Invisible decreases using the front loop double crochet trick!
It has been a looong time since I played with this blog and thought I would resurrect it as I am doing so many interesting things (to me obv!) in crochet!
... the Moonwalk bra with invisible decreases ...
What I love about crochet is that the difference between homemade and handmade is just about using little tricks that you pick up along the way.
The Kid is doing the Moonwalk in London on the 14th May and wanted a purple bra. I've known for ages that she wanted to do this and have been putting it off as I seem to have a block when it comes to crochet clothes ...
I started at the weekend and came up with this ... and several things about it are making me more smug than a smug thing! The decreases are virtually invisible by doing a row of trebles followed by a row of front loop double crochet - if you only decrease on the front loop double crochet row it doesn't affect the uniformity of the trebles ... which make me very happy indeed...
There are always caveats: this really only works if you want a gentle decrease as I'm not sure whether it would work if you did too many mid row decreases.
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| v2 of my Moonwalk bra |
Yarn: Anchor Freccia Nr 12; colour Bright purple 00092
Hook: 3mm
NB: All terms UK crochet terms
Make 1st cup
Foundation: Chain 28 chain (ch)
Row 1: 1 x chainless treble (tr) (Moogly do a great tutorial on this here) followed by a tr in each ch to end of row. Should have 28 tr at end of row
Row 2: 1 turning chain, 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr. Getting the fldc into the chainless treble at the end of the row is a bit tricky and you may need to fiddle with the stitch until you find the front loop. Should have 28 fldc at end of row
Row 3 - 13: Repeat row 1 & 2. Should have 28 tr at the end of each row. Row 13 is a row of trebles
Row 14: 1 turning chain, 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr and then carry on down the side of the square putting one double crochet into each dc row and 2 dc around the end posts of the treble rows. Should have 28 fldc followed by 20 dc down the edge of the square
Row 15: 1 x chainless treble (tr) followed by a tr in each ch to end of row. Should have 48 tr at end of row
Row 16: 1 turning chain, 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr. Should have 48 fldc at end of row
Row 17: 1 x chainless treble (tr) followed by a tr in each ch to end of row. Should have 48 tr at end of row
Row 18: 1 turning chain, miss the first tr, then 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr. Should have 47 fldc at end of row.
Row 19 - 27: Repeat row 17 & 18. You will be decreasing by one stitch every second row.
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| The right hand cup in the image shows the chainless treble with a lovely twist and the invisible decreases |
Make 2nd cup:
For the second cup, start as for the first cup but after row 13, you need to do something slightly different to get the mirror image of the 1st cup.
Row 1 - 13: As for 1st cup.
Row 14: Cast off. Join yarn on bottom left of square created and crochet one dc into each dc row and 2 dc around the end posts of the treble rows. When you have done 20 dc you should have reached the top of the square and continue with 1 fl dc in each tr. Should have 20 dc up the edge of the square followed by 28 fldc.
Row 15: 1 x chainless treble (tr) followed by a tr in each ch to end of row. Should have 48 tr at end of row
Row 16: 1 turning chain, 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr. Should have 48 fldc at end of row
Row 17: 1 x chainless treble (tr) followed by a tr in each ch to end of row. Should have 48 tr at end of row
Row 18: 1 turning chain, then 1 front loop double crochet (fl dc) in each tr, miss the second to last tr, then 1 fl dc in last treble. Should have 47 fldc at end of row.
Row 19 - 27:
Repeat row 17 & 18. You will be decreasing by one stitch every second row.
I'm not allowed to do anymore until Moonwalk send through the official bra to be decorated so will follow this post up when finished.In the meantime, I will leave you with pics of v1 of the purple bra ... the first cup was lovely but because I made it up, I couldn't replicate it on the 2nd cup which was most irritating. (apologies for the washed out colours ... not sure how that happened).
