Tapestry VS. Intarsia
Have you ever wondered what is the difference between tapestry and intarsia crochet? Well, these two techniques are very similar to each other. The only difference is you carry across your unworking yarn or not!
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Tapestry
Tapestry is a type of technique to create motifs by changing colors back and forth. When you change from one color to another color, you carry your unworking across the row (or round) behind the working yarn. Here are my thoughts on tapestry:
| PROS | CONS |
| Less yarn ends to weave in | Unworking yarn may show |
| Great for a design requires constant color changing | Need more yarn than intarsia |
Intarsia
Intarsia is another type of technique to create motifs by changing colors back and forth. When you change from one color to another color, you do not carry your unworking across the row (or round) behind the working yarn. Here are my thoughts on intarsia:
| PROS | CONS |
| Unworking yarn does not show | More yarn ends to weave in |
| Great for a design that only needs one side (exampe: pillow cover) | Yarns get tangled up easily |
| Need less yarn than tapestry |
I’ve work only few projects using tapestry and intarsia, but I personally like intarsia better. I like how unworking yarn is not showing at all.
As you can see, both techniques are very similar at first glance. However, when you look closely, you can slightly see the white yarn underneath the green yarn in tapestry crochet. Also, look at the side edge for tapestry. You can see the white yarn! Unless you are going to make a border around it, this method works good. If you are not going to make a border, I wouldn’t really recommend tapestry. However, there’s actually a way to not show the white yarn on the side! That is to use both tapestry and intarsia crochet!
Above image is the graph of example motif. After you make 3 stitches in green at 4th row, switch to white. Now green becomes unworking yarn. You can carry green across when you make 7 stitches in white. After that, switch to green to make last 3 stitches, but do not carry white across. Repeat that for next 3 rows (5th ~ 7th row). Basically, green would be using tapestry technique and white would be using intarsia technique in this example.
Free Crochet Patterns & Tutorials
Here are just few of the tapestry and intarsia crochet patterns I found. You can find many patterns on Ravelry and internet as well!
Tapestry Crochet Patterns
- Crochet Block Diamond Blanket
- Red Heart Tapestry Flower Pot Cozy
- Diamond Reflection Cowl
- T-shirt Yarn Rug
Intarsia Crochet Patterns
- Better Together Earth Day Square
- Bernat Catch a Wave Crochet Pillow
- Navajo Blanket Shrug
- Love Crochet Throw Pillow
Mixture of Intarsia and Tapestry Crochet Patterns
Tutorials
- Nordic Hook (tapestry)
- Yarnspirations (tapestry)
- Lilla Björn (tapestry)
- Shibaguyz Designz (intarsia)
- Knit and Crochet Ever After (intarsia, video)
I hope these information can help better understand tapestry and intarsia! Thank you for reading and happy crocheting!
