4 Free Filet Crochet Patterns and a Tutorial (Linked to Each Designer)

Each of these free filet crochet patterns is a real published pattern with written instructions or a chart, linked to the designer who wrote it. One is the tutorial that makes every other filet chart readable; the rest are small projects to practise on.

Filet crochet looks like a specialist technique and is not. It uses two stitches — double crochet and chain — arranged on a grid. Learn what a block and a space are and the rest is counting.

The one thing to understand

Each square on a filet chart is three stitches. A filled square is three double crochet; an open square is a double crochet with a chain-2 gap. There is one extra stitch at the start of each row. That is the whole technique.

1. Basic Filet Crochet Tutorial

Start here. Pia Thadani gives the one definition the whole technique rests on: each square of the chart is three stitches, with one extra at the start of each row. An open square is a chain-2 space and a double crochet; a filled square is three double crochet. Once that is clear, every filet chart ever printed becomes readable — including hundred-year-old ones. Free pattern: Tutorial — Basic Filet Crochet.

2. Easy Filet Crochet Heart Square

The gentlest first project: a heart formed from open and filled squares inside a solid border. Lisa Auch writes it in DK on a 3.4 mm hook, which is a much friendlier gauge than traditional filet thread. Beginner-friendly, and the finished square works as a coaster, a dishcloth or a cushion front. Free pattern: EASY Filet Crochet Heart Square Pattern.

3. Filet Heart Coaster / Square

The traditional version of the same idea: Rhelena works it in size 10 crochet thread on a 1.65 mm hook to a 3.5-inch square, finished with a single crochet and chain-space edging. This is filet as it is normally done, and the fine thread is what gives the crisp lace grid. Rated intermediate — the hook size is the reason. Free pattern: Filet Heart Coaster / Square.

4. Filet Crochet Butterfly Square

Thirty-three blocks across and thirty-nine rows, with no stitch beyond blocks and mesh. The useful part is that Pia Thadani writes it yarn-agnostic: worsted on a 5 mm hook gives a 25-inch square, fingering on 2.75 mm gives 14 inches, from the same chart. That is filet’s real advantage — the design is a grid, so the yarn decides the size. Both lacy and solid versions included. Free pattern: Filet Crochet Butterfly Square.

The 4 patterns compared

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is filet crochet?

A grid of blocks and spaces that forms a picture. Each chart square is three stitches: an open square is a double crochet plus a chain-2 space, a filled square is three double crochet. That is the entire technique — two stitches and a chart.

Do I have to use thread?

No, and that is the most useful thing to know. Traditional filet uses size 10 thread on a 1.65 mm hook, but the same chart worked in worsted on a 5 mm hook produces the same design several times larger. The butterfly square above is written for both.

How do I read a filet chart?

Left to right on right-side rows, right to left on wrong-side rows, filling in each square as a block or a space. Count the squares rather than the stitches — the stitch count follows automatically from the square count, which is why filet is easier to follow than it looks.

What can I make with filet crochet?

Anything flat: coasters, dishcloths, table runners, curtains, cushion fronts and blanket panels. Because the size follows from the yarn rather than the chart, one design scales from a coaster to a curtain panel without any redrafting.

Read the tutorial first, then work the heart square in DK to see the grid appear. After that any filet chart — including the vintage ones — is within reach. Each link goes to the designer’s own page.