French abbreviation · Crochet
What does mc mean in crochet?
mc means slip stitch.
In French: maille coulée
How to work it
The “mc” of a French pattern, short for maille coulée, is the slip stitch: the shortest stitch there is, since it adds no height at all. It is used to join a round, to move across the fabric without adding a row, and to finish an edge.
Insert the hook into the stitch the pattern points to. Take the yarn over the hook, from back to front.
Pull the yarn through the stitch and through the loop already on the hook, in a single movement. One loop remains on the hook, and the slip stitch is complete.
The stitch has no yarn over before entering and no second pull-through. Because it does not add height, it must not be worked tightly: keep the loop as loose as the neighbouring stitches, or the seam will pull the edge in.
In a pattern
Tour 3 : 1 ms dans chaque maille, fermer par 1 mc dans la première ms (18)
Take the French round “Tour 3 : 1 ms dans chaque maille, fermer par 1 mc dans la première ms (18)”. “Tour 3” means the third round. “1 ms dans chaque maille” means one single crochet in each stitch of the previous round. “fermer par 1 mc dans la première ms” means you insert the hook into the first single crochet of this round and make a slip stitch, which closes the round into a ring. The join does not count as a stitch. The number in brackets is therefore 18: the eighteen single crochets, and nothing else.
US or UK?
Maille coulée is the French name. American patterns write “sl st”, for slip stitch, and many British patterns write “ss”. All three mean exactly the same stitch. It is not one of the stitches that shift height between conventions, so there is nothing to convert.
Common mistakes
- Working the join too tightly. A tight slip stitch closes the round like a drawstring, and the next round becomes hard to work into. Pull the loop up to the size of the other stitches.
- Counting the slip stitch as a stitch of the round. The count in brackets does not include it, unless the pattern says so. If you count it, you will think you are one stitch over.
- Joining in the wrong place. The pattern names the stitch, here the first single crochet of the round. If you join into the next one, the seam moves round the piece a little more at every round.
A tip
The join is hard to see, because the slip stitch is flat. Right after you make it, place a marker in the first stitch of the next round, and move it up at each round. You will always know where the round begins, even when the piece is at arm’s length.
Frequently asked questions
What does MC mean in an English pattern?
Main colour: the yarn used for most of the piece, as opposed to CC, the contrast colour. In a French pattern, mc is the maille coulée, the slip stitch. The materials list helps: an MC next to a CC is a colour.
Is mc the same as sl st?
Yes: mc (French), sl st (American) and ss (British) are the same slip stitch.
Try it with a row from your pattern
Here is a row that uses it. Replace it with a row from your pattern: every abbreviation the reader knows is underlined, and its meaning shows on hover.
Tour 3 : 1 ms dans chaque maille, fermer par 1 mc dans la première ms (18)