Celebrate spring with your very own large crochet flower using a wire frame. Here's how to do it.
You will need some wire and a pair of pliers. I get my wire from my local hardware store and it's also available in garden centres. Be aware that if the wire is too thin it won't hold the petal shapes but if it's too thick it's a nightmare to work with!
Some yellow yarn for the main petals, white for the edging and centre and the all important gold for the embellishments!
I'm having a bit of a love affair with mixing lace weight and kid silk yarns to create soft textures and colours. My petals are made this way but yours can be made using any dk yellow yarn that you have to hand.
Step 1. Crochet a simple leaf.
Ch 14.
Into 2nd chain from hook work the following into each stitch:
2dc, 1htr, 2tr, 3dtr, 2tr, 1htr, 1dc
this gets you to the last stitch into whic you work 1dc, 1htr, 1dc all into the same stitch.
turn and continue along the other side as follows:
1dc, 1htr, 2tr, 3dtr, 2tr, 1htr, 2dc.
Cast off. And repeat 5 more times to make 6 petals.
It may curl up a little but this won't matter as we are going to be crocheting this to a wire frame which will hold it in shape.
Cut a length of wire and bend it to roughly the shape you want your petal to be and twist the ends together to hold it in place.
Now comes the fiddly bit. You need to work 1dc through the petal AND over the wire frame. Work continuous dc all the way around. I find working 2 dc into each stitch around the bend at the tip of the petal (as in the middle image below) makes the petal fit nicely without stretching the stitches and exposing the wire. Play around with it as there's no hard and fast rule. We are entering the world of free form crochet!
Notice how the wire frames allows us to bend the petals into the required shape.
Continue to work each petal into a wire frame until all six are made.
There's no easy way to bring all six petals together. You need to pair them up and twist the wire tails together and then bring each pair together by twisting the wire ends. It's fiddly and not much fun ....sorry!
Once all six petals are secured in place (thanks to your persistence) you can get back to some crochet!
Using the gold yarn work a round of overlay / surface crochet onto each petal.
Using white yarn (I've mixed a lace weight and kid silk white) work 1 dc into each dc from previous round around each petal.
Once you have crocheted all the way around the flower you are ready to work the centre. Pom poms make wonderful centre pieces for wire flowers but if you want to create the one I have here you will need to use a dk white or cream yarn and work the following.
Ch 6 and join with a slip stitch to make a ring.
Round 1:
Work ch3 (counts as first tr) 6 tr into ring and join sl st into 3rd chain = 7 stitches
It won't lay flat it will curl up quite a bit.
Round 2:
ch 2 and work 1 htr into same stitch. work 2htr into each stitch and join with a sl st = 14 stitches
Round 3:
Ch 2 and work 1 htr into same stitch. *1 htr into next st, 2htr into next st** repeat * to ** to end = 21 stitches. Join with a sl st.
Round 4 and 5:
Ch3, 1 tr into each st. Join with a sl st = 21 st
Round 6:
Using gold yarn work 2dc into each stitch and cast off
Sew this into the middle of your wire daffodil daffodil frame, stand back and admire your work!
