Joyful crochet flower making:Free Tools’ guide to get it right every time

/ Crochet / By natashaj

Have been crocheting for over 25 years and in this time I tried and experimented with a lot of different types of projects. I liked a few of them and did not like some. Realistic crochet flower became one of my specialties. The other one being miniature crochet. I have done 2 posts on miniature crochet that you can find here and here.

Today I will talk about the crochet flowers. Most of my art is inspired by nature- flowers, leaves and butterflies. Crocheting flowers is a fun project to do. But it can be frustrating if you do not use the correct tools and techniques. I remember I tried crocheting a tulip in the beginning and the instructions in the pattern book were not complete and my tulip looked horrible. When trying realistic flowers the shaping of of the petals is very crucial and hence I like to add nice sturdy wire to frame the petals so that I can shape them the way I like.

I also have some youtube tutorials for easy to make quick crochet flowers. You can find the playlist here.

In this post today I will take you through the materials and tools you can use to create crochet flower of you own. The selection of tools and materials with the things I learned in all these years of designing crochet flower patterns.

So let’s start…..

The tools and materials for crochet flower making

As discussed earlier it is essential to select the correct tools and materials for crochet flower projects in order to get the desired results. Let me take you through a few of the essential ones and selecting the right kind.

1. Hooks for making crochet flower

The first one of course is the crochet hook. Here are a few points that you need to consider when the hook for crochet flower. The quality of the hook should be good. You don’t need a fancy hook but it needs to be smooth and pass though the thread easily and effortlessly. For crochet flower I usually use fine threads so you’ll need to select the hook accordingly. The flowers should be tightly knitted so it is a good idea to go down a hook size than what you would usually use for crocheting with that particular thread. 

Crochet flower needs tight crocheting that can sometimes be painful for your hands so its a good option to use an ergonomic hook with a soft silicone or a wooden handle which would be easy on your hands.

2. Threads for making crochet flowers

The second most important material is the thread or the yarn that you use to make crochet flower. Since creating crochet flower is a time consuming task I always use the best quality cotton for making them. I do use acrylic sometimes only for the quick easy flowers. If you want your flowers to last longer and look fresh and crisp over the years use cotton which is good quality with fast colors so that it does not fade with time. 

There is a huge range of cotton threads available. The pattern will tell you which thread to use. The two wide classifications are the mercerised cotton and the pearl cotton. Mercerised cotton is tightly twisted and very crisp, pearl cotton on the other hand is soft.

Both work perfectly for making crochet flower. These two again have a wide range based on the weight of the thread. Like in mercerised cotton you’ll get size 80, size 40, size 20, size 10 and so on. Size 80 being the thinnest and size 10 the thickest of these.

For all of my realistic crochet flower patterns I have used pearl cotton size 8 or mercerised cotton size 20.

Crochet flower making usually requires two types of wire. One for the stem and the other one for outlining the petals to keep them in shape. These wires are of different gauge. The stem wire is thicker gauge so that it can take the weight of the flower head and the other one is thin so that it can bend easily to take the desired shape. The gauge is the thickness of the 

For stems I usually use wire in gauge – 24,22, 20 or thicker depending on the flower head size.

For the petals I use wire in gauge – 26, 30, 32 depending in the thread size.

4. Floral tape for crochet flower

Floral tape is used for winding the stem wire. This should always match the green that you use for the calix and the leaves to give the flower a realistic look if you make it green. For some flowers you might need white or brown floral tape as well like for cherry blossom or forsythia etc. Use good quality fresh tape so that the glue is nice and sticky for the tape to stay in place.

5. Filling- Fiber fill for crochet flower

Filling can include synthetic or eco (Natural) fiber fill. This will be of use when you are making flowers with a thick centre like sunflower or poppy. You can use any type of filling available with you. Make sure it is clean and fluffy so that it takes the proper shape.

6. Other materials for making flower

Other than the above mentioned materials there are a few more essentials that you must have when making crochet flower. These are as follow:

1. Scissors

2. Tapestry needle

A blunt point needle will come in handy to weave in the ends to finish the flowers.

Sometimes the flower petals are slightly shaded and that color variation is not possible with the thread alone. So the markers or the colors will come in handy to give the flowers a realistic look. Use permanent fabric markers and fabric colors or dyes to do the job.