• Ambitious: a full doily in crochet cotton on a 1.5mm hook, or an Irish crochet collar with joined motifs.

Yarn, thread and hooks

Traditional lace uses mercerised crochet cotton, which is smooth, strong and crisp enough to hold a picot. It works on steel hooks, often from 1.25mm to 2.5mm, and produces the classic doily look. Modern lace shawls are more often worked in laceweight or 4 ply wool, silk or blends on a 3mm to 4mm hook: softer, faster and better against the neck. Cotton and linen suit summer tops. Whatever you choose, work a swatch of the actual repeat, since lace tension is measured across a pattern repeat rather than in plain stitches.

Reading lace charts

Most lace patterns include a symbol chart, and it is worth learning to read one. Charts are read from the bottom up, right to left on right side rows and left to right on wrong side rows, or anticlockwise when worked in rounds. A single repeat is usually bracketed. Mark your place with a sticky note and count the stitches at the end of every repeat rather than every round; catching an error one repeat late is far better than five.

Blocking, the step that makes it lace

Straight off the hook, lace looks like a crumpled net. Soak the piece, squeeze out the water in a towel, then pin it out to shape on blocking mats, opening every point and picot. For crochet cotton doilies, a light starch or a spray stiffener holds the shape permanently. For a wool shawl, pin firmly along the top edge and out at each point, and leave until bone dry. The difference before and after is the single biggest reward in the craft.

Care and keeping

Wash lace by hand in cool water and dry flat, re-pinning if the piece needs its edges opened again. Store doilies flat, layered with tissue rather than folded on a crease, and keep a finished shawl out of direct sunlight, since fine fibres fade quickly.

Crochet lace questions

What hook do I need for a lace crochet pattern? It depends entirely on the yarn: a steel hook of 1.25mm to 2.5mm for crochet cotton, or 3mm to 4mm for laceweight and 4 ply wool.

Is lace crochet suitable for beginners? Filet crochet and simple edgings are, provided you can chain, treble and count. Save fine-thread doilies until later.

Why does my lace look uneven? Usually inconsistent chain tension between motifs. Work chains slightly looser than feels natural and block firmly at the end.

Can I use a lace pattern for a summer top? Yes, and cotton or linen suits it well. Check the finished bust measurement and remember that lace fabric stretches more than a solid one.

Do I have to starch a doily? No, but a stiffener holds the shape if it will sit on a table rather than be worn.