How to crochet lavender - A simple tutorial.

 

Hi peeps! 

Hot dang, it's been a moment hasn't it. 2 years since my last pattern.

But that's ok. Sometimes you need a break to find your crojo, and my gosh, mine has come flying on back lately!

I've decided I need to take a break from designing preemie items for a bit. Honestly, my heart and my head were just so overwhelmed, and it burnt me out pretty badly. The positive side to that is, I've spent some time exploring other types of crochet and boy do I have some fun stuff to share with you all!

Today, I want to show you how to crochet lavender! I've been making flower bouquets lately and I really wanted to include some. I tried a couple of patterns but I couldn't find something that worked the way I wanted it to, so in typical me style, I tossed the lot and came up with my own pattern. I wasn't going to bother much with sharing this one but there was quite a lot of interest in a fantastic crochet group I'm in so here it is for everyone that wants to have a crack at making it themselves. 

Not that it's much of a pattern, it's only 3 rows, if you count the chains! I'll include some pictures of construction but honestly these are super simple. They take no time at all to whip up. Let's go make some!

Supplies

• Wooden Skewers
• Florist Tape in green
• Scissors
• Glue - I use clear dry quick set fabric glue but a hot glue gun would work fine too.
• 3.5mm hook
• Purple yarn in either worsted/10ply or dk/8ply weight

To make your stem: Wrap the florist tape around a wooden skewer. 

To make the lavender:

1. Chain 60
2. sc in the second ch from hook and each ch across
3. ch3, turn, dc in the next stitch *ch3, slst in the 3rd ch from hook, dc in the next stitch* repeat across until you reach the end. End off. This will be the row that faces outwards as the stitches look nicer once wrapped.
   

You can choose to weave in your ends or you can glue them down when you attach the flower to the stem. I glue them, I like the way it looks at the base of the flower piece. 

So now you need to take your skewer and glue. Make sure you have the first row at the bottom and that the 3rd row is facing so that it will be the outside when you wrap, and run a bead of glue along the edge of the dc on the end of the piece. 

Place your skewer on the glue, fold the yarn piece slightly and hold in place until the glue is dry enough to keep it there. Run a few cm of glue down your stem and start wrapping the flower piece around and down the skewer. Keep adding small runs of glue and wrapping your flower around the stem. When you get to the end you can either wrap the tail of the yarn around the base of the flower a few times with some glue or you can wait for your flower to dry and then weave the end back through the flower. 

And that is it lovelies, I told you it was simple! Different thicknesses of yarn will give you different looking lavender. The dark purple I used was worsted weight (Red Heart SS), the 2 thin lighter coloured lavender was made with DK (Moda Vera/ 4 Seasons, Marvel) and the middle purple was a mystery yarn from my stash that I'd rate as an 8ply/DK but it was thicker than Marvel. 

You can also change the overall length of your lavender simply by chaining more or less, and if you wanted to get really fancy, you could absolutely make it 2 toned by doing either the 3rd row with an alternate colour, OR you could do part of the 3rd row with an alternate colour so just the tip is different. Have fun with it!  

5 Petal Flower Keepsake - Free Crochet Pattern

Hello all, gosh it's been a bit!

Behind the scenes has been absolutely crazy lately. Thankfully I've had some time to get a lot of new patterns sorted, and you'll be seeing them over the next few months. Also lots of IBGHD prep, how exciting!

Today's pattern is a simple medium sized 5 petal flower. One of the items Chance's Clothes Project need a LOT of is keepsakes, as they go out in every single pack that gets made. A keepsake is simply a hand or smaller sized soft item that comes in a matching pair. One stays with the family, the other stays with bub. It's something many families appreciate and gives a tactical connection, something that can be held onto.

I've been challenging myself to make 50 keepsake sets, and I've done 12 using this particular pattern. The beauty of using flowers like this is they are easy to make, simple to memorize and use a very very small amount of yarn. In fact each pair uses on average 4g of yarn. You can use any weight of yarn and hook size you like. All the ones I have pictured use various DK/8 ply yarn and a 3.5mm hook.

5 Petal Flower Keepsake

Hook Size: 3.5mm

Yarn Weight: DK/8ply in 2 colours.

Finished Size: 5.5 - 6cm

Amount Of Yarn Used: 3-5g

Special Stitches; Triple Crochet Cluster or TR Cluster:  yarn over twice, insert hook through stitch, yarn over and pull through, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over twice, insert into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over twice, insert into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, pull through all 4 loops. Cluster complete.

With center colour

1: Ch2, make 5 sc into the first chain and join. - 5sc

2: Ch1, sc into the same stitch, 2sc in each remaining stitch around, join to the ch1. -10sc

With petal colour

3: Ch4, TR Cluster in the next stitch, ch4, slst into the next stitch, *ch4, TR Cluster into the next stitch, ch4, slst into the next stitch*, repeat for the remaining petals, slst into the bottom of the initial ch4. End off, weave in all tails.

Upcycled Denim Flower Hairclip - Tutorial

Good morning all!

Today I have another hair accessory tutorial for you all. A fun little denim flower that can be attached to a clip or headband or any number of other uses.

A few weeks ago I had a bit of an Autumn clean out and found in a box a full length denim skirt. We've been in the new house for just past 5 months now, so it was pretty clear this wasn't a skirt I was going to wear any time soon, if at all. But it did have a LOT of material, lovely dark denim material. My mission? Use it all up!

I love using denim for hair accessories. It is sturdy, looks classic and the fray gives it a shabby touch. Of course you could make these flowers with any other fabric you like. I can't wait to test them out with some vintage upholstery fabric I have.

You will need:
4 x 1.5inch squares of denim
4 x 1 inch squares of denim
1 circle of fabric (approx 1-1.5 inches)
Fabric glue or a glue gun
Pearl bead
Clip or Headband

As you can see my squares are not exactly square. It doesn't matter, unless of course it is going to bug you and in that case go ahead and square them up.

Take one of the larger squares and fold it in half.

Place some glue in the centre of the rectangle and fold in half again. Keep your finger on it for a few seconds to ensure the glue will hold.

Place some glue on the back of the square and glue it to the circle.

Repeat with the 3 remaining large squares

 Repeat the process with the smaller squares, positioning them over the edges of the large ones.

Glue a pearl bead into the centre and attach the clip to the back. 

Go forth and make oodles! 

Flowers and Stripes Nail Art Tutorial

Good morning!

So I had such great feedback from the last one I figured what the hey! Here is another nail art tutorial. Again, super basic, because hey Im only a beginner myself. Hope you enjoy! Remember to wait for the nail to completely dry before adding more parts or the top coat.

For this design I used Ulta3 base coat not pictured),  Seche Vite Fast dry top coat, MUD in baby blue, Diva in Cheeky, Colour Club in Antiquated and a black striper. I also used a thin brush, a thicker brush for mixing colours and a dotting tool. Put your base coat on first and wait for it to dry.

Start by painting your thumb and index finger in baby blue, and your remaining 3 fingers in cheeky.

On all pink fingers, using your striping brush and black polish create  wavy line that starts in the top corner of the nail and finishes down the side.

Fill in the top section with baby blue.

On the baby blue nails, start by painting a black arch in the bottom corner.

Add the first petal.

Add a second petal.

Add a third and/or fourth petal, depending on petal and nail size.

Using Antiquated fill in the centre of the flower.

Fill in the petals.
For this colour I mixed some cheeky with some antiquated to give me a pinker shimmer.

Using a dotting tool, place dots along the top of the nail and working down the side, let the dots get smaller as you go.

On the blue section of the pink and blue nails, use antiquated to make some stripes.

Clean up your edges and apply top coat once everything is dry.

2 Layer Flower

Hello all,

A simple little pattern today, and one that is excellent for the last few meters of yarn! A 2 layered flower!
This flower works great for most yarns, thickness's and hook sizes. I like to make them in fun colours to add to solid hats.

The small flower was made with lace weight mohair and a 2mm hook.
The middle blue glower was made with standard DK weight yarn and a 4.5mm hook
The chunky flower on the end was made with a 4.5mm hook still, but using a fluffy yarn that I would class as close to aran weight.

So, I wont be listing any supplies, just the basic instructions. If you want to make the flower have more layers, just repeat the chain behind the petal process, increasing by one chain each time, and add more triple crochets to the centre of each petal.

1: ch2, hdc 5 times in the 2nd chain from hook, join

2: ch1, (hdc, dc, hdc, ch1, sl) in same stitch, in each of the remaining  4 stitches do (sl, ch1, hdc, dc, hdc, ch1, sl)

3: ch4, sl st behind the flower and around the post between the previous rows petals (see images)
repeat around so you have 5 ch4 spaces

 4: Into each ch4 space around do (sl st, ch1, hgdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc, ch1, sl) End off and leave a long tail so you can attach the flower wherever you desire.