How to Read a Filet Crochet Chart
Written by the Filet Crochet Chart Builder team · Updated
A filet crochet chart is simply a grid where each square tells you to make a block or a space. Reading one is mostly about direction and counting — once you know which way to travel along each row, the rest follows naturally.
Before this guide
Read bottom to top
Charts are worked from the bottom row upward, the same order you build the fabric. The bottom edge of the chart is your foundation, and you add each row above it as you go.
Alternate direction each row
Work the first row in one direction, then turn and read the next row back the other way. A common convention is to read right-to-left on right-side rows and left-to-right on wrong-side rows. Following the zigzag keeps the design from coming out mirrored.
Filled square means block, empty means space
A filled (dark) square is a block; an empty (light) square is an open mesh. Where a block follows a space, you work your double crochet into the chain space below; where a space follows a block, you chain across and skip. Counting in groups of squares, rather than individual stitches, keeps your place.
Use a row counter and a marker
Print the chart and tick off each row as you finish it, or slide a ruler up the grid. A stitch marker in the first square of the current row makes it easy to find your place after a break. These small habits prevent the most common filet mistake: losing count by a square.
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