Monday, December 20, 2010

Chain Stitch Flower Tutorial

I wanted to get my daughter this crochet kit this year for Christmas.  Unfortunately, when I was ready to order, there were none left in stock anywhere (except for A.C. Moore and they wanted $27 plus shipping for it -- no thanks!).  So I decided to make up my own little crochet kit (pictured above).
Then last week, my daughter started asking me to teach her to crochet (probably because I was  working on a project), and I decided to give her this one gift early.  (We also plan to be away for Christmas, so I thought it better to "teach" her early so she can take it with her and wile away some of her in-the-car time.)
She was so delighted with her own little crochet bag full of everything she needed to get started:
  • Beginners Crochet Book for Kids -- Get Hooked (highly recommend it -- color picture tutorial on getting started/stitches)
  • Crochet hooks (I originally bought a medium sized, but went to the biggest size after discovering it was easier to learn with)
  • 7 balls of yarn
  • Finishing needles
  • And a pretty pink bag to keep it all in!
I wasn't totally sure 8 years old was "old enough" to learn - but I gave it a shot since my daughter has always been pretty good with her hands.  Guess what --- my daughter had the hang of the simple chain stitch in no more than 15 minutes.  By 'had the hang of it" I mean -- she was turning out beautiful chains in no time at all.
Now what to do with a long chain of crochet???   Actually, she solved the problem for me --- she wound her 1st chain up and made a flower out of it before I hardly had time to contemplate a use for it.  Before I knew it she'd turned out a nice sized chain in each color! We decided they would look nice as pins, hairclips, embellishments on purses, flowers on a package, and really their use was pretty versitile.
Today I'll share a picture tutorial on how the pin flowers went together.
Start with a chain of desired length....the bigger you want your flower - the longer you make your chain
Wind the chain up -- either from the inside out...
...OR from the outside in
Cut a piece of felt slightly smaller than your flower
Turn flower to back-side and squirt on some hot glue
Place felt over flower and press for a few seconds
Squeeze out a thin strip of hot glue
Adhere the top part of the pin (not the part that opens)
 Wa-La - you have a pretty little flower (or in this case flowers!)
Next post I'll show you some ways to use your flower!
I think we're ready to move on to the next step now!
BTW -- check out this sweater I just got --- see that pretty little flower on the left shoulder --- looks like someone else had the same idea as my daughter!

2 comments:

Naturally Carol said...

Hi Shoregirl...I have just nominated you for a Stylish Blogger Award...because of the lovely Christmas decor on your site...please come over some time and find out how to accept this award!

Christa said...

Great job! I don't remember how old I was when I started crocheting (around 6th grade?), but I was "hooked" from the start. :)

Congratulations on introducing your daughter to one of the "lost arts" of womanhood.

Thanks, too, for the book recommendation. I'm planning to teach my S.S. girls (pre-teens) how to crochet, and this may just come in handy to send home with them!