Love the look of color changes, but hate weaving in the ends? Then my Crochet Envelope Border is a perfect solution for you! It hides the ends and no weaving involved!
Work slip stitches loosely for easier double crochet stitches; alternatively, use single crochet stitches. The 2-layer envelope border, suitable for worsted or chunky yarn, requires ample yarn. Choose any stitch, starting with sl st or sc, and close both sides. Experiment with mosaic stitch for added complexity.
Instructions
The pattern is worked in rounds.
Backside of the border:
Step 1: Crochet even and loose sl st along the FRONT SIDE edges of your project. If slip stitches are too difficult for you to work with, you can do single crochet stitches instead, but sl st is my preferred method.
Step 2: Ch x2 and turn the work so you have the BACK SIDE of the project facing up and the backs of the slip stitches are facing you. Make 1 dc into each backside of the sl st. When you get to the corners dc x2, ch, dc x2 into the corner sl st. When you are done with this round, sl st to the top of the beginning dc and fasten off.
If you need to add a second round of dc stitches, feel free to do so, but make sure you do the same amount of rounds on the reverse side.
Front side of the border:
Flip your work over so the FRONT SIDE is now facing you and you can see the top of the slip stitches. Join the yarn to the beginning sl st again and repeat step 2.
Make sure to have all the yarn tails in between the dc posts. Like a sandwich.
After making the dc stitches, do not fasten off the yarn.
Step 3: Sl st the 2 dc rounds together by going through the 2 middle loops of the dc sandwich. Thus trapping the yarn ends between the 2 rounds of dc.
Sl st to the first sl st in the round and fasten off the yarn. Weave in the ends.