Rust and Cream Checkerboard Diamond Curtain Crochet Pattern

This curtain is a checkerboard of little diamonds hanging in a window. It is made of eighty-one small square motifs, each one turned on point so it sits like a diamond, joined into nine columns that hang side by side. The colors are rust terracotta and warm cream, and they trade places in every row and every column, just like the squares of a game board. Every rust diamond carries a little cream flower in its center, and every cream diamond is lacy all over. The result is warm and earthy, like autumn leaves and fresh milk on a sunny kitchen table.

Each motif begins as a small flower. You make a ring of sixteen double crochet, then open it into eight tiny petals with chain spaces between them. In the rust motifs those first two rounds are worked in cream, and then you join the rust and turn the flower into a square with four corners. The fourth round grows the square with neat clusters of three double crochet, and the fifth round is a crisp border of single crochet with a little chain space at each corner. The cream motifs are worked the same way in one color, so you only ever learn one pattern.

The corner spaces become the top and bottom points of every diamond, and that is where the chain links go. I work each link as five chains and then slip stitch back along it, so it turns into a firm cord about three quarters of an inch long. Nine diamonds make one column, and the columns hang with their side points nearly touching. Between the columns you get a second row of diamond shapes, made only of light, which makes the whole curtain feel airy even though the colors are rich.

At the top, each column hangs from a long yarn loop covered in single crochet, worked in the color of its top diamond, so the rod shows a neat row of rust and cream loops. At the bottom, each column ends in a short, full tassel about four inches long, also in the color of its bottom diamond. The finished curtain measures about 63 inches wide and 75 inches long from the rod to the tips of the tassels. Each motif blocks to 5 inches square, which is about 7 inches from point to point when it hangs as a diamond.

I made mine in worsted weight cotton with a 5 mm hook. Cotton keeps the diamond points sharp, it does not stretch much, and it has a soft matte look when the light comes through it. The rust motifs need one color change, which is simply joining a new yarn in a chain space, so there is no tricky color work. The rest of the project is small, calm repetition, and every piece can be made away from home. The joining, the loops and the tassels wait until the end, when you can spread everything out on a bed.

This is a lovely project for a beginner who has made a granny square or two, and a relaxing one for anyone who enjoys counting rounds while listening to a story. Because the pattern repeats in a checkerboard, it is easy to see at a glance if something is out of place. The curtain looks beautiful in a kitchen, a living room, a glass door or as a room divider in a small apartment. With the sun behind it, the rust glows almost copper and the cream turns soft gold, and the whole room feels warmer.

I fell in love with this curtain because of its colors. Rust and cream remind me of my mother's kitchen, with its clay pots and cream tablecloths, and of long autumn walks under copper trees. Hanging those colors in a window means they are lit from behind all day long, so they look even richer than they do in a ball of yarn. When I see the checkerboard glowing in the afternoon, I feel the same calm I feel with a cup of tea in my hands.

I also love that the work is so portable. Each motif needs only a hook, two small balls of yarn and about twenty-five minutes. I made the cream flower centers in batches while waiting at appointments, then added the rust rounds at home in the evenings. Splitting the work like that kept it interesting, and it meant I always had a small, easy job ready to pick up whenever I had a few minutes to spare. On busy weeks I set myself a small goal of three or four motifs, and that steady pace carried the whole project without ever feeling like a chore. Little by little, the rust and cream piles grew taller.

Here is what makes this pattern special to me:

• One simple motif, made two ways, so there is nothing new to learn halfway.
• The checkerboard layout is easy to plan and easy to check.
• It uses up leftover cream cotton in the flower centers.
• It brightens a room without closing out the light.
• The tassels and loops make it look finished and grown-up.

There is a deep satisfaction in watching the board fill up. I kept my rust motifs in one basket and my cream ones in another, and every week I laid out the columns on the bed and counted how many diamonds were still missing. Seeing those empty spaces disappear, one row at a time, kept me going far better than any deadline. When the last motif went into place, the curtain came together in a single happy afternoon of joining.

This curtain also makes a meaningful gift. I can imagine it in a daughter's new kitchen, in a son's first house or in a friend's sunny reading corner. The colors are warm enough for autumn and gentle enough to stay up all year, and because each column hangs on its own loop, it fits almost any rod. A handmade curtain is something people keep for a very long time, and it brings a little of you into their home every day.

I learned a few things along the way, too. I learned to check my motif size every ten motifs, because my tension loosens when I relax. I learned that joining the rust yarn in a different chain space each time keeps the color join from lining up in one spot. And I learned that laying the whole checkerboard out before joining saves a lot of unpicking. I hope these little lessons make your own curtain go smoothly.

This pattern is very easy to change, because the motif is small and the layout is just a grid. My first idea is always color. Rust and cream feel warm and earthy, but red and white gives you a cheerful country kitchen, blue and white looks fresh and calm like old china, and green and cream feels like a cottage garden. For a nursery or a little girl's room, pink and white is sweet and soft. Keep one deep color and one light color so the checkerboard still reads clearly from across the room.

You can also play with the flower centers. In this version the rust motifs have cream centers, but you could give the cream motifs rust centers too, so every diamond has a flower in the opposite color. For a dressy look, try white with golden details, making every motif in white and working the second round of each flower with a fine gold metallic thread held together with your yarn. It catches the evening lamp light beautifully and suits a dining room.

Changing the size is simple. Each column adds about 7 inches of width, and each motif with its chain link adds about 7.75 inches of length. The top loop and the tassel add about 6 inches together. An odd number of columns and an odd number of motifs per column keeps the same color at all four corners. Here are the sizes I use:

• Narrow window, about 35 by 44 inches: 5 columns of 5 motifs, 25 motifs.
• Standard window, about 63 by 75 inches: 9 columns of 9 motifs, 81 motifs.
• Door, about 35 by 83 inches: 5 columns of 10 motifs, 50 motifs.
• Room divider, about 84 by 91 inches: 12 columns of 11 motifs, 132 motifs.

A shorter cafe curtain is one of my favorite variations. Hang it on a tension rod halfway up a kitchen window and make each column only 3 motifs long. That gives you about 29 inches of drop with the loops and tassels, which covers the lower half of most windows and leaves the top open for light. It is also a quick way to test the colors and the motif before you commit to the full curtain, and it makes a sweet small gift.

For a doorway curtain, I like to space the columns about 8 inches apart instead of 7, so the diamonds no longer touch and the strands part easily when people walk through. Make the columns long enough to reach just above the floor, and make the top loops a little bigger, with 20 chains instead of 16, so they slide along the rod. It looks lovely between a kitchen and a hallway, and it lets the light pass from one room to the next.

The tassels can change the whole mood. These short, plump tassels of 4 inches look tidy and a little bit traditional, while long 8 to 10 inch tassels feel more relaxed and dramatic. You can also make every tassel two colored, mixing rust and cream strands, to tie the columns together. If you prefer a clean finish, skip the tassels and end each column with a small pompom or simply the point of the last diamond.

Finally, you can change the yarn weight. In DK cotton with a 4 mm hook, each motif comes out about 4 inches square and 5.7 inches point to point, so you will need about 11 columns of 12 motifs for the same window. In chunky cotton with a 6.5 mm hook, the motifs grow to about 6.5 inches square and about 9 inches point to point, and 7 columns of 7 motifs cover a standard window. Always make a test motif, block it and measure it before you plan your layout.