The craft of crochet has been around for centuries, but its popularity within mainstream fashion waxes and wanes. Although it is often used in luxury brands like Prada, Gucci, and others, there are noticeable trends for when crochet is in abundance.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing lockdowns in 2020 around the world, many people newly discovered or relearned their love for crochet. Since then, we’ve seen a surge of crochet designs hit mainstream trends and retailers.
Not only has the crochet trend brought on new business for independent crochet artists and crafters, but it has opened up a new world of crochet designs on fabric.
This mashup of fabric with crochet stitches is a fun way to create mixed medium designs, as well as learn new sewing techniques to replicate an actual crocheted piece.
Whether you’re a sewer, crocheter, or both, we hope these fun fabric designs give you inspiration for your next project!
I just learned about Spoonflower thanks to Interweave Crochet, which created a crochet motif fabric through Spoonflower. Basically, this is kind of a CafePress or Zazzle but for fabric.
You create your own your own design and upload it, choose the type of fabric you want it to be printed on, and place your order. You can also make your designs available for sale through the site or purchase fabrics from other fellow creators.
Type “crochet” into their search tool and you’ll find pages and pages of designs (although not all are truly crochet-related, many are inspired by yarn-y love). Here are some of my favorites:
Madam0wl says this fabric is “Inspired by crochet & embroidery work inherited from my Great Grandma”
Doily Sunburst by Nalo_Hopkinson
It’s tough to tell from far away, but up close, the flowers on this fabric by Cottagecrafts look like crochet flowers.
Delft Doily says this: “I’m fascinated by hand-crocheted doilies made from very fine white cotton yarn. I played with two of them, and got this lacy pattern that looks like the result of putting a doily into a kaleidoscope.”
I adore this Yarn Goodness pattern by LovelyYarns, which comes in warm colors as well as a cooler-colors alternative.
Lace, Grapes, and Wine. This is an original painting by Helen Klebesadel that has been turned into fabric. Great for a doily lover.
Granny Square Fabric
Fabric designed to look like crochet granny squares seems to have become popular in the last few years. Here are a few examples:
Julia Monroe has two granny square fabric patterns that she sells through Spoonflower. I like this one with the blue hue to it.
The granny squares are larger on this fabric by Spoonflower’s DolphinAndCondor
Curly Pops shared this terrific retro-inspired granny square fabric
Thornberry put some granny square fabric to work when making this great shirt!
Peter Alexander sells PJs and some of them are printed with a granny square motif. I first learned about this via Sarah London.
Other Crochet Motif Fabric
Etsy’s Lisahestore sells this fabric that is designed with crochet motifs and polka dots.
How About Orange has the how-to to DIY some doily-printed fabric
The Crafty Minx shares this doily print fabric from Dandi which also comes in a bold red print
This traditional doily print on cotton comes from Michael Miller
If you have a fabric stash that rivals your yarn collection you might want to check out my roundup of projects that combine fabric and crochet.
I loved them all (especially the Lovely Yarns pattern) but grimaced when i saw what those granny square pants! YUCK!
@danidoesdoilies Well I think they’re supposed to be pajama pants. :)
Thanks so much for including my Go Granny fabric. What a lovely post!
Wow-I had no idea there were so many crochet-themed fabrics out there! I know how to sew but I really truly hate using a sewing machine-one hook or needle is the limit of my patience. But I have to admit- these fabrics do give me a lot of ideas!