A purple handled hook has worked an orange swatch of Foundation Single Crochet laying on a white background.
Crochet,  Crochet Tutorials

Foundation Single Crochet (Fsc) Tutorial

February 3, 2020 / No Comments

Hello fellow yarnies!

What are your feelings about having to chain out an insane number of foundation chain stitches that you need to then work a solid row of single crochet stitches into? If that’s not your jam, then this tutorial is for you.

I, personally, HATE working into a foundation chain. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but when you’re working a solid row of single, double, or half-double crochet stitches as your first row, you’ll be happy to know that there’s another option! Foundation stitches!

Foundation stitches are an awesome alternative to the traditional foundation chains. This multi-tasking stitch combines your foundation chain and first row of single, double, or half-double crochet stitches in one stitch. It also has a lot more stretch to it than a foundation chain, perfect for garments or when no matter what you do, your traditional foundation chain pulls the end of your work too tightly.

For this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make the Foundation Single Crochet (Fsc) variation, so lets get going!

Foundation Single Crochet

Video Tutorial

I’ve filmed a quick tutorial video for you, if you prefer to see this in action, otherwise, step-by-step photos will follow.

Photo Tutorial

  • "Step 1: Chain 2" A crochet hook has just completed two chains in an orange yarn.
  • "Step 2: Turn your work so that you can see the back bumps. Insert your hook under the back bump of the second chain from your hook and pull up a loop." A crochet hook has just completed two chains in an orange yarn.
  • "Step 2 Completed" Photo shows a loop pulled up from the second chain stitch from the hook for a total of two working loops on the hook.
  • "Step 3: Chain 1." Photo shows one chain stitch worked from the second chain stitch from the hook in Step 1.
  • "Step 4: Yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook." Photo shows the yarn wrapped over the hook from back to front and read to be pulled through the two working loops on the hook.
  • "Step 4 Completed: First Completed FSC" Photo shows the first completed foundation single crochet stitch.
  • "Step 5 Continued: Repeat Steps 3 and 4. Step 3: Chain 1; Step 4: Yarn over and pull through both loops" Photo shows a chain stitch worked from the previously pulled up loop, ready to yarn over and pull through both loops.
  • "Anatomy of a Foundation Single Crochet" a swatch of foundation single crochets in orange yarn are laying vertically on a white background with the text "Bottom of your stitches" on the left side of the swatch, and the text "Topy of your stitches" on the right of the swatch.
  • "Anatomy of a Foundation Single Crochet: A Closer Look." A swatch of foundation single crochet stitches has been worked and are laid vertically on a white background with "Bottom chain stitch from Step 3" in blue and a blue arrow on the left side of the swatch pointing to the blue highlighted loops on the swatch and to the right of the swatch, "First loop from Step 4" in green with a green arrow pointing to the green highlighted loop in the swatch, and "Second loop from Step 4" in gold with a gold arrow pointing to the gold highlighted loop in the swatch.

You did it!

What do you think? Is this going to be your go-to now instead of the foundation chain?

The process behind the Foundation Single Crochet can be applied to double crochet, half-double crochet, or even treble or double-treble crochet. The key is to remember to start with one more chain than you would normally start a regular row of crochet stitches with, i.e. we typically start a single crochet row with a chain 1, so we started with two chains.

Want to see how to apply this technique to other stitches? See my Foundation Double Crochet and Foundation Half Double Crochet tutorials!

Happy stitching!

Pinterest Pin "How to crochet the Foundation Single Crochet: Photo and Video Tutorial"

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