Tutorial – Front & back post single crochet (fpsc, bpsc)

When you see front post and back post stitches, you almost always see them done in double crochet. The reality is, you can do them in any stitch! Working around the post turns the stitches at a 90 degree angle from the previous row. So front and back post single crochet (fpsc and bpsc) stitches are useful as textural elements, or to change the direction of your work.

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Front and Back Post Single Crochet (fpsc / bpsc) Photo Tutorial

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Front post single crochet

A normal single crochet is worked into the top of the stitch. For a post stitch, we want to work around the post of the stitch instead. To do this, insert your hook from front to back on the first side of the stitch, then bring it back out from back to front on the other side of the stitch. If you’re right handed, the first side is the right side (as shown). If you’re left handed, you start from the left side.

You can see that the post of the stitch is lying in front of the hook. This means it’s a front post stitch. Yarn over, and pull up a loop around that post.

Now finish your single crochet as normal – yarn over, and pull through both loops on your hook.

After you work a few stitches, you will be able to see this new row forms a ridge on the front of your work. If we continue working the next row into this one, we’ll have made a sharp corner. Since the tops of the previous row were left unworked, we could also go back and work into them later instead, leaving this ridge as a decorative element.

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Back Post Single Crochet (bpsc)

With the front post stitch, we wanted the post in front of our hook. For the back post stitch, we want the post at the back. So we insert our hook the opposite way. Start by inserting your hook from back to front on the first side of the stitch, then back down from the front to the back on the other side. Again, righties go from right to left (as shown), and lefties go from left to right.

You can see now that the hook is in front, so the post of the stitch is at the back. Yarn over and draw up a loop – from this side you can see how that loop is wrapped around the post of the stitch.

Now yarn over and draw through both loops to complete your stitch.

Front and back post single crochet are actually the same stitch, just worked from opposite sides of the fabric. If you turn your work around, your fpsc stitches now look like bpsc, and vice versa. Front post stitches stick out on the front of the fabric, and back post stitches stick out on the back. So choose your stitch based on what direction you want to go, and whether you’re on the right or wrong side of the fabric.

Front and Back Post Single Crochet (fpsc / bpsc) Video Tutorial:

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