How to Whipstitch Crochet Squares Together

Whipstitch is the sewing-up stitch of the crochet world: one simple diagonal stitch passed over the edges of two pieces, again and again, joining granny squares into strips and strips into whole blankets. Our big granny square blanket is whipstitched together strip by strip, and all three Granny Squares volumes teach it in their Getting Started sections as one of the two standard ways to join a blanket.

Step by step

Lay the two squares or strips side by side and decide which faces are the front. For the standard finish, join with the right sides facing *out* and work through the back loops only — the seam then hides in the valley between the squares and the front stays smooth; joining through both loops makes a stronger, more visible ridge, which some blankets wear as a feature.
Thread a blunt tapestry needle with the joining yarn — the background colour of the squares is the discreet choice — and leave a tail of about 10 cm to weave in at the end. No knot: the first two stitches over the corner will lock everything down.
Anchor at the corner: pass the needle through the corner space (or corner stitches) of both pieces twice, pulling snug, so the corners sit exactly together and the join starts with a handshake, not a gap.
Work the stitch itself: bring the needle up and over the edges of both pieces and pass it through the next pair of corresponding stitches, always travelling in the same direction, so every stitch wraps diagonally over the join. That over-and-over diagonal wrap is the whole stitch — whip, pull snug, whip, pull snug.
Match stitch for stitch: one whip for every pair of edge stitches, all the way along. Our squares are deliberately finished at identical stitch counts (72 stitches, 18 a side in the Granny Squares volumes) so the pairs never drift — if your needle starts landing between stitches instead of through them, stop and find where the count slipped.
Keep the tension even and honest: pull each stitch firm enough that the edges kiss, never so tight that the seam cords and the blanket puckers along it. Run a fingertip down the join as you go — it should feel flat, with the faintest ridge standing on the back.
At every junction — a corner where a strip ends, a crossroads where four squares meet — whip twice through the corner spaces before carrying on. Corners take the strain of a blanket’s whole life, and the doubled stitch is cheap insurance.
If one side is a whisker longer than the other, ease it in as you would in dressmaking: take two stitches on the longer side against one on the shorter, once or twice, spread well apart. A millimetre absorbed here and there is invisible; a bulge saved up for the end is not.
Finish by weaving the tail back along the seam for a few centimetres and trimming, then block the whole blanket (see our How to Block Your Work page). Whipstitch seams relax into the fabric, the squares square up, and the join that looked like stitching becomes part of the blanket’s bones.

Patterns that use it

Aussie Granny Square Blanket Crochet Pattern | Koala Kangaroo Wombat Motif Squares PDF Pattern

Aussie Granny Squares Vol 1 | 12 Crochet Granny Square Motif Patterns PDF

Aussie Granny Squares Vol 2 | 12 Crochet Granny Square Motif Patterns PDF

Aussie Granny Squares Vol 3 | 12 Crochet Granny Square Motif Patterns PDF

Only 4 products in the live catalogue copy genuinely name or teach whipstitch joining — the blanket and the three Granny Squares volumes above — so this entry links 4 patterns rather than 5.

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Common mistakes

Hauling every stitch up tight. Whipstitch pulled hard cords along the join, the seam stands up in a ridge, and the blanket puckers along every seam line instead of lying flat and easy.
Letting the stitch pairs drift out of step — a stitch missed on one side, two taken on the other. The squares creep a little further out of alignment with every stitch, and by the end of the strip the corners no longer meet.
Skipping the doubled anchor at the corners. A single light stitch at a corner or a four-way junction carries the strain of the blanket’s whole life, and it’s exactly where a gap will open first.

Tina’s tips

Block your squares before you join them, every time. Squares that all measure the same join stitch-for-stitch like they were made for each other — because they were — and the matching stops being a battle.
Join on a flat table with the corners pinned or clipped in place, not with the strip draped over your lap. Gravity in a lap is a sneak thief; the table keeps both pieces honest while your hands do the sewing.