The History of Crochet: My Beginner Blunder That Changed Everything
My grandmother taught me to crochet in the late ’70s, but it wasn’t granny squares first — not even close. I remember watching my older sisters make them, their squares turning into sweaters and jackets. The slippers we made, though – the ones we called “putchies”, weren’t granny squares at all. Too many holes for something you actually wanted to wear on your feet. Those were straight rows, doubled up or sewn together at an angle to shape them. While learning back then and to this day, I often wondered how this craft got started. So, what exactly is the history of crochet, where was crochet invented, and where did crochet originate.
I was still white-knuckling my way through those same straight rows when someone suggested I try a granny square to mix things up. I remember thinking: absolutely not because I could barely keep my rows even — the last thing I needed was more confusion.
It turns out that ‘watch first, learn later’ approach isn’t just how my family did it. It’s basically baked into crochet’s whole history. For centuries, this craft has been passed down generation to generation, long before anyone thought to write a pattern down. That’s exactly why I put together my left-handed crochet guide, because sometimes the best way to learn is still by having someone show you, step by step.
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Table of contents
- The History of Crochet: Where Did Crochet Actually Come From
- From Tambouring to the First Crochet Hook
- The Irish Crochet Revolution
- Crochet During the World Wars
- The 1970’s: When Crochet Was Everywhere
- The Modern Resurgence in the History of Crochet
- What About Left-Handed Crocheters?
- More Crochet Posts
- The History of Crochet Isn’t Over
- Frequently Asked Questions About the History of Crochet
- Stay Connected
The History of Crochet: Where Did Crochet Actually Come From
Compared to knitting, which some believe stretches back to before the Christian era, crochet is the newer craft on the block. And historians still argue about where it actually started. Depending on who you ask, the roots trace back to Arabia, South America, or China. Nobody agrees, and honestly, that’s part of what makes it interesting. It’s a craft with a story nobody’s fully pinned down yet.
What most historians do agree on is that no physical evidence of crochet. There were no hooks, no fabric, no tools that have been found before the 1800s. For a deeper dive into the competing theories and timeline, this complete guide to the history of crochet is worth a read. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist earlier, but it does mean the claims about ancient origins are hard to prove. Some of those stories may have been invented during the Victorian era to make crochet seem more alluring and appealing to upper-class women.
Save This Pin 👇
From Tambouring to the First Crochet Hook
One popular theory in the history of crochet holds that the craft as we’d recognize it today grew out of a technique called tambouring. Tambour work was done on frames that resembled tambourines. This tambouring technique produced a chain-stitch look used to decorate sheer fabric with flowers and leaves.
There’s solid historical evidence of tambouring in European lace-making by the late 1700s. At some point, someone realized those chains could be joined together without a fabric background at all. This is jhow crochet as we know it today started to take shape. Still worked with needle-thin hooks and very fine thread at first.
That shift from working on fabric to working in the air was a quiet revolution. It meant anyone with a hook and some thread could create lace-like fabric from scratch, without a frame, without expensive equipment, without a workshop. Just your hands and a hook. That accessibility is what set crochet apart from the beginning, and it’s still what makes it special today.
The Irish Crochet Revolution
Crochet really took off with everyday people once newspapers and magazines started publishing patterns in the 1840s, which is part of the answer to where crochet originated as a widespread craft rather than a rare skill. Before that, it had mostly been a hobby for the wealthy, taught to high-born women by nuns who already had the lace-making skills.
A designer named Mlle Riego de la Blanchardière translated traditional lace patterns into what became known as Irish crochet, and the work was so fine and intricate that even Queen Victoria learned to do it herself. You can read more about her story and Irish crochet lace here.
But it was the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s and 1850s that truly transformed crochet from a pastime into a lifeline. As potato crops failed and families faced starvation, Irish women and children turned to crochet as a way to earn money. They created incredibly detailed lace and sold it to wealthy buyers in England and Europe. Entire communities survived on the income from crocheted lace.
Schools and convents organized crochet cooperatives, teaching the craft to anyone who could hold a hook. The lace they produced was so fine and so beautiful that Irish crochet became famous worldwide.
It wasn’t a hobby anymore; it was survival. And that practical, feed-your-family urgency still runs through the history of crochet, in ways most people don’t realize.
Crochet During the World Wars
During the world wars, when fabric was scarce, people stuck to small projects. Many countries rationed yarn, and crocheters unraveled old garments and reuse the yarn for essentials. Essential such as socks, hats, scarves, and bandages for soldiers.
Women on the home front organized crochet circles, working together to produce comfort items for troops overseas. Newspapers and magazines published patterns specifically designed to use minimal yarn. Nothing went to waste.
After the wars, crochet grew bigger and bolder. Some examples include tablecloths, clothing, and eventually those unmistakable ’70s pieces I remember so well.
The 1970’s: When Crochet Was Everywhere
If you were alive in the ’70s, you remember it. Granny-square waistcoats, crocheted mini-dresses, and afghans we wore like a badge of honor. Crochet wasn’t just a craft – it was fashion, it was home decor, it was everywhere.
That’s the era I grew up in, watching my older sisters churn out granny squares while I was still struggling with straight rows. Every couch had an afghan. Every woman in my family had a hook in her hand. You didn’t buy a blanket – somebody made you one.
The colors were bold, the patterns were wild, and nobody cared if it was perfect. That’s what I love about ’70s crochet – it was joyful and unapologetic. You made something with your hands and you used it.
The Modern Resurgence in the History of Crochet
These days, crochet is having another moment. Part of the same cottage-industry, slow-living resurgence that’s bringing back canning, bread-baking, and grandma’s old habits generally. It’s one of the most accessible crafts out there: a hook, some yarn, and you’re off, whether you’re making something to wear or something to decorate your home with.
Social media has changed the game completely. Crocheters share their work on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, and beginners can find tutorials for almost anything. Amigurumi – those adorable crocheted stuffed animals – have become hugely popular with younger crafters. The craft has found a whole new generation.
But some things haven’t changed. It’s still passed down the same way it always has been – someone watching, then trying, then eventually teaching someone else. The tools are the same. The basic stitches are the same. A chain is still a chain whether you learned it from your grandmother in 1973 or from a YouTube video last Tuesday.
What About Left-Handed Crocheters?
I think about that a lot in my own corner of it – teaching left-handed crochet, because I remember exactly what it felt like to be the one struggling to keep up while everyone around me made it look easy.
Throughout crochet’s entire history, left-handed crafters have been an afterthought. Patterns assume right-handedness. Tutorials show right-handed technique. When I was learning from my grandmother, there was no mirror-image version – you just had to figure it out or flip everything in your head.
That’s really the whole reason First Stitches exists, so nobody has to spend as long white-knuckling straight rows as I did before someone hands them a granny square. I wrote First Stitches – A Beginner Crochet Book for Left or Right Handed Crocheters.
More Crochet Posts
The History of Crochet Isn’t Over
Crochet’s been reinvented a dozen times over the centuries – from lace-imitation to Victorian obsession to Irish survival craft to ’70s waistcoats to whatever it’s becoming now. My hope is it keeps getting passed down the same way it always has: someone watching, then trying, then eventually teaching the next person their own way through it.
That’s really the whole point of this blog, if I’m honest, passing it on, one stitch and one story at a time. Whether you’re picking up a hook for the first time or you’ve been crocheting for decades, the history of crochet isn’t something that happened once and stopped. It’s still being written, one granny square, one hot pad, one first stitch at a time. If you’re ready to start your own chapter of it, First Stitches is where I’d point you; same as I’d point anyone standing where I once stood, white-knuckling a straight row and wondering if they’d ever get the hang of it.
Frequently Asked Questions About the History of Crochet
There’s no exact date. The earliest physical evidence of crochet dates to the early 1800s, though it likely evolved from tambouring techniques used in European lace-making during the late 1700s. Claims of ancient origins in Arabia or China are popular but unproven.
The honest answer is nobody knows for certain. The most widely accepted theory is that it developed in Europe from tambouring, a chain-stitch embroidery technique. It became widely practiced in Ireland, France, and England during the 1800s.
No. Knitting has evidence dating back much further – possibly to the early centuries AD. Crochet as we know it appears to have developed in the early 1800s, making it the younger craft by several centuries.
During the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, crochet became a survival skill. Irish women and children created fine lace that was sold to wealthy buyers across Europe, providing income for families facing starvation. The tradition of Irish crochet lace continues today.
Crochet has seen a major resurgence as part of the broader slow-living and handmade movement. Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest have introduced the craft to younger generations, and trends like amigurumi and cottagecore have made it fashionable again.
Stay Connected
If you enjoyed this walk-through crochet’s history, there’s more where that came from. I share new patterns, cozy living tips, and behind-the-scenes stitching stories regularly; Join the My Tasteful Threads newsletter.
Or browse more crochet patterns and guides in my shop — many designed with left-handed crafters in mind.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Mary Ann, creator of My Tasteful Threads cozy lifestyle blog where I share cozy reads, meaningful travel ideas, handmade crafts, and simple everyday cooking. Most evenings you’ll find me with yarn in one hand, a cup of tea nearby, and a good book within reach.
Stitch • Stir • Explore • Read
