How would one go about making a pattern??

Im fairly new to crochet and I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for learning how to make my own patterns, any advice would be great, thanks! <3

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I would first understand how to make basic shapes and how magic rings/circles will effect the point at the top, for example 6 sc in a Mr will have a point at the top but an 8 sc in a Mr will be flat at the top, when I write my pattern I do one of two things,

I either crochet then write what I did or I write down a step then crochet it, it depends on the mood and how I feel lol

If you plan on publishing the pattern I highly recommend taking pictures on parts you think might cause confusion

The first thing I do before I start writing a pattern is sketch out the design so I get a feel of how I want it and break down the simple shapes so I know how to achieve it

I would also take a look at the patterns here on Ribblr to understand how people usually format and write patterns since for the most part they’re similar and make reading/writing patterns much easier when they’re the same

I hoped I helped somewhat good luck with writing patterns :smile:

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Hey! When I first learned to crochet, I watched this video and then like right after I made this, I created my first pattern. (i didnt write it down lol, i had no idea that patterns existed.) but yeah, it was super helpful. Just play with the different types of shaping and you can pretty much just figure everything out from there! Good luck! :blush:

the video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ushHnIxLdYw)

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@CookieTwin
@ArtsAndNaps

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Very good info! I’m glad Ribblr provides automatic conversion to the terminology the user has for their settings, assuming the terminology is here on Ribblr :smile:

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First step is definitely learn how to read pattern first. This might sound silly but to write a good pattern you have to know how it looks like.

As I saw on replays already it’s good to make a rough sketch of what you want to make but for me it doesn’t work at all :sweat_smile: I can imagine it better than I can put it on paper so for me it just destroys my idea :joy:

Obviously knowing how to make something that you’d like to make is a required skill.

At first I was just making something and writing pattern after every row in notebook or app. But then I was struggling with adding photos to the pattern so I found useful writing the pattern directly on ribblr on my phone and add photos there. It’s WAY EASIER, more comfortable and you just don’t have to remember to make a photo and then put it in the pattern. You have everything in one place.

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Reading well written patterns and seeing how they flow.

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I’ve only made one pattern so far, but it made me feel like I can do more. Because I can’t draw for the life of me, the way I’m working on new patterns at the moment is trial and error. I’ll have an idea, and I’ll see if it works, keeping in mind what I do (taking notes if it is something larger, but at the moment I mostly do tiny things). Then I make sure I can replicate it, see if there are any points I can improve, etc.

If you’re planning on using this site, testing it is so important. I wrote it out, it made sense to me, but I’d already made the thing, so that won’t necessarily help find errors.

I realise my lack of experience might make my information less useful, but as a person who can’t draw, I thought it might be worth mentioning it’s still possible :slight_smile:

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Also good practice would be trying to recreate a pattern you saw on internet. Take something easy and without looking at the pattern try to make it to understand what stitches to use to make shape you want. Also just making things from patterns you can learn a lot. I’ve learned not that long ago that you can use hdc to make a gentle curve and you don’t need to decrease or increase :sweat_smile:

Just remember that it’s not gonna be your pattern so obviously you can’t later post it :sweat_smile:

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Something I recommend is DO NOT THROW AWAY designs that didn’t work, save them for future reference and to analyze what may or may not work in a design.

Another tip is to make samples on different hook sizes, (for example once I made a strawberry on a 3.5 hook when I finished the stitches were huge and the shape was not precise so I repeated it on a 2.5 hook and added more stitches, which The end result was a more precise and beautiful design.)

The point is that samples help you a lot to decide scale, points, final sizes, etc…

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I use a sketch book and sketch down my design, then break it down into simple shapes. Like for example lets say your making a cat pattern. I would draw the cat, then break it down. The head as a circle, the ears as triangles, an oval with a flat end for the tail, the body would be an oval shape, and the arms and legs would also be an oval-ish shape. I like to use this technique, because I can see the shapes i need to make.

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