How to Turn a Paper Doily into a Crochet Placemat

I love to upcycle items that I already have by adding crochet. That’s how this project was born. I had paper doilies that I wasn’t going to use as they were but knew that I could turn them into something special with just a little bit of craftiness. By adding crochet around the edging, I was able to create brand new placemats made with that personal touch.

You can take simple, affordable paper doilies purchased at craft stores and add crochet around them to turn them into one-of-a-kind special handmade placemats for the home. They work up quickly so these paper and crochet placemats are not only great as projects for your own home but are also perfect to work up as gifts for others.

Materials

• 1 paper crochet doily. You can use any size but select a design that has an openwork edge so that you can easily attach your yarn to begin the placemat.
• Yarn. The yarn you use is totally up to you. This project will work with any yarn, although you may have to make adaptations for size differences; working with crochet thread would require more stitches per round than working with bulky yarn. I used a worsted weight yarn in this example.
• Crochet hook. Choose the hook that will work best with your yarn.

How to Turn a Paper Doily into a Crochet Placemat

Step One:

Join your yarn to your doily. Simply slip knot your yarn to any section of the outside round of the paper doily.

Step Two:

Single crochet in each loop around. When you get to the end of the row slip stitch to the first sc to close the round. Note: You may need to make some adjustments depending on the design of your paper doily. For example, if it has very wide open loops, you may work 2-3 sc in each wide loop. Just make it consistent around the entire doily.

Step Three:

Chain four (counts as first treble crochet). *Tr in each of next 10 sc, 2 tr in next sc. Repeat from * around and sl st to close the round.

Step Four:

Chain five (counts as first double treble crochet). *Dtr in each of next 10 sc, 2 str in next sc. Repeat from * around and sl st to close the round.

Don’t know how to work these tall crochet stitches? Find instructions here.

Step Five:

Chain six (counts as first triple treble crochet). *Tr tr in each of next 10 sc, 2 str in next sc. Repeat from * around and sl st to close the round.

Step Six:

Create a finishing edge. A crochet project looks a lot better when you finish it with an interesting edge. For my edge I chose to do a shell-shaped ruffle. I did this by doing a single crochet, double crochet, single crochet in each of the stitches around. The shell is created by the single, double, single shape and the ruffle is created because I’m crocheting three stitches in each stitch around. However, you could choose many different edgings from a very simple reverse single crochet stitch around to a detailed edging from one of your favorite edging pattern books. The choice is yours!

Have fun making adaptations to this approach using your own paper doilies and favorite crochet techniques. A set of four makes a great gift for the holidays or any housewarming!

Kathryn Vercillo is the blogger behind Crochet Concupiscence and the author of the book Crochet Saved My Life. She loves combining crochet with paper and other materials; check out her 20 creative ideas for paper + crochet. Learn more about Kathryn from her designer interview.

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