Free tapestry crochet pattern maker

Bobble turns a photo into a tapestry crochet chart worked in rows, with the yarn you carry counted in the amounts and Make Mode to keep your place, free. Pro adds every row written out in UK or US terms, and every download. Open the app on Tapestry and add a photo to see your chart.

What does a tapestry crochet pattern maker do?

It turns a picture into a chart where each square is one stitch in one colour, then writes the chart out as rows. Bobble matches your photo’s colours to real yarn (Stylecraft Special DK or Paintbox Simply DK, both UK brands), draws the chart, and writes every row for you, in UK or US terms. It also works out how much of each colour to buy.

Is tapestry crochet worked in rows or in the round?

Bobble charts tapestry as flat rows today: worked back and forth, one stitch per square, with a turning chain at the end of each row. Each square is one double crochet in UK terms, or one single crochet in US terms. That suits a panel for a bag or a cushion cover, or a wall hanging. The one piece it charts in rounds is an 8 cm bauble cover, worked with carried colours; it does not shape a hat or a basket.

Pick a size on the Size tab (a 40 × 40 cm cushion, a 50 × 70 cm wall hanging, a 75 × 100 cm baby blanket or a 120 × 150 cm throw) or type your own. For a bag, chart two flat panels and sew them together; Bobble does not chart a seamless tube.

How to make a tapestry crochet pattern from an image

1. Open the app on Tapestry and add a photo with a clear subject and strong contrast.
2. Set the size on the Size tab. Grids go up to 300 stitches a side.
3. Choose how many colours on the Colours tab, from 2 to 20. Fewer colours make a simpler tapestry.
4. Tap Start making. Bobble saves the project and opens Make Mode with your rows.

Tapestry suits bold shapes in a few colours: a logo, a silhouette, a pet against a plain background, or lettering drawn on paper and photographed. For a photo with soft shading, turn on Flatten shading on the Colours tab, and raise Contrast in the “Look, for photos” section of the Advanced tab, before you set the colours. You can also start from one of Bobble’s own designs in the Gallery. Bobble has no blank grid to draw on and does not edit single squares, so a design you draw by hand goes in as a picture.

How many colours can a tapestry crochet row have?

Four or fewer works best. Bobble counts the rows that use more than four colours and tells you how many there are, with a note that tapestry is easier with four or fewer in a row. It is a warning, not a limit, so you can keep a busy row if you want it. If there are too many, lower the number of colours on the Colours tab.

Do I need to work a swatch first?

Yes. Carrying yarn changes the tension, and many makers go down a hook size. Bobble says the same in the Maker: “Work a swatch in tapestry before you start: carrying yarn changes the tension, and many makers go down a hook size.” Enter the stitches and rows per 10 cm from your swatch on the Advanced tab, and the finished size and the yarn amounts follow your tension.

Will my picture keep its shape?

Yes. A crochet stitch is not square, so a grid that gave each pixel of the photo one stitch would come out squashed. Bobble sizes the grid from your tension, the stitches and rows per 10 cm. At its DK default of 18 stitches and 20 rows per 10 cm on a 4 mm hook, the chart has slightly more rows than stitches for a square picture, and once you enter your own swatch figures on the Advanced tab, the grid, the finished size and the yarn follow them. Grids run from 10 to 300 stitches a side.

How much yarn does tapestry crochet use?

More than the same chart in plain rows, because you carry the colours you are not using inside the stitches. Bobble adds the yarn each colour carries to that colour’s amount, with a 10 percent allowance for tension and the tails you weave in. The amounts are in metres and balls of DK per colour, and they are estimates: buy a spare ball of your main colour, because dye lots vary.

What do the written instructions look like?

They start from the foundation chain. You chain one more than the stitches in row 1 and work row 1 into the chain, starting in the 2nd chain from the hook, with the other colours of row 1 laid along the top of the chain. Every row after that is written as runs of colour. You can switch between UK and US terms at any time on the Account screen.

How to change colour and carry the yarn

The written rows tell you both moves, in the same words as the PDF and the copied text. To change colour: “Change colour in the last step of the stitch before the new colour: draw the new colour through the final two loops on the hook.” As you work, carry the colours you are not using along the top of the row below and work over them, so they travel inside the stitches and are ready where the chart needs them. Carrying makes the fabric firmer, which is why many makers go down a hook size.

How do I read a tapestry crochet chart?

Each square is one stitch: a double crochet in UK terms, a single crochet in US terms, and every row has the same number of stitches. Each written row carries an arrow for the direction you work it, and the rows match the chart row for row. If two colours look alike, turn on Letters to put each colour’s letter on its squares, which also helps if you are colour-blind; Grid lines and the Key sit beside it. In Make Mode, the follow-along row tracker, the current row is marked on the chart, your stitches are counted and your place is kept between sittings. If charts are new to you, see how to read a crochet chart.

Tapestry, pixel crochet and graphgans: what is the difference?

They are the same colour grid worked different ways. Rows, often called pixel crochet, uses one stitch per square and does not carry the spare colours. Tapestry uses the same stitch and carries them inside, which makes a firmer fabric and uses more yarn. C2C works the grid in diagonal blocks. A graphgan, or graphghan, is a blanket worked from such a chart, by any of the three, and in Bobble you can switch a chart between them. See pixel, C2C or tapestry crochet: which to pick.

Is it free?

Yes. Making a tapestry chart and following it in Make Mode are free. The written rows and every download (a PDF or a PNG of the chart) are part of Bobble Pro (£3.99 a month), for every chart, Bobble’s free designs included.