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With Burn's Night on the horizon my mind always turns to tartans and plaid. My American friends refer often to Buffalo Plaid, which is a red, burgundy and black version with larger squares and no thin lines of colour, more normally seen in traditional tartans.
As this is a simpler form I'll start these plaid tutorials with a Buffalo style which is also, handily, perfect for beginners. I will be sharing additional ways to create a plaid effect which will build in complexity.
I've included Designer Info for those who want to take this stitch and use it in new patterns, either for sale or for free. If you wish you may share the tutorial video within your patterns.
My colours are not the traditional ones, the point being that you can use any colour combos to create plaid, you simply need three tonally complementary colours to begin to dip your toe in the world of tartan and plaid.
As a BONUS here is an easy FREE Pattern for Buffalo Plaid crochet Placemats for you to practice.
Designer Info
Chain a multiple of 6, +1 for the turning chain.
The Pattern is worked across a minimum of 18 sts, +6 over 12 rows +4 per row of colour.
Each individual block of colour is 6 sts over 4 rows.
Buffalo plaid requires two rows of 3 blocks before the pattern appears, a square shape of 3 x 3 blocks will not show the plaid pattern clearly. The Plaid pattern will show in a square of 4 x 4.
UK Terms
ch chain
dc double crochet
sk skip
rep repeat
C1 colour 1 (grey)
C2 colour 2 (light pink)
C3 colour 3 (dark pink)
Note you will be working your carrying your unused colours either across your work or along the side as you go with each colour change to minimise ends.
Instructions
Ch 19 sts in C1
Row 1: dc in the second ch from hook, dc across, turn. 42 sts
Row 2: ch 1, sk 1st st, dc 5 in C1, *6dc in C2, 6dc in C1; rep from * to end of row, turn.
Row 3 - 5: Rep Row 2
Row 6: In C2 ch 1 , sk 1st st, dc 5 in C2, *6dc in C3, 6dc in C2; rep from * to end of row, turn.
Row 7 - 9: Rep row 6
Rows 2-9, these eight rows form the basis of the Buffalo Plaid pattern and should be repeated until you have the length of fabric you need.
US Terms
ch chain
sc double crochet
sk skip
rep repeat
C1 color 1 (grey)
C2 color 2 (light pink)
C3 color 3 (dark pink)
Note you will be working your carrying your unused colours either across your work or along the side as you go with each colour change to minimise ends.
Instructions
Ch 19 sts in C1
Row 1: sc in the second ch from hook, dc across, turn. 42 sts
Row 2: ch 1, sk 1st st, sc 5 in C1, *6sc in C2, 6sc in C1; rep from * to end of row, turn.
Row 3 - 5: Rep Row 2
Row 6: In C2 ch 1 , sk 1st st, sc 5 in C2, *6sc in C3, 6sc in C2; rep from * to end of row, turn.
Row 7 - 9: Rep row 6
Rows 2-9, these eight rows form the basis of the Buffalo Plaid pattern and should be repeated until you have the length of fabric you need.