Monday Project - Crocheted May Flowers

 

May Day inspired me to design a new crocheted flower!  Our spring wildflowers are winding down and with hot weather quickly approaching, I'm resisting the urge to buy out the nursery center to replace them.  It never works for long!  For the moment, though, I've been enjoying all the beautiful colors in our yard.

I've crocheted flowers quite a bit over the years and have always wished crochet thread in bright colors was easier to come by.  I want my flowers to be colorful and bold!  It's amazing it never dawned on me before this to try crocheting them with embroidery floss - it's bright, comes in a huge range of colors ... perfect!  I tried my regular crocheted flower patterns and they didn't work out as well as I wanted, so I've put together a new pattern for a double petaled flower and leaves.  I don't know how well they'll hold up through repeated washings, but I've embroidered designs on often washed clothing and the thread's held up fine.  So, if you make them as embellishments for anything that's going to be washed, experiment first.

Materials:
*embroidery floss - one regular sized skein makes one large petal and one smaller petal with thread left over
*size 4 steel crochet hook
*beads
*beading or thin embroidery needle
*sewing thread

For each flower, make one bigger petals piece and one smaller petals piece.  If you want leaves, make two leaves.  For those of you who find it easier to follow diagrams, I've included them after the written instructions.  Use the floss with the full six strands.

Larger Piece
1.  Chain 6 loosely and slip stitch to form a ring.
2.  Chain 3 - this counts as your first double crochet(dc).
3.  Make 13 more dc into the ring - 14 dc in all.
4.  Slip stitch to third chain from step 2.
5.  Chain 1 - counts as a single crochet (sc).
6.  In same stitch, make 1 half double crochet (hdc), 3 dc, 1 hdc, and 1 sc - one petal group made.
7.  Skip next stitch.
8.  In the stitch after the skipped stitch, make 1 sc, 1hdc, 3dc, 1hdc, and 1sc.  Skip next stitch.
9.  Repeat step 8 until the end - 7 petal groups in all.
10.  Slip stitch to chain from step 5 and fasten off.

Smaller Piece
1.  Chain 5 loosely and slip stitch to form a ring.
2.  Chain 1 - this counts as your first sc.
3.  Make 9 more sc into the ring - 10 sc in all.
4.  Slip stitch to chain from step 2.
5.  Chain 1 - counts as a sc.
6.  In same stitch, make 1 hdc, 1dc, 1hdc, and 1sc - one petal group made.
7.  Skip next stitch.
8.  In the stitch after the skipped stitch, make 1sc, 1hdc, 1dc, 1hdc, and 1 sc.  Skip next stitch.
9.  Repeat step 8 until the end - 5 petal groups in all.
10.  Slip stitch to the chain from step 5 and fasten off.

Leaf
1.  Chain 10 loosely.
2.  In second chain from hook, make 1 sc.
3.  In next chain make another sc.
4.  Next chain make 1 hdc.
5.  In next chain make 1 dc - do this in the next two chains also.
6.  In chain after the dc's, make 1 hdc.
7.  In next chain make 1 sc - do this in the last chain also.
8.  Continue working around the bottom of the chain and follow the same pattern you used on the top - 2 sc, 1hdc, 3 dc, 1hdc, 1sc.
9.  Make an additional sc to make a point at the top and fasten off.

I went crazy with all the luscious colors of embroidery floss I had!

Sewing the Flower Together
1.  With sewing thread and a thin needle, sew the leaves onto the back of the larger petal piece.  I use white thread if I'm using light colored small beads (see step 2) and black thread if I'm using dark colored small beads.  Turn flower over and set the small petal piece on top.

2.  Insert the needle from the back up through both petal pieces.  Thread a large bead onto the needle and then thread a small bead on top of it.  Insert the needle back down through the large bead only, down through both petal pieces and out the back.  Repeat for the number of beads you're adding. 

These are the flowers I've put together so far - some have leaves and some don't.

I'm off to make some white and cream petals to make more flowers with!

Happy Creating!  Deborah