Free Crochet Shell Stitch Dish Cloth Pattern

I love to crochet and have been crocheting for 30 years now. One of my favorite crochet patterns/stitches in the shell stitch...it's super easy and makes really nice afghan patterns or dish cloth patterns ( dishcloth pattern ). When I make homemade crochet dish cloths, I always use 100% cotton yarn and I really like the Sugar and Cream brand of cotton yarns. You never want to use acrylic yarns!!!

Before I get started with directions on how I made the dishcloth, I want to explain how to do a shell stitch pattern.

How to do a shell stitch - Crochet

You always want to make a foundation chain in multiple of 6 stitches plus 1. For my dish cloth, I chained a foundation row of 37.

To begin a row of shell stitches on a foundation chain, thread over and insert hook in the 4th chain from your hook. Complete a DC (double crochet) and make another DC in this same stitch. This will make a half shell, the first step in a shell stitch row.

The correct order for a shell stitch row is as follows:

Beginning of row: Half shell (the turning chain 3 and 2 DC in the 4th stitch from your hook).

Repeat as often as desired: Skin 2 stitches, 1 SC in next stitch, skip 2 stitches, 1 shell (which is 5 DC in next stitch).

End of the row: Skip 2 stitches, 1 SC in next stitch.

When turning, you always want to chain 3.

Here is how I made my crochet dish cloth using cotton yarn and the shell stitch. The approximate finished size will be 8 1/4" by 7 1/4".

To make the dish cloth, I used a size 4 crochet hook. I made a foundation chain row consisting of 37 stitches. I then DC in the 4th chain from my hook and made another DC in that same stitch. I then skipped the next 2 stitches and made a SC in the next stitch, skipped the next 2 stitches and made a shell which is 5 DC in the next stitch. I did this across my row...ending with a SC in the last stitch. I then chained 3 and turned and went across again. I did this for 13 rows, not including the foundation row. You can make as many rows as desired. Once done, fasten off and weave in your ends.

You can find additional free crochet patterns here on my blog by looking under my crochet category...including additional dish cloth patterns! Please follow my blog (right hand column) so that you can see when I post new craft patterns!