The Crochet Clothing Jargon Buster: Confusing terms explained

When I first started making and then designing crochet garments, I was hugely put off by a lot of the terms surrounding the process.

It took me a long time to understand these terms, so to save you going through the same confusion, I have put together the jargon buster below to clear things up for you!

If there’s something you don’t understand that I haven’t covered here then please drop me a message or leave a comment and I’ll add it in!

An explanation of terms used in crochet garment patterns

Gauge / Tension

I have put this top of the list because It is one of the most important factors in crocheting garments!

The terms gauge and tension are used interchangably (generally gauge is used in the US whereas Tension is favoured in the UK).

In it’s simplest form, it is a measurement of how many stitches and rows of a particular stitch pattern it takes to work a defined size (usually 10cm or 4in, but sometimes 5cm or 2in) of crochet fabric.

I Have a series of posts explaining in more detail what gauge is, why it is important, how to make and measure a gauge swatch as well as how you can use gauge to make your chosen size crochet project.

Ease – positive and negative ease.

This one used to make me run for the hills until I learned what it meant!

It is simply the difference between the measurement of the actual body part and the measurement of the finished item.

For example, if you were making a sweater to fit someone with a bust measurement of 36 inches and you crocheted the sweater with a 40 inch bust, it would have 4 inches of positive ease – it’s positive because the garment is bigger than the body.

Some items, such as hats and socks are made with negative ease, which means the finished item is smaller than the body part it is meant to fit and it will stretch to fit and stay in place.

Items with zero ease are the same size as the body part the are designed to fit.

You can learn a lot more about ease in this article which goes into more detail about what ease means for fit and how much ease is enough!

Pattern Repeat / Patt Rep

This is the stitch pattern which is used throughout the project.

It may be something like double crochet all over, it may be alternating rows of one stitch then another, it may be a stitch pattern like moss stitch or corner to corner, or something more complex.

Continue in patt / As patt / Work even / Work as set

When you see an instruction like ‘continue in patt’ or ‘Work even’ it just means you should keep working in the same stitch stitch pattern (that you have already been working) without making any increases or decreases.

There are various ways to write this, as shown in the title, but they all essentially mean the same thing.

The meaning of terms relating to crochet clothing construction

Top-down and bottom-up

This is a construction method. You can make most garments from the top (of the body) down – which for a sweater would start at the neck, or bottom up – which for a sweater would start at the waist / hem line.

Hats made top down start at the crown (top) of the head and those made bottom up start at the brim.

If you’re interested in making sweaters, I have written a post about the benefits and approaches to making sweaters top down here. This is another part of my series demystifying crochet garment making.

Yoke

This was another one that made me want to hide and go back to making scarves… You can read a full explanation of yokes in the top down sweater blog post, but essentially a yoke is a single piece of fitted fabric which is shaped over the neck and shoulders reaching to the underarm.

In terms of the structure, the yoke is the foundation piece which the rest of the garment hangs from. Most commonly, yokes are used in sweaters or dresses, but are also sometimes used in skirts or trousers (around the waist and hips).

Yokes can be round, rectangular, square or something somewhere in between!

Raglan

Raglan is style of sleeve and shoulder shaping where the seam runs on the diagonal from the underarm to the neckline. There are many different styles of raglan top and in crochet they can be made top down (using a yoke) or bottom up (though top down seems to be more common).

Read more about raglan shaping in this post about styles of crochet sweater construction. The infographic below might help you too.

Drop Shoulder

This is a type of sleeve construction used when making sweaters / cardigans. You crate a panel for the front, one for the back, seam the sides and add the sleeves into the arm holes left by the side seam.

There is no armhole shaping with a drop shoulder style sweater (shown above

This post explains in much more details how to construct a drop shoulder sweater.

You can learn more in the sweater construction style post.

Modified Drop

The modified drop construction is similar to the drop shoulder but some shaping is added at the arm hole. The tops of the sleeve are still angular to fit into the arm holes. This style has slightly less fabric at the underarm

You can see the style on the picture above and learn more in the sweater construction style post.

Set-in Sleeves

This is another style of sleeve shaping. The body panel has rounded shaping and the sleeve end is a dome shape to fit into the arm hole.

This allows much more close fitting sleeves.

You can see the style on the picture above and learn more in the sweater construction style post.

Dolman Construction

This is a sweater construction style. The sweater is made in two panels, front and back, which include the sleeves within the main piece of fabric.

Dolman sweaters can be T-shaped (see the free flow sweater pattern for an example) or batwing (see the stash to treasure pattern).

You can see the Dolman style on the picture above and learn more in the sweater construction style post.

Welt

This sounds like something which belongs on a rock, but it’s simply another way of referring to a hem – the bottom trim on a garment.

Other confusing crochet terms explained

The rest of this is a bit of a catch all to cover those words you see that make you go huh…

Blocking

Blocking is a process used, usually involving wetting and pinning out your project (or parts of) to shape the fabric, get the best out of a stitch pattern (especially lace work) and generally give your crochet a professional finished look. You can learn more about what blocking is and how to do it in this post!

Drape

Drape is essentially a measure of the movement of fabric. Whether it is light and flowing or still and less flexible. You can learn more about what drape is and how to achieve the level you want in this post.

This term is used a lot when it comes to talking about garments in particular and I know I used to find it one of those magical terms that meant your work was wonderful. But really, it’s not a judgement term, it’s about finding the right level of drape suitable for the specific project you’re working on!

Frogging / Rip it / Ripping Back

This was one which came up in my facebook group as something that confused someone. There are lots of terms for it, but essentially, frogging is just undoing your work – usually when you make a mistake!

I have no idea where the term came from other than a theory that rip it (a more descriptive way of saying undo it!) sounds a bit like ‘ribbit’, the sound associated with frogs… tenuous but stranger things happen with language development!

Errata

This is less directly related to garment making but is still an important term if working with crochet patterns.

It is a Latin word but essentially means list of errors in printed work. It is used to add corrections to patterns which have been printed (in magazines, books etc).

Though us designers and tech editors do our best to make sure patterns are error free, we are also only human!

You will see an errata section in ravelry patterns which is where designers can add corrections

Yarn weight

A slightly more fundamental one here but it’s worth stating.

Yarn weight does not refer to the mass (grams / ounces etc) of yarn. It refers to the thickness of the strand.

Learn more about yarn weight here and how to choosethe right yarn for your project in this post.

Brioche

This is actually a term used for a knitting style which creates a thick textured, often ribbed fabric. The look can be worked with crochet, mostly by using slip stitching, working in back / front loops and surface crocheting (slip stitching on top of crochet fabric).

It’s a technique and style, not a specific stitch

Intarsia and tapestry crochet

These are types of colour work used in crochet, where you use more than one colour yarn in the same row and change multiple times in order to create a pattern.

The term Intarsia is often used interchangeably with tapestry crochet but there are subtle differences in the way the yarn you are not using is carried.

In tapestry crochet, you encapsulate the yarn underneath the stitches you’re working so tapestry is double sided. With intarsia, you either ‘float’ the yarn along behind your work or is just used in a block and not carried across at all.

Mosaic Crochet

This is another type of crochet colour work, but each row is worked in a single colour. You will work into stitches (often using post stitches) into rows below to achieve a pattern.

This technique produces some remarkable results!

That’s it for now but this is a growing resource! If there’s something you don’t understand then please drop me a note or add a comment below and I will keep adding terms!!

Happy hooking!

Dx