What does dtr mean in crochet?

How to work it

dtr stands for double treble. In an American pattern it is a tall stitch with three yarn overs before the hook goes in, the stitch a French pattern calls triple bride. In a British pattern the same letters mean a shorter stitch: see the US or UK section below.

American dtr: yarn over three times, insert the hook into the stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop: five loops on the hook. Then yarn over and pull through two loops, four times in a row, until one loop remains.

Because it is tall, it is used for openwork, lace edgings and rows that need to grow quickly, rather than for dense fabric.

In a pattern

Row 5: ch 5 (counts as dtr), dtr in each st across, turn (20)

In “Row 5: ch 5 (counts as dtr), dtr in each st across, turn (20)”, the five chains lift the hook to the height of a double treble and count as the first stitch, as the brackets say. You then work one dtr in each remaining stitch, turn, and should have 20 stitches, the turning chain included. If you count 19, you probably skipped the last stitch, which is the top of the previous row’s turning chain.

US or UK?

This is where the two conventions disagree. An American dtr has three yarn overs; a British pattern writes that stitch “trtr”, triple treble. A British “dtr” has only two yarn overs, the stitch Americans call treble (tr). So dtr (US) equals trtr (UK), triple bride in French, and dtr (UK) equals tr (US), double bride in French. Look for htr or trtr in the pattern to know which one you have.

Common mistakes

• Working a British dtr as an American one. Each stitch comes out one yarn over taller, and the piece grows well beyond the size announced.
• Pulling through three loops at once. Each pass of a treble-family stitch goes through two loops only; count the passes: four for an American dtr.

A tip

Hold the yarn overs on the hook with your index finger before inserting it: three loose wraps slip off easily. Count “one, two, three” aloud for the first few stitches.

Frequently asked questions

Is dtr American or British?

Both conventions use it, for different stitches. In an American pattern dtr has three yarn overs; in a British one it has two. If the pattern also uses sc or hdc, it is American; if it uses htr or trtr, it is British.

What is dtr in French?

Triple bride in an American pattern, double bride in a British one.

Other ways to write it

• trtr — English abbreviation
• tbr — French abbreviation

See also

• tr — treble crochet
• mc — slip stitch
• htr — half treble crochet
• ml — chain stitch

Go further

• Guide: how to read a crochet or knitting pattern
• Convert a pattern US ↔ UK