Butterfly Crochet Stitch: Before You Begin
One version of the butterfly crochet stitch pattern is found below. Before we get to it, we’re going to give you a better understanding of what this stitch is and how it works. At the end of the article, learn about some variations on the crochet butterfly. What you most need to understand to crochet the butterfly stitch is that it is worked within a pattern of other stitches. So, for example, you might have a butterfly stitch inside a bunch of single crochet stitches or, as in the example you’ll see inside of this tutorial, within sets of half double crochet stitches. The butterfly stitch is always worked the same way, regardless of the type of stitch pattern it is worked into. So the butterfly stitch will be worked the same whether it is worked into a single crochet or half double crochet pattern (or some other pattern). The only thing that will differ is the stitches that are worked around the butterfly stitch, although this can impact what you do right after each crochet butterfly stitch is made. Don’t worry, this is all going to make sense as you craft.
Understanding Butterfly Crochet Stitch
You’ll get exact instructions below along with a photo tutorial, but read through this section to get a solid understanding of what butterfly crochet stitch is all about before you begin. Basically what you’re going to do when you crochet butterfly stitch is this:
Crochet a set of basic stitches, such as hdc stitches.Crochet a chain.Skip as many stitches as the number you chained.Crochet normally into the next stitch (hdc in our example).Turn the work and repeat. You’ll be creating a new chain above the first chain, with basic stitches on either side again.Turn the work and repeat again.In the fourth row, you’ll “close” the butterfly by crocheting the beginning of the chain as normal, securing all three chains below it with a single crochet, finishing the rest of your crochet chain and going back to your basic stitches.
So in our case, let’s say we’ll have five hdc stitches on either side of a butterfly that itself is ten stitches long. Our starting chain has to be as long as five plus five (for either side of the butterfly) plus ten (for the butter) so that equals 2 stitches. Plus we need the extra stitch for the turning chain. Our starting chain would have to be that long at a minimum. So, for our purposes, let’s begin with a starting chain of 21. Crochet your basic stitches (5 hdc). Then chain half of the stitches for the butterfly, so chain five stitches. You can also choose to vary the number of stitches in the butterfly chains to make them shorter or longer. We are going to use ten, so we’ll crochet chains of ten, skip ten stitches and make our next stitch in the eleventh stitch. But you can make butterflies as small or as large as you want by changing their stitch length. Just make sure to keep it consistent across all chains. Note that it is best to choose an even number because in the fourth row you need to crochet half of the stitches, single crochet one, then crochet the other half of the stitches; even numbers give you even chains on either side of each single crochet. You can fudge it with odd numbers by rounding up or down (up is more common) but it’s easier to just go with even numbers of chains if possible. Sometimes you will only have one butterfly stitch in the pattern, like when it serves as a decorative bow detail in a crochet hat pattern. But sometimes you’ll have rows of butterfly stitches on top of one another. In this instance, you can choose to either place the butterflies vertically right above one another or to stagger them in different places across the row. You can also choose to have rows of basic stitches between the rows with butterflies or just begin the butterflies immediately in the fifth row (since the fourth row is where you close the butterfly). These variations can create different effects. Of course, if you’re working from a butterfly crochet pattern then the designer will tell you what to do but if you’re doing your own designs then it can be fun to play around with these different butterfly stitch variations. Finally, you may wish to forego the crochet butterfly stitch altogether and instead to make other butterfly crochet appliqués/designs.
