How to Crochet a Doily from Motifs.

If you crochet a doily using motifs, some extra work is necessary to join them to each other. But all your hard work will be awarded tenfold once you see the results.

This technique of creating a doily pattern seams complicated from the first glance. I think that the most part of this impression comes from the look of the crocheted doilies. A doily made of motifs really looks pretty intricate.

Let's look at this table below. Each of crocheted doilies presented here is not the most complicated project to do, but all of them are different. From the first glance. If you analyze design of these doilies, you will realize that I used the ONLY motif to crochet them. The only difference is the way motifs are assembled.

Model # 1.	Model # 2.	Model # 3.

How to crochet doily using motifs?

First of all be creative. It is not really that necessary to copy someone else's pattern. Sure you can do it if you like it so much. At the same time keep in mind that if you crochet a doily from "scratch" you will have much more variations of design and possibilities to change it. Just follow these steps.

Step 1. Choose one or a few motifs to crochet a doily. Your possibilities are endless here: different designs and shapes of motifs, combinations of yarns, threads, their color and thickness, and etc. Here is my motif which I chose to crochet the doilies presented in the table. (Click for chart of this doily pattern). Check the instructions about reading crochet pattern in charts while you crochet a doily if necessary.

You can see that a small motif is just a three first rows of the large one. Usually it is not a bad idea to combine these kinds of motifs together. They organically compliment each other in models #1 and #2 and make a crocheted doily look very interesting.

Step 2. Crochet your first motif. Now it is time to make a decision how to join all motifs. There is no "incorrect" or "correct" ways to assemble them. You can choose the method of joining according to your preferences. Here are a few the most popular ways to do it while you crochet a doily:

• To use a yarn needle and sew all of the motifs together.
• Using a crochet hook join motifs by slip stitch, single crochet or chain. Explanation with photos can be found at About.com page.
• Joining while working on the last round of motif ("Join-as-you-go" method). These type of connection is the most preferable if you crochet a doily with lacy motifs which have arches on the outside edges. This way your connection will look the least noticeable and decorative. A detail instruction and pictures can be found at Daphne's Tutorial Page
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  Step 3. Weave in the yarn tails back into your project. You can do it either using a crochet hook or a tapestry (or yarn) needle. A needle allows you to pull the ends inside the strand of yarn not just behind the loops. It makes your work look neater and helps the yarn not pull loose. Make sure that you leave about 6 inches of yarn to weave in your ends.

  If you really want to save time and to make your life easier, I recommend you to use a special needle (see the picture) to weave in the ends. You can buy them at the store which sells this kind of stuff. This needle allows you just quickly to push the yarn into a needle without the most boring and time consuming operation - to pull the yarn tail trough the needle eye.

  Step 4.Shaping and blocking is that final operation which gives a finished look to your work while you crochet a doily. This technique smoothes the stitches into place, perfectly shapes a doily, and gives your work a polished appearance. Here is the site where detail information about the process of blocking can be found.

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