How to Make Latch Hook Designs From Scratch
Latch hooking involves girth hitching short lengths of yarn around a base fabric such as canvas or burlap. A special tool, a hook with a latch that swings open and closed, is used to do this -- thus the name "latch hook". You can purchase latch hook kits that include charted patterns, purchase stand-alone patterns or, if you know what you want to create, you can make your own latch hook pattern from scratch. There are two main ways of doing this: either digitally, using an online tool or working by hand with graph paper.
Instructions
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Digital designs
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Select a photo to use as the basis for your latch hook design.
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Scan the photo into digital form, if it is not digital already.
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Upload the photo into an online latch hook pattern service, like Leftsource, for example.
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Edit the photo as necessary. The tools in the software will allow you to crop, brighten, saturate, rotate, adjust contrast and add colors, all online.
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Specify how many yarns per inch and how many colors should be in your project, as well as the project size. Click "Refresh" to get a look at how your finished project will appear with the current settings.
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Click "Print/view your project!" when you're satisfied with what you see in the project image. This saves the pattern as a .pdf file on your computer.
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Print the pattern out and take it to a copy shop to be enlarged.
Handmade designs
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Outline the pattern you would like to draw on graph paper with a pencil. You may need to tape several pieces of graph paper together, or use paper with very small squares, to accommodate the size of your project.
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Color in between the lines of your pattern. Use colored pencil, and make sure to have an eraser handy.
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"Round off" the color in each square of the pattern. In other words, for squares that have more than one color, select the dominant color and erase the other colors, then fill the square with the dominant color.
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Take the finished pattern to a copy shop to be enlarged as necessary.
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