Thursday, January 5, 2012

Free Crochet Pattern - Little Leaf and Flower with Invisible Join Demo

I love simple, beautiful things and these little flowers with leaves are a perfect base for a tiny flower to add to your scrapbook pages, baby booties or hats, or other small-scale creations.  The flower is a blank canvas for beads, sequin, rhinestones, store-bought flower centers or even brads that can be stuck through the center of them.

These tiny patterns also make the perfect project to demonstrate the Invisible Join.  When I first started to crochet I spent hours online downloading patterns, and at the end of every one is said something like "fasten off" with no further explanation as so what the heck I'm supposed to do to secure that loose end.  Finally I stumbled across the invisible join method, but it took me a ton of tries to understand the method because it wasn't explained very well.  I took pictures of each step so hopefully it will be more clear to you than it was for me!
As pictured, Green Sugar and Cream Cotton (4-weight) Yarn
F Hook
This leaf is made in just 1 Round, but I'm breaking it down into several steps to make it easier to follow along
•With your F hook, ch 10
• Sk first ch, slst into 2nd ch, slst in 3rd ch, sc in 4th ch, hdc in 5th ch, dc in 6th and 7th ch, trb in 8th, 9th and 10th ch (first half of leaf finished)
• Working into 10th ch still, make 3sc and 1 trb.  This should turn your leaf so you are now going to start working down the opposite side of the starting ch

• Working over the starting tail, trb in 9th and 8th ch, dc in 7th and 6th ch, hdc in 5th, sc in 4th, slst in 3rd
• Your leaf should now look like the picture below.  Cut your yarn leaving about 6-8 inches of tail.
Invisible Join:
•Thread a darning needle with your ending tail
•Put your needle underneath both loops of the first stitch working from the front of the work, and pulling through the back
 • Take your needle, and put it under the back loop of the last slst you made.  You will be working into the "middle" of the stitch, and pulling the yarn through the back of the work.
•This picture is what the back of your flower should look like
 • Pull the ending tail down into the "vein" of the leaf that runs down the center to tuck it in and hide it
• Cut the tails as close to the leaf as possible.  The picture below shows the back of the leaf (left) and front of the leaf (right).
• The join is completely invisible!  No one will ever be able to tell where the leaf starts or ends!
As pictured, Natural/Cream Sugar and Cream Cotton (4-weight) Yarn
F Hook
This Flower is also made in just 1 Round
• With F Hook, ch 3
Round 1:  Make 8dc in 1st ch, join to first dc, cut yarn leaving about 6-8 inches and pull through.  Your flower should look like the flower below.
Invisible Join:
•Thread a darning needle with your ending tail
•Skip the stitch that you made your final slst in, and put your needle underneath both loops of the next stitch working from the front of the work, and pulling through the back
• Take your needle, and put it under the back loop of the ending slst you made when you joined your circle together.  You will be working into the "middle" of the stitch, and pulling the yarn through the back of the work.
• The picture below shoes what the front of your flower should look like, with the starting and ending tails at the back of the work
•This picture is what the back of your flower should look like
• To finish off the flower, pull your ending tail through the available double crochets toward the center of the flower.  Be careful to keep your needle in between the loops.  You do not want to be bringing the tail to the front of the work, but keeping it hidden in between the front and back.
•Cut your tails off as close to the work as possible.  The pictures below show the back (left) and front (right) of your flower. 
•This is the front of your flower.  Can you tell where we started and ended?  I sure can't. and thats the beauty of the Invisible Join!
Now you're ready to add your flowers to your crochet or scrapbook projects!
    

(Mary Janes based off of Mamachee's Button Booties pattern)

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