crochet elastic band

Crochet elastic looks kind of like crochet but it’s not crochet. Crochet elastic is not always readily available or available in the particular colour you want. There’s a huge colour selection in yarn – you’re bound to find the colour you need. Plus, if you’re like me, your yarn stash is pretty big and so why not crochet your own waistband?

It’s really quite easy to make a tutu with a crochet waistband. The waistband works up easily and quickly.

HOW TO CROCHET THE WAISTBAND

For this tutorial, I am going to crochet a waistband to fit a 1-2-year-old and so I need to make it 15 inches long.

I wanted to make a purple tutu and I have a lot of category 4 weight yarn. It wasn’t hard to find some yarn that matched my tulle. With this size yarn I used a 5mm crochet hook.

Row 1 – Start with a row of DC’s, the length of the waistband. You can do this in 1 of 2 ways – FDC the length you need (that’s what I did as I find it the easiest) or crochet a chain the length you need, add 2 more chains after the fact and then DC into the 3rd chain from the hook and all the way across. You will want to make sure you have an even number of stitches.

For this tutu, I started with a FDC row of 48 stitches. This can be easily adjusted to shorter or longer – just be sure to make sure you have an even number.

At the end of the first row, ch 2 and turn.

Row 2 – DC into the first stitch, ch 1, sk 1, DC, ch 1, sh 1. Continue on with this pattern all the way across. Essentially you are DC’ing every other stitch and creating gaps for your tulle to be attached. You should end with a DC stitch in the last stitch. Ch 1, turn.

Row 3 – HDC across. Ch 1, turn.

Row 4 – HDC in the 3rd loop which you will find in the front. I put my hook underneath the 3rd loop and go up. You are working on the back side of the waistband. When you are done and turn it over, you will see that working in the 3rd loop created a nice ridge on the front. Do not break yarn yet.