Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Bar Stitch

There’s tons and tons of textured stitches out there, but generally they’re designed for flat pieces. You’ll find all sorts of gorgeous bags, garments and accessories made with different textured stitches. But what about amigurumi? While not every stitch works for amigurumi, there are plenty that do! In this guide, Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Bar Stitch, I’ll show you how to convert this awesome stitch so you can add some flair to your next amigurumi project!

Textured Stitches Made Easy: The Bar Stitch

Typically the bar stitch consists of alternating double crochets and front post double crochets, but you can achieve the same effect with a mix of single crochet and front post double crochets. The switch is mainly to keep your stitches smaller and tighter so you won’t have any stuffing showing through.

If you’re unfamiliar with front post stitches, I have a mini tutorial below. I recommend following along and making a flat sample first to get used to the repeat and where to place your first row of front post stitches.

Working the Bar Stitch Flat

Materials & Abbreviations

Everything is in US terms.

• 1 color of yarn (I used Bernat Baby Sport)
• a crochet hook (I used a 3.5mm, but it might be easier to use a bigger hook to practice first)

• Ch – chain
• Sc – single crochet
• FPdc – front post double crochet
  • Yarn over, going in from the front, insert your hook behind the post of the indicated stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop. Then yarn over and pull through 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through the remaining 2 loops.

Stitch Basics

• Stitch Multiple: 3 + 3
• Repeat: 2 row repeat
• Ch 1 does not count as a stitch

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Let’s Make a Swatch!

Chain a multiple of 3 and then add 3 more chains. For my sample I chained a total of 21 stitches.

Row 1: starting in the second ch from the hook, sc across, ch 1, turn. (20)

Row 2: sc across, ch 1, turn. (20)

NOTE: Row 3 begins the row repeat. The front post double crochets in Row 3 are worked around the posts of the single crochet stitches in the row below (Row 1). There will be an unworked single crochet stitch behind every front post double crochet.

Row 3: [2sc, FPdc] 6 times, 2sc, ch 1, turn. (20)

Row 4: sc across, ch 1, turn. (20)

To continue, repeat Rows 3 and 4 as many times as you like. The only difference is that when you work your front post double crochet stitches, you’ll now be working them around the post stitches from the row below.

Working the Bar Stitch in the round

Now that we’ve worked up a flat swatch, let’s talk about how to convert it to work in the round. The great thing about this stitch if that there’s actually not much to change. The biggest difference is that stitches tend to slant when working continuously, so to account for that the stitch pattern is now a 4 row repeat rather than 2.

Materials & Abbreviations

Everything is in US terms.

• 1 color of yarn (I used Bernat Baby Sport)
• a crochet hook (I used a 2.5mm hook)
• stitch marker
• tapestry needle
• stuffing
• scissors

• MR – magic ring
  • Create a magic ring and work the specified number of single crochet into it (ex. MR6 = 6sc into the ring).
• Sc – single crochet
• Inc – increase
  • Work 2sc into the same stitch.
• Dec – decrease
  • You can use either the invisible decrease: Insert your hook into the front loop of the next stitch, then insert your hook into the front loop of the following stitch, yarn over and pull through the first loop (3 loops on the hook), then yarn over and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.
  • OR a regular decrease: Insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop. Insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops.
• FPdc – front post double crochet
  • (Same instructions as the flat sample)

Stitch Basics

• Stitch Multiple: 3
• Repeat: 4 row repeat

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Let’s Make a Sample!

Before you start the 4 row repeat for this stitch, you’ll have to work up until you have a base row that is a multiple of 3. In example below I did a few increase rows until I got to 30 stitches and then I did 2 rows of single crochet. This is to ensure that you don’t have to work your first row of post stitches around any increases.

Rnd 0: MR6 Place your stitch marker in the first st.

Rnd 1: inc 6 times. (12)

Rnd 2: [inc, sc] 6 times. (18)

Rnd 3: [sc, inc, sc] 6 times. (24)

Rnd 4: [inc, 3sc] 6 times. (30)

Rnds 5-6: sc around. (30)

NOTE: Rnd 7 is the first row of the 4 row repeat. Similar to the flat swatch, you’ll be working your front post double crochet stitches around the posts of the single crochet stitches in the round below. Since we’re working in the round, the stitches may be slightly slanted instead of stacked on top of each other. If you’re having trouble check out the video tutorial below:

Pro Tip: Once you get that first front post double crochet in place, look at where the stitch is wrapped around the post of that single crochet and count over 3 stitches. That 3rd stitch is where you’ll place your next front post double crochet.

Rnd 7: [2sc, FPdc] 10 times. (30)

NOTE: Remember you’ll have an unworked single crochet behind every front post double crochet stitch.

Rnd 8: sc around. (30)

Rnd 9: sc, [2sc, FPdc] 10 times. (30) The first single crochet of this Rnd is going to end up as the skipped stitch behind the final front post double crochet. Check out the video tutorial if you’re stuck.

Rnd 10: sc around. (30)

NOTE: Repeat Rnds 7-10 as many times as you like. For this sample, I just did one more set of rows before decreasing.

Rnd 15: [dec, 3sc] 6 times. (24)

Start adding stuffing.

Rnd 16: [sc, dec, sc] 6 times. (18)

Rnd 17: [dec, sc] 6 times. (12)

Rnd 18: dec 6 times. (6)

Fasten off and use a tapestry needle to sew the remaining hole shut. Weave the leftover yarn tail into the piece.

Summary

I think the bar stitch has a bunch of untapped potential for adding detail to amigurumi. Maybe you could use it for ridges on the back of a dragon or possibly to mimic roots for a plant ami? How would you use this stitch? Leave a comment below!

If you liked this tutorial, you can check out other articles like it in the Textured Stitches Made Easy series, such as the Wavy Stitch!