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Crocheting flat circles can be easy for some and challenging for others. This tutorial makes it easy, by breaking it down stitch by stitch for every basic crochet stitch, from single crochet all the way through treble crochet. Video tutorials are included.
It’s almost craft season, aka fall and winter for the northern hemisphere, and many people crochet more than just baskets. In fact, I love crocheting hats more than any other crochet projects – next to bags. LOL But in order to crochet those as perfect as one can, it’s best to know a few tips and tricks.
In fact, one of the most asked questions I ever get is: “How do I crochet in rounds and have flat circles?” For all those who asked me this very question, I think I might take you to cloud 9 (or 7 if you are in Germany haha). Because this tutorial will teach you everything you need to know about always having a flat circle.
It will help you have straight seams, your circles will lay flat, and no more “bowl” or “wavy” circles that can’t be named circles after all.
How do you crochet a flat circle for beginners?
Before we even get into talking about how to start crocheting a circle, let’s make sure you know how to make them flat – no matter which stitch you will use.
There are 3 things to consider when crocheting circles:
- Your Hook Size
- Your Yarn Weight
- Your Tension
Yes, you can follow the math and always calculate it – using Pi and a special formula – but let me not bore you with that. Or you can simply test it out. Cause I have tried it many different ways and it always comes down to those 3 variables. As soon as one changes, your beginning or starting stitch number will change.
First, I highly recommend you learn either the Magic Ring or the Alternative Magic Ring. Either one will work to start making a flat circle.
So let’s simply start, with the most basic of all crochet stitches: the single crochet. Follow the video tutorial below on how to crochet a flat circle using single crochet stitches and you will be golden afterward.
How do you crochet a circle step by step?
Single Crochet Flat Circle
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Half Double Crochet Flat Circle
Double Crochet Flat Circle
Treble Crochet Flat Circle
Why won’t my crochet circle lay flat?
Grab your favorite yarn (I used Brava Yarn from WeCrochet) and hooks (I used Furls Crochet Hook size 4.0mm) and let’s crochet together, shall we? Above you have the video tutorials which are more detailed. But let me show a written tutorial for this.
Basically, to make sure your circle is always flat, you need to start out with the correct stitch number that is placed into the beginning magic ring (or alternative magic ring). Each stitch has a different number. Let’s take a closer look.
Flat Circle with Single Crochet
It’s best to start with a magic circle and then add between 6-8 single crochet stitches in the middle. The correct number depends on your yarn, hook size, and tension. So test it out and see what number works best for you. The beginning stitch number is the most important number to get right to keep the circle flat throughout.
Then follow this pattern to make the circle bigger and flat:
I skip the chain of 1 at the beginning of each round. If you want to know why, please check this smooth edges tutorial.
R2: 2 sc in each st, sl st to 1st st
R3: *1sc, 2sc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R4: *1sc in the next 2 sts, 2sc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R5: *1sc in the next 3 sts, 2sc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
Keep following the pattern above, increasing the italic number by 1 each round, until you reached the size of the circle you need.
Flat Circle with Half Double Crochet
So is crocheting a half double crochet a lot different from a single crochet one? No, not really. The pattern concept is almost identical, just a different stitch. The most important part of making the circle flat using hdc is the beginning stitch number. For hdc that should be between 8 and 12 stitches into the magic circle, depending on your yarn weight, hook size, and tension.
Then follow this pattern to make the circle bigger and flat:
I skip the chain of 1 at the beginning of each round. If you want to know why, please check this smooth edges tutorial.
R2: 2 hdc in each st, sl st to 1st st
R3: *1hdc, 2hdc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R4: *1hdc in the next 2 sts, 2hdc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R5: *1hdc in the next 3 sts, 2hdc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
Keep following the pattern above, increasing the italic number by 1 each round, until you reached the size of the circle you need.
Flat Circle with Double Crochet
Now let’s chat about double crochet flat circles. Again the pattern concept is almost identical, just a different stitch. The most important part of making the circle flat using dc is the beginning stitch number. For dc that should be between 10 and 14 stitches into the magic circle, depending on your yarn weight, hook size, and tension.
Then follow this pattern to make the circle bigger and flat:
I skip the chain of 2 or 3 at the beginning of each round and replace it with an Alternative Turning Chain (atc) which counts as a stitch. If you want to know why, please check this Alternative Turning Chain tutorial.
R2: 1 atc & 1dc in the same st, 2dc in each st, sl st to 1st st
R3: 1 atc, 2dc in the next st, *1dc, 2dc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R4: 1 atc, 1dc in the next st, 2dc in the next st, *1dc in the next 2 sts, 2dc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R5: 1 atc, 1dc in the next 2 sts, 2dc in the next st,*1dc in the next 3 sts, 2dc in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
Keep following the pattern above, increasing the italic number by 1 each round, until you reached the size of the circle you need.
Flat Circle with Treble Crochet
Ok, we now talked about all the more common basic stitches. But let’s go a bit bigger, shall we? Again the pattern concept, even for the treble crochet, is almost identical, just a different stitch. The most important part of making the circle flat using tr is the beginning stitch number. For tr that should be between 14 and 18 stitches into the magic circle, depending on your yarn weight, hook size, and tension.
Then follow this pattern to make the circle bigger and flat:
I skip the chain of 3 or 4 at the beginning of each round and replace it with an Alternative Turning Chain (atc) which counts as a stitch. If you want to know why, please check this Alternative Turning Chain tutorial.
R2: 1 atc & 1tr in the same st, 2tr in each st, sl st to 1st st
R3: 1 atc, 2tr in the next st, *1tr, 2tr in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R4: 1 atc, 1tr in the next st, 2tr in the next st, *1tr in the next 2 sts, 2tr in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
R5: 1 atc, 1tr in the next 2 sts, 2tr in the next st,*1tr in the next 3 sts, 2tr in the next st, repeat from * till the end, sl st to 1st st
Keep following the pattern above, increasing the italic number by 1 each round, until you reached the size of the circle you need.
If you love this crochet a flat circle tutorial as much as I do, please use the social media share buttons above or below and share this pattern link with the world and your friends. They and I will thank you! I promise.
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