I just wanted to remind everyone that when you begin and finish off your crochet project, you should leave a tail of about 6" for weaving in. One of our KS My Stitch guild members asked me to talk about this. She had been given some squares to make an afghan, and someone had not left long enough tails to weave in. After she sewed the squares together and laundered it, guess what. It came apart at the places that didn’t have long enough tails for weaving. She wanted me to remind all of you that if you receive something that doesn’t have long enough tails to weave in, there is a product call Fray Check that works great for just this very thing. Now, I have to tell about how I learned the hard way about leaving longer tails. Here’s my story:
Back when I first learned to crochet, I didn’t know that you were supposed to leaves tails to weave in. I have made numerous doilies, afghans, tablecloths, etc., without leaving 6" tails. I didn’t even know there were books out there to tell you all about this. I had what I had inherited from my grandmother, and all those pattern books did was give you patterns with little explanation on how to make anything. Anyway, when I was first starting to make doilies, I received a subscription to Magic Crochet as a gift, and I loved that magazine. I would try and make everything in there before the next one would arrive. I would sometimes rip out projects just to make another one because I couldn’t afford to go and buy anymore crochet thread.
One issue of the magazine had a square tablecloth made in the filet stitch with butterfly designs on all four sides. I used bits and pieces of all the thread that I had, and I was so proud of it, and my neighbor decided she wanted to purchase it from me. At the time, our fence had blown over that ran between our yards, so I told her that I would trade her for our part of the fence. She agreed, and everyone was so happy. Until it came time to wash that tablecloth, and afterwards, she came over and said, “Look what happened to my tablecloth; it came apart in different places all over.” I took a look at it and saw that it came apart at all the joins of the new threads. I had to sew it back together for her with sewing thread. That was my hard lesson on not leaving tails to weave in. I always leave tails now.
I also found out from a friend of mine about the Clover Chibi needles that work great for yarn. They have a curve on the end that works perfectly for weaving your tails in. I never used to like to thread a needle and weave in ends, but now I don’t even mind with the Chibi needles. I hope my story helps someone not make the same mistake that I did. Happy weaving in ends!
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