Jan 16, 2010

Steam blocking

You may wish to block your motifs before doing the flat braid join. It's not required, but some people like to do so. Man-made yarns don't generally need much blocking, if any, but wool yarns or other natural fibers may need a bit more. My personal preference is to complete the afghan, then give it a nice steaming on a bed, smoothing all the seams and joinings out nicely and relaxing the stitch patterns a bit.
My favorite method is steam blocking. For straight-sided pieces, I use a piece of large gingham-check fabric to line everything up, and using rustproof pins, pin the crochet to a padded surface such as the ironing board cover or a towel on a counter. For large items, I use the bed.
Set the iron to steam, and if you have an iron that features bursts of steam, so much the better, but either way, use the iron to allow the steam to penetrate the crochet fibers without actually touching the iron to the crochet. If you prefer, cover the crochet with a pressing cloth just to be sure.
I then smooth the crochet with my hands until it all looks symmetrical and straight, adding more steam if needed, then let the crochet dry completely before removing.

8 comments:

  1. thank you once again for such simple instructions. I hate blocking and usually avoid projects that require a lot of it. This is great info for future project.

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  2. I think I'm like everyone else in that I love to crochet but hate to block. You've made it very simple to do. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

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  3. Can you use a clothes steamer?

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  4. Will there be any more squares with fpdc and bpdc?? I loved them even though i just have made them once before.. :)

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  5. Jeannie--I use my steam iron when blocking small flat things, but when steaming out seams and little bumps etc on garments, I love the My Little Steamer used vertically. No affiliation but it is great. It does have a hose for steaming flat, which I use for large things like shawls.

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  6. Crochet Lina, there will be more FPDC and BPDC--everyone seems to be loving those!

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  7. I am on square #9 but can't get my scanner to scan correct color of my squares. Loving the squares.

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  8. Thank you Carolyn, I'll use my iron then.

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