Filet crochet is a needlework handicraft using hooks. It is usually worked from a graph or a symbol diagram. The basic method can achieve two distinct 'colors' - a solid mesh where three or four double crochet stitches form a square, and an open mesh of one double crochet, two or three empty spaces, and a final double crochet. The last stitch of a solid or open mesh is also the first stitch of the following mesh. Patterns are created by combining solid and open meshes, usually working the design in solid meshes and the background in open meshes. Filet crochet may also be worked with half-double crochet stitches, a variant of the double crochet stitch. The half-double stitch is half as tall, but exactly as wide as the double crochet stitch.

Filet crochet is most often worked in rows using cotton thread to create wall hangings and linens. Using fine thread, it is possible to work intricate patterns such as passages of text and personal names.

As with all other types of crochet, filet can be used with any weight of thread, cord, ribbon, yarn, or anything else flexible enough to work with a crochet hook.

Many simple cross-stitch patterns can be effectively converted to filet crochet and vice versa by filling the design region with solid block and keeping the open mesh to the area of no pattern. Filet crochet looks best if blocked before use to highlight the design. More than one color can be combined in this crochet to make the design "stand" out from the background. Using top crochet (where the crochet is worked as a top stitch over the finished piece) in contrasting or complementary thread designs can also be made more stark.

The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filet_crochet).  Modified by Apparel Search 5/30/06