The Magic of Mitered Crochet

Take your crochet in a new direction with mitered crochet! Each row goes across 2 sides of a fabric, building out the corner between them. These L-shaped rows offer exciting striping options, with nearly infinite possibilities when combined. Learn how, and try it yourself in some fun patterns!

Basic Shapes in Mitered Crochet

Mitered Squares and Rectangles

The term “mitered crochet” is typically used to refer to squares and rectangles. The first row establishes a 90-degree corner, then increases at that corner build out the square or rectangular shape. This L-shaped structure, with 2 sides coming together at a corner, resembles mitered joints in carpentry or mitered corners in sewing.

Mitered Triangles

This tecnique is also commonly used in triangles, though it’s rarely referred to as mitered crochet when used this way. In a mitered triangle, increases at the beginning and end of each row, in addition to the corner increases, push the edges out to create the triangle shape.

It's Fall Y'all Shawl - a free crochet pattern on Stitches n Scraps

You’ll often see this mitered triangle structure in triangle shawls, like the It’s Fall Y’all Shawl pictured above. The shawl starts at the center of the top/straight edge and then builds out in rows across 2 sides, with increases at each edge and at the center point. Can you see the L-shaped stripes formed by the changing colors in the self-striping yarn?

L-Shaped Stripes

Because of the L-shaped construction of mitered crochet rows, changing colors at the beginning of rows results in L-shaped stripes. Combining multiple mitered motifs with different striping patterns, you can create a wide variety of geometric designs.

For example, in the Modular Mitered Pillow pattern, just 2 different striping patterns combine to create all these possible designs (and probably more!)