Tutorial: Crocheted Flowers

This weekend, I created a tutorial for the Love Songs crop at WeScrap.  Today I'm going to share it here with you. 

I'm going to show you how to crochet your own flowers to match your layouts. This is a quick and easy way to add customized embellishments to your layouts and cards for a fraction of the cost of those on the market today.

I borrowed a pattern from The Laughing Willow's blog and adapted it slightly to my liking. If you are unfamiliar with crocheting techniques, there are a lot of videos and tutorials out there on the various stitches. For our purposes, here's a legend of the pattern abbreviations used:

• ch = chain
• sl st = slip stitch
• sc = single crochet
• dc = double crochet

Okay, ready? Here we go!  To start, you'll need 1/2 skein of embroidery floss in any colour, a crochet hook (size US 2) and a pair of scissors.

Step 1  - Start with a slip stitch:

Step 2 - Ch 5:

Step 3 - Sl st in first ch to make a ring:

Step 4  - Ch 10 in ring:

Step 5 - Join with sl st in first sc:

Step 6 - To create a petal, (sc, 3dc, sc) all in first sc:

Step 7 - Create four more petals by repeating the following: (skip ch, sc, 3dc, sc):

Step 8 - Join by sl st in first sc in the first petal:

Step 9 - Now comes the tricky part. Flip your flower over and sc in the base of the first petal:

Step 10 - Ch 3 and sc in the base of the next petal:

Step 11 - Repeat 4 times until you have five loops. Sl st in first sc:

Step 12
To create a large petal, (sc, 5dc, sc) in first loop:

Step 13 - Create four more petals by repeating the following (sc, 5dc, sc in next loop) 4 times and sl st in first sc:

Step 14 - Finish off by snipping floss and drawing end through final loop to knot.

There are multiple variations on this: 

~ Experiment with different textures. I've used embroidery floss, but you can use yarn, cotton thread - even strips of thin fabric!

~ Lengthen your initial chain and begin with ch 14 (or more) to create bigger flowers.

~ Change your floss after Step 8 to create a two-toned flower. You can finish off your flower after Step 8, to create smaller flowers.

Have Fun!