The Art of Crochet Blankets
Published on October 15, 2021

Moroccan Tile Blanket Pattern, feat. in The Art of Crochet Blankets

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Hello, friend! I still have just a few more patterns from my book, The Art of Crochet Blankets, that I have not yet share with you. Today I want to introduce you to my “Moroccan Tile” designed, so named because it is inspired by a fantastic mix of creative cement tiles. I hope you enjoy this little presentation of my crochet pattern!

In this post, I will:

  • Show some delicious photos of Moroccan Tile
  • Reveal the cement tile goodness that inspired this piece
  • Offer a yarn suggestion for Moroccan Tile
  • Give you ways to share your WIP/FO on Facebook, Ravelry, and Instagram
  • Show you my book, The Art of Crochet Blankets

Thank you for reading!

Moroccan Tile Crochet Blanket Design Process

As complex and detailed floor tiles increase in popularity, it feels refreshing to draw inspiration from a simple cement tile with a clever and eye-catching color placement. Mixing simple one-stripe tiles with some more complex ones is not only pleasing to the eye, but also makes for the perfect crochet project, in my humble opinion.

I just love designs that allow you to jump back and forth between concentrate-hard-crochet and let-your-mind-wander-and-you’ll-still-be-fine crochet. This is definitely one of those projects.

It was a joy to create the tiles, and below you can see the prototype for this blanket design. I sometimes start working out a piece in one way, and then decide to change direction to construct the blanket with totally different techniques. In the first iteration, I used some clever construction tricks to create the illusion that there were 16 separate square blocks, when in reality, some of them were rectangles.

At the time, I thought it was a really clever idea, and I did end up finishing this prototype blanket, and it turned out great, but it irked me that there weren’t “seams” along the rectangle portions. This lack of joining seam really ruined the illusion of there being two squares, so I scrapped the idea!

You can see below how the only motifs that look like squares are the ones in the third column. I considered working a faux seam across the square to divide it, but it didn’t pan out and I thought it would be too hard to explain in the pattern. But it’s all part of the process! And Moroccan Tile ended up turning out amazing.

The Inspiration Behind Moroccan Tile

Just like The Northerner, another design I shared recently, my Moroccan Tile blanket is in the Cement Tile chapter of my book, and it is inspired by a project from the mind of Caitlin Dowe-Sandes. You can see her work on Instagram, or visit her website for more information about her works.

Here are Caitlin and Sam, tile design extraordinaire duo:

This is the tile layout that I chose as inspiration for my piece. Isn’t it just gorgeous and full of joyous simplicity. I loved the color blocking of the squares, and it was so fun translating it to a crochet pattern. See that sun square in the first column? I wanted so badly to make that square somehow, but it didn’t lend itself to pleasant simplicity like the others, when I was channeling the energy into my crochet medium.

One thing I did preserve which I absolutely loved, was the idea of keeping the same motif in each column of the blanket. This is so different from the traditional method of mixing the square designs up throughout the piece, and I love the simple effect.

Buy Yarn to Make Moroccan Tile

Use the yarns and quantities listed in the book, or use the following suggested alternate yarn. This section has affiliate links marked with an asterisk. Ordering through these links will gain me a small commission (at no additional cost to you) and helps to support my free patterns.

Scheepjes Cahlista Supplier: WoolWarehouse*, Deramores*, or find a Scheepjes Retailer near you!

Scheepjes Colour Crafter Supplier: WoolWarehouse*, Deramores*, or find a Scheepjes Retailer near you!

Before you begin

Get involved!

Ways to share your WIP pics (and any concerns!) with others in this community.

Facebook

Post in my Facebook Group PLEASE INCLUDE in your post: The name of the blanket – This way a simple search in the group will pull up all of the posts for that blanket.

Instagram

Post on Instagram using all three of these hashtags. This is important because it will help me see and share your posts on Instagram. It will also allow folks to click the hashtags and see everyone’s posts together in one place.

  1. #cypresstextiles
  2. #theartofcrochetblankets
  3. #moroccantileblanket

Ravelry

Here is the page for Moroccan Tile. Interacting with the Ravelry page will help more people find my book page. Plus, folks who are outside my social media circles can see your projects and be inspired. Go ahead and do the following two things.

  1. Put it in your favorites!
  2. Add your project so others can be inspired.

Other ways to get involved with and support my book

  • Do you like my book? Add a nice review on Amazon.com.
  • Share a review of my book on your blog if you like! Head to my book info page to see the Press Release and Media Kit PDFs for all the deets. Send me the link to my email cypresstextiles @ gmail . com, and I will add a snippet of your review and link to your blog in the Reviews section.

Pin this Pattern!

The Art of Crochet Blankets

I still can’t believe it sometimes that I wrote a crochet pattern book! The Art of Crochet Blankets will help you create your own colorful crochet blankets as unique works of art for your home. Inside, you’ll find details on how to translate art to hook with 18 bold and one-of-a-kind crochet afghan patterns influenced by the works of their feature artist.

Discover the inspiration that lies beyond the world of crochet with The Art of Crochet Blankets.

  • Details on how to translate art to hook with 18 bold and unique crochet afghan patterns.
  • Modern quilts, fabric designs, tapestry weaving, digital art, and more become the source of unique projects for a more artful home.
  • Biographies and beautiful photos profiling 6 inspiring modern makers–Tula Pink, April Rhodes, Maryanne Moodie, Fransisco Valle, Maud Vantours, and Caitline Dowe-Sandes.

My book is divided into six chapters, each one with a different artist representing six different non-crochet art mediums.

  • Chapter 1: Maryanne Moodie – Weaving
  • Chapter 2: Fransisco Valle – Digital Art
  • Chapter 3: April Rhodes – Fabric Design
  • Chapter 4: Maud Vantours – Paper Cutting
  • Chapter 5: Caitlin Dowe-Sandes – Cement Tile
  • Chapter 6: Tula Pink – Quilting

Thank you for reading this introduction to The Northerner – hope you enjoyed seeing the inspiration behind it!

Happy crafting,

Rachele C.