Crochet Spot, which is an all around great resource has a wonderful photo tutorial on this stitch.
And Moogly has a superb video tutorial! Moogly is another one of those super helpful and super inspirational sites I can just wander around in happily for quite some time! There are patterns and tutorials and round-ups of crafty awesomeness from all over. Do take time to stop over and see for yourself!
Moogly gives several reasons why quite a few of us are becoming enamoured with this technique:
This stitch is great for all the same reasons that FSC is great:
- No counting tiny chains to make sure you have the right number – just count your nice big stitches!
- When you are starting a new project and don’t have an exact stitch count, you can work to the width you want without having to frog a bunch of stitches to get the right ch count.
- No working into the chain stitches, except for that very first stitch! No picking and poking, and no twisting the chain either.
- This is also a great alternative for those who have trouble with making their chains too tight or too loose. Once you’ve got the hang of it, these “chains” are always at your usual stitch gauge.
- It creates a far stretchier edge than a chained edge, which is very desirable for garments in particular. And it looks really great, very polished.
- Lastly, since it counts as the chain row AND the first row of dc, it’s a time saver, getting you to the fun part faster! Once you’ve finished a row of Foundation Double Crochet Stitches, you just go on to the second row of your project as written.
The pattern I am working on getting ready to publish will be making use of the fdc by using it as a strap, branching seamlessly right out from the garment. Pretty cool, yes?