How to Restore Foundation Chain in Crochet: tutorial




I have been working on a new design recently. And when I was almost done, I suddenly found out there was a mistake made in the very beginning, and I needed to rip several first rows. As an alternative, I could frog the entire project of course, and remake everything from the beginning. But it would be lots of extra work. So instead I decided to investigate a bit and find out, how is it possible to restore a foundation chain for any row, without frogging everything. My first attempt was successful and I decided to write down a tutorial. I hope it will be helpful for you.
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet


When to use this trick?

a) It can be used when you (as me) made a mistake on some rows and need to frog something without remaking the whole project.

b) This trick can help you to repair old or torn project – a blanket, for example. Once you restore the foundation chain for one of the rows, you can continue crocheting in the opposite direction and enlarge your project to the desired size.

Important Note:


Before using this trick on your actual project, please, train once (or better several times) on a sample. Ideally use the same yarn as your project is made with. It will help you to regulate tension and be confident that the trick works well for you. And only when you master it – please, try to apply it for your project.

STEP 1

First of all you should decide which part you would like to frog and where exactly (for which row) you want to restore a foundation chain.

For the purposes of this tutorial I used Stone Washed XL* yarn by Scheepjes. I used contrasting colors for you to clearly see what is happening.

First I will show you how to restore a foundation chain for the row made with double crochet stitches (US terms are used here). I made a sample in two colors and with rows of single crochet and double crochet. As shown in the picture below, I would like to get rid of blue and yellow parts below (inside red rectangle).
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet

I worked on the right side, but it is possible also to make a new foundation chain on the wrong side. It will bring a little bit different effect. So you can experiment a bit (on a sample piece!!!) and see what you like more.

STEP 2

Turn your piece at 180 degrees (so that top is down now) and find the stitches where you will make a new foundation chain (marked with red).
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet


Now you will restore the foundation chain by making a row of surface slip stitches into the posts of stitches which you want to be the first row. I used yarn of contrasting color, but you should probably work with the same yarn (it would be blue in my case).

I didn’t make a slip knot in the beginning, but you can find it useful.

Take a smaller hook and insert it under BOTH bars of the first stitch, yarn over and draw up a loop. *Insert the hook into both bars of next stitch, yarn over, draw up a loop (now you will have 2 loops on the hook) and pull 2nd loop thought 1st one. Repeat from * for EVERY stitch till the end of the row. Make sure that you carefully insert the hook under both bars and cover every single stitch of the row. Try to keep your tension under control, don’t pull too much and don’t work too tight. This row of surface slip stitches must be of the same width as your project. After making slip stitch into the last stitch, fasten off carefully and cut the yarn.
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet

 A new foundation chain is finished!

STEP 3

Now you need to unweave (very carefully and gently) the row above new foundation chain. Cut one of the stitches of the row above and start to carefully unweave stitch by stitch. You can use a tapestry needle to help you.
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet

Congratulations!! You are done! In the pictures below you can see how new foundation chain looks on the right and wrong sides.
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet

You can also restore foundation chain for the row of single crochet stitches. Just act in the same way as for double crochet stitches. The bars of sc are a bit shorter, so you will probably need even a smaller hook. And you should be more attentive about the tension, so that your surface slip stitches are not too tight.
A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet
  A crochet trick: how to restore foundation chain in crochet. Tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet

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18 comments

  1. What if your mistake is on the side!

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    1. Then you will probably still need to frog and remake the part where you made a mistake...

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  2. This is fantastic!Thank you!

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  3. Wonderful help Thank you! Do you happen to have the same thing for a broken mandala center?

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  4. Thank you so much. I had made an afghan for my 31 yo daughter years ago that has been needing repair. Now I know what I must do to repair it and return it to her. She will be so happy and surprised! Bless you!

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  5. I did this very kind of thing a few weeks ago on a blanket for my husband. It was multicoloured (autumn shades) and I had started out thinking of using up a colour I didn't like! I only did the two pattern rows and decided to change to the autumn colours - so this original colour stood out and looked awful. When I completed the whole thing I went back and hooked back into the colour next to the bad one, ripped it out and did a rows going the opposite direction! Voila! Looked great and no one would ever notice!

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  6. This was very helpful. I made my sleeves to long on a cardigan and was able to fix them without having to remake the whole thing. THANK YOU!

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  7. Thank you for posting this! I just started learning to crocheting last week and am knee deep in a fairly large project that I did not want to have to completely redo. This worked like a charm although it was a little tricky to do as a beginner! You're a life saver!!

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  8. Thank you so much for this. I've been making a blanket for a couple of weeks and accidentally used the wrong stitch for the first 10 rows. I thought it would be ok but 50 rows in it was being pulled completely out of shape as the first rows were too tight. With the help of your instructions I was able to remove the first 10 rows and redo them correctly. Looks so much better!

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  9. 😱 This really worked!!!! I had too many rows at the beginning of my project, and I could “trim some off” without it unraveling! AMAZING!

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  10. OMG!! This is an amazing tip!!!! I had a magic circle start to unravel while working in the round and it worked!!!! I'm super happy because I had my mermaid tail complete and now I don't have to start all over. Thanks a million!!

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  11. This helped me fix a too-tight foundation chain in the center of a rectangular granny stitch blanket that was rippling. I laced through all the center stitches to stabilize the center, and then cut out the foubdation chain. The blanket could breathe! I then whip stitched the hole closed and you would never know the difference. Thanks for the idea

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  12. My foundation chain broke how would I do this with a hdc, sl St pattern?

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  13. I'm glad that a friend found this post. I made a vest that ended up being too long. She suggested that I restore the foundation chain using your instructions. One problem that I had was that I didn't use a solid dc or sc stitch but an open stitch (a mesh of 2 dc blocks, 1 ch; next row: 1 dc, 2 ch). And I looked in vain on the internet for how to restore the foundation chain with a fabric crocheted with a mesh pattern.

    Then I made a great discovery! It wasn't necessary to insert the hook into all the chain stitches; I could just insert it into the bars of the dc stitches. Then do ch stitches where there were already ch stitches, using them as place holders between the dc. What a wonderful discovery!

    One problem I'm having though, no matter on which row I decide to re-create the foundation chain, I have the "ch 3 to turn" at one end of the row. I can't figure out where to insert my hook when re-creating the foundation chain. Does anyone have any ideas on this? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

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  14. This is a life and project saver. Thanks SO Much for sharing! My blanket would have been a hot mess if I hadn’t seen your post.

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  15. You made my day and blanket :) Thank you

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