This tutorial is for one of my absolute favorite things to crochet..the 5-minute, 5-petal flower! They are super simple to make and work up very quickly, and they add excellent dimension to a variety of projects. I use these flowers for a little bit of everything and I hope you like them as much as I do. The other great thing about these flowers is that while this tutorial mentions the half-double crochet version, you can also make these flower with a single crochet or double crochet, or even a triple/treble crochet (you just have to add an extra chain stitch at the chain points for the triple crochet version).
You can make these flowers with pretty much any yarn, though I tend to stick with a medium yarn and comparable hook. You can get yarn at Joann Fabric and Craft Stores or Michaels, or Hobby Lobby, or really wherever you prefer. In the video tutorial here (also viewable below), I used Caron Simply Soft Brites Yarn in Watermelon, and it is gorgeously neon.
For these flowers, you’ll be able to whip them up in 5 minutes or less once you get some practice at them. Thy work up in stitch clusters to form the “petals” and then you tighten the magic loop to make it the 3-dimensional flower shape.
The forever free pattern is below. If you’d like to purchase an ad-free, downloadable PDF with pictures of each step you can do so on Etsy.
For this project you’ll need to know the following stitches:
(Keep in mind these are all the american terms for the stitches) Video tutorials for all stitches coming soon.
- Chain stitch (abbreviated “chain”)
- Slip stitch (abbreviated sl st)
- Half double crochet (abbreviated “hdc” )
- “Magic Loop” not technically a stitch, but a method
If you want it to look like mine, you’ll also need the following materials:
- Caron Simply Soft yarn (or any worsted weight yarn)
- Size “K” crochet hook (6.5mm)
- Good lighting (nice and bright is best for this project)
- Patience! (Crocheting in the round can be a bit tricky at first)
Step 1: Start with a magic loop. As shown in the tutorial below, you’ll wrap the yarn around your first to fingers, stick the hook into the loop, yarn over, pull through the loop on your fingers, then yarn over and pull through the loop on your hook. Then pinch the “stitch” you just created to hold tension, pull the loop off of your fingers (rotate if necessary for the tail to be “pull-able” and then start the first stitch of your first cluster (in this case an hdc) as usual, yarn over, insert your hook in the center of the magic loop, yarn over, and pull through all the loops on your hook.
Step 2: To finish creating your first cluster (started with the first hdc into the magic loop from step 1), create 2 more hdc into the center of the magic loop. Chain 1, then slip stitch into the center of the magic loop.
Step 3: To start the next cluster, chain 1, then complete 3 hdc into the center of the magic loop. Finish the cluster by chaining 1, and slip stitch into the center of the magic loop.
Step 4: Repeat step 3 until you have 5 clusters (3 repeats of step 3).
Step 5: Tie off your work after the final slip stitch of the 5th cluster. I like to leave a long-ish tail on the work so I can attach the flower to other projects, but that’s a personal choice depending on the project.
Step 6: Bring the tail of the work into the center of the magic loop, then pull the loose end of the magic loop to tighten and gather the clusters. If you pull it tight enough, your clusters will overlap, creating the 3D shape of the finished flower.
Step 7: After the magic loop is tight enough to give you the look of the flower, tie the tail of the work to the loose end of the magic loop so that the flower stays securely gathered. Shape the petals until you get the desired flower look.
You can, of course, follow these steps with any yarn and it’s comparably-sized hook, and it will create a similarly shaped flower in whatever texture you’d like for a particular project.
If you’d like your flower petals to be larger, you have a few options for increasing the size. You can increase the size of the yarn and hook for starters, but there are also options for wider or taller petals. For wider petals, you can add additional stitches to the main portion of the clusters. For taller petals, you can do double or triple crochet stitches in place of the half-double crochet stitches. If you’re going to do a triple crochet, you’ll need to increase the chain 1 at the beginning and end of each cluster to a chain 2.
If you have questions or concerns, free to leave a comment, email me, or reach out via facebook or instagram. 🙂
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