May Roses

This is my pattern for these adorable May Roses, a sweet little floral decoration for all sorts of prettifying projects. Make them into brooches, attach them to hats, bags, hair slides, cardigans. Assemble a whole bunch of them to prettify a tea cosy, a bag, a cushion. String them together to make a pretty floral garland. Stitch them to crochet triangles to make some pretty rosy bunting. Glue them to a twiggy wreath to make a gorgeous decoration for your home.......ahhh so many fun possibilities!

Before we begin, a little summary of the basic stitches. I'm writing using UK crochet terms ::

sl st [slip stitch] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch, then through the loop on your hook.

dc [double crochet] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (note :: this is equivalent to the US sc stitch)

htr [half treble]:: yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through all three loops on hook (note :: this is equivalent to the US hdc stitch)

tr [treble] :: yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (two loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops (note :: this is equivalent to the US dc stitch)

To begin, chain 26.

:: Row 1 :: Start in the 2nd chain from hook (as shown above with my needle) and work a row of double crochet. You should count 25 stitches altogether. Turn the work.

:: Row 2 :: Start in 2nd chain from hook (as shown above with my needle)....

....work 5 treble stitches (as above) into the same stitch.

Slip stitch into next stitch (as above). This is your first large petal made.

*Work 5 tr's into next st, sl st into next st* (2nd large petal made)

Repeat between ** 3 more times until you have 5 large petals (as above)

*Work 5 htr's into next st, sl st into next st* (1st medium petal made)

Repeat between ** 3 more times until you have 4 medium petals.

*work 5 dc's into next st, sl st into next st (1st small petal made)

Repeat between ** twice more until you have 3 small petals.

Fasten off leaving a 20cm tail end for stitching up.

You should have what looks like a curly-wurly row of 12 petals (5 large, 4 medium and 3 small). It should already be naturally curling itself round to form the rosy shape so don't expect it to lie flat.

:: Stitching :: first of all, darn in the short tail end from the beginning of the foundation chain.

Now thread the long tail end onto a darning needle, and begin by tightly curling the small petals around in a spiral (as above)

Turn the rose over so that you are looking at the back of the petals with the straight line of the foundation chain nearest to you. As you curl and roll the small petals round in a spiral, begin to make small stitches through the layers of the foundation chain to hold the petals in place.

Keep gently rolling the petals around the centre, securing them with stitches as you go.

You'll need to regularly turn the rose over to check that it's forming well. It shouldn't be too tight and scrunched up, but not too loose and open either. You're aiming for quite a neat, compact spiral shape. Don't worry too much about how you are making the stitches either, it really doesn't matter. So long as they are holding all the petals securely in place that's ok as you will not see them.

When you come round to stitching the large outer petals, you should be aiming to create a neat five-petal flower shape, as shown above. When it's all stitched securely in place, fasten off.

You should find that once you've made one and got a hang of the stitching up bit (which is harder than the actual crochet bit I think), the second one will be a complete doddle. You will be so happy when you breeze through the second one that you will need to make many more instantly. You will start searching frantically through your stash, dragging out every shade of red-pink-purple that you can lay your hands on. Just a gentle warning....these are super addictive!

Want to find some green yarn and try a few leaves now??

:: To begin :: chain 8.

   Start in the 2nd chain from hook (as shown above with my needle) and work the following...

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc. That's the first side of your leaf made.

Now you are going to make the pointy end bit, so chain 2, then insert hook through the 1st chain (see where I've put my needle in the above pic). Yarn over and work a slip stitch by pulling the yarn through the chain, then through the stitch on the hook.

This forms your "picot point".

Now for the second side of the leaf. You'll be working out of the single loops of the foundation chain, as shown with my needle in the above picture. You should be able to clearly count 7 single loops altogether. Work the following, to mirror the first side...

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc.

Slip stitch into end of leaf and fasten off, leaving a tail end long enough to darn in.

You should end up with a really sweet little pointy leaf shape, the perfect accompaniment for the roses.

You might need to give your picot pointy end a little tweak to get it to sit flat and straight, as sometimes they curl a little.

Ahhhhhhhhhh what rosy gorgeousness!

I want to just add a little note about yarn and hook size. So from left to right.........

1. Large May Rose made by using two strands of dk weight merino yarn on a 5mm hook.

2. Medium May Rose made using dk weight merino yarn on a 3.5mm hook.

3. Slightly smaller May Rose made using a crochet cotton on a 3mm hook.

4. Dinky May Rose made using a fine mercerised crochet cotton on a 2.5mm hook.

I do particularly like the large double-colour rose, it was a bit of an experiment and came out much better than I expected. I think it would make a lovely brooch with a couple of leaves added....

So pretty!!!!

I hope you enjoy having a go with these lovely little blooms, they are so quick and easy to do. Perfect for using up scraps of yarn, perfect for whizzing up in any spare moment. Once you've made one, you will soon have a whole rose garden blooming before your eyes, I guarantee it. Have fun!

Oh....before I dash off to my yarn stash, I'm just going to write out the patterns for you in brief so you can copy/paste/print if you wish.......

May Rose
chain 26.
Start in 2nd ch from hook, dc to the end (25 stitches).
Turn the work.
Skip 1 st, * 5tr's into next st, sl st into next st *
Repeat between ** 4 more times (five large petal shells made)
*5 htr's into next st, sl st into next st *
Repeat between ** 3 more times (four medium petal shells made)
*5 dc's into next st, sl st into next st *
Repeat between ** twice more (three small petal shells made.
fasten off, leaving long tail end for sewing up flower.

Darn in short tail end from beginning of foundation chain.
Thread long tail end onto needle and begin by curling the small petals round in a circle. With bottom straight edge uppermost, make small stitches to secure petals in place. Keep winding petals round, securing with stitches on reverse as you go. Keep checking on right side that the flower is forming nicely, not too scrunched up, not too loose.
You should end up with a rose that roughly has five petals around the outside, then twirls inwards to a tightly curled centre.

Rose Leaf

Chain 8.

Start in 2nd chain from hook and work the following ::

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc.

Chain 2, sl st in 2nd chain from hook (picot point made).

Now work back along the bottom of the foundation chain, in the single loops of the chain ::

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc.

Sl st into end of leaf and fasten off leaving a tail end long enough to darn in.

♥

As with all my patterns, I totally love creating them and get a huge buzz out of sharing and inspiring. I am happy to give them for free, but I'm sure you can appreciate it does take a lot of time and effort to create this sort of picture-heavy tutorial.  I hope that if you've been inspired to give these sweet roses a go, that you might consider making a small donation to help support what I do here in the Attic. Thank you as always for your hooky love, it's very, very much appreciated.

 

♥ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx♥

 

 

Comments

[patricia]

thank you for pattern so easy when u no how im over the moon thank lucy xxxx

[marilyn kearns]

Thank you so much for this easy,clear rose and leaf pattern. All the way from Durban South Africa

[Astra]

Hi Lucy :)I just made my first rose from your tutorial; its actually quite passable!!!!
Thankyou for such clear photos; much easier to
see the stitches; I like the 'short' version of the pattern :) thanks for sharing with us;
Have a coffee for me :)

[Donna Wooten]

Oh these are gorgeous! Want to make them now! You inspire me!!

Keep designing and showing us your beautiful work!

LOVE it!

[Nora]

Can't wait to make some of these little beauties to my vases, who have been empty all winter! Thanks Lucy

[Susan Jordan]

Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous flowers ...I'm going to have a bash at these ...I'm a complete beginner but love a challenge ...so here goes it could take awhile lol ...many many thanks again Lucy 😍 Xx

[Tixa Falchetto]

Thank you so much for sharing, Lucy! They are so pretty!!!

[Robin Summers]

Lucy they are so sweet. They will look so petite and beautiful on my mom's wreath. She will love it. Thanks so much!

[TATI]

love your rose.. ^_^
I've written your pattern for trying, and get the beautiful roses.

Thanks,
Tati Hartati

[sarah mace]

Love these, so cute. Thank you. Xx

[sara]

it's beautiful thank's for sharing

[maria]

Great tutorial. Thanks.

[Dawn Collins]

a thankyou very much . I went looking for the file of my flowers, can't find it. I get on the net, there you are with these beautiful roses I need for a Tea cosy and lots more things. I am a machine knitter, but am going to crochet these this afternoon. I hope mine will look half as good as yours, regards Dawn

[Kathryn]

What a wonderful discovery to find your blog! Thanks for sharing.

[Claudia Sperb Sefton]

Simplesmente LIndo !!!!!!!

[claudia Barbosa Amorim]

Muito lindas!

[Maricarmen Rubio]

I libre it. I 'll try a soon I get home. Hello! from Mexico....

[Susana Montes]

Thank you for sharing! I really love your inspiring and colorfull blog. Thank you <3
Susana

[mari]

you are the BEST! i've been looking online for flowers. super easy to make and awesome tutorial (visual learner)!! i feel like making one for every one that has ever been nice to me :)

thanks for the US equivalents.

[Annick]

Hi there! I just wanted to say that your little rose pattern helped me out a lot today!
I was struggling to make a rose for a bunny bride amigurumi, and the rose included in the pattern didn't turn out well at all. Yours worked perfectly. If you'd like to see it, pictures are at my blog! http://catstitches.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/the-bride-is-finished/ :-) Many greets from Belgium!

[Dina Scokin]

thank you for tis rose pattern. Just found your site a second ago, want to start at once but i have a small problem i do not know the stiches translate to USA English and how to get it,
please cold you help? i did not crochet for over 30 years and i am learning again.
i already thank you for your help
Dina

[Floracompras]

Nice flowers lucy.

[Serina]

Hi Lucy,

I found your wonderful blog recently and it inspired me to crochet a pair of Mary Jane slippers. I have just started crocheting and your instructions were so easy to follow. Thank you for posting it online.

I hope you don't mind me adding a link to your blog in my crochet pattern for people who want to make the slippers. The pattern is free on www.ravelry.com. I have attached a link for your reference.
http://www.ravelry.com/designers/serina-cheung

Thank you once again! Have a great day!
Regards,
Serina

[Fern K.]

Hi and thanks so much for what looks like a do-able pattern....just one Q,though. Are all the instructions in "Enlish"? Or "American"? I'm still pretty novice with my crochet skills and am befuddled the difference between the two....
Thanks again, Lord bless!
Fern