Treble Crochet Step-by-Step Tutorial

Here we have a picture of a crocheted fabric that consists almost entirely of treble crochet stitches; chain stitches are also incorporated into the fabric in the necessary places (at the beginning of the piece, and between rows where turning chains are needed.)

You can work treble crochet in almost any yarn or crochet thread (and there are bunches of other materials you could try.)

Begin by crocheting a starting chain. Remember how to work a chain stitch? (If not, you are welcome to brush up using the tutorial linked.) To work the treble crochet stitch in rows, you'll begin the work by crocheting a series of chain stitches.

Alternately, there are other ways you can get started; for example, you could crochet your treble stitches directly into fabric. Or you could work them into a piece that you've already begun. If that's what you want to do, you'll skip the starting chain and proceed working your treble crochet into the next stitch to be worked.

The first four of your chain stitches will count as your first treble crochet stitch. When you crochet your next stitch, you'll want to work into the fifth chain from your crochet hook.

To begin crocheting the next treble crochet stitch, take your yarn and wrap it two times over your crochet hook. There will be three loops on the hook all together, including the active loop you already had; check out the photo at left to see how this looks. (Remember, you can click to enlarge the picture if you need to.)

You're going to skip the first four chains from your hook (since those count as the first treble crochet stitch); you'll insert your hook into the fifth chain stitch. In the photo at left, you can see the head of my crochet hook right beside the spot where I am going to insert my hook to work the stitch.

Here's how it'll look after you've inserted your hook into the fifth chain stitch.

Next, grab the yarn with your hook...

and pull it through the chain stitch.

You'll end up with 4 loops on your crochet hook, as pictured.

Wrap the yarn around your hook again...

and pull it through only 2 of the loops on your hook.

You'll end up with 3 loops left on the hook.

Wrap the yarn around your hook again...

...and pull it through the next 2 loops on the hook.

You'll be left with 2 loops still remaining on the crochet hook.

Wrap the yarn over the crochet hook again...

and pull it through the remaining two loops on your hook.

Here's how the completed treble crochet stitch looks. Notice that you are down to having only one loop remaining on your hook -- your "active loop."

You'll keep repeating those steps, over and over again, to make one complete treble crochet stitch in each of the chain stitches in your starting chain.

When you've crocheted across the entire row, here's how the completed row of treble crochet stitches might look.

The next step is to work your turning chain. The turning chain for a treble crochet stitch is usually 4 stitches, meaning that you will work 4 chain stitches in between each of your rows of treble crochet stitch.

This number of chains isn't set in stone; it's simply a suggested number of chain stitches that works well for a majority of crocheters under ordinary circumstances. There might be plenty of reasons why you'd want to work a longer or shorter turning chain, and you should feel free to do so if you like.

See Also:

• Turning chains
• See how turning chains can be used as a design element in these easy vertical crochet trims.

The next step is to work back across the row of treble crochet stitches, building your new row on top of the old row of stitches. To accomplish this goal, you'll have to turn your work over to the other side. It'll look something like the picture posted at left.

You'll work another treble crochet stitch into the top of the stitch you worked in the previous row. Wrap the yarn around the hook twice, insert your hook under both loops of the stitch underneath it in the previous row, wrap your yarn around again, pull it through, and then keep pulling loops through two at a time until your stitch is completed.

From here on out, you can just keep repeating those steps ad infinitum until the piece is as long as you want it to be.

When you are finished, end off by cutting the yarn (leaving a long tail for weaving ends in.) Then pull the cut tail of yarn through the active loop and give it a good tug. Then you can weave your ends in if you like.

At left, you can feast your eyes on a photo of the finished treble crochet stitch fabric. Keep in mind that there are zillions of other ways you can use treble crochet stitches; they are endlessly versatile!