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Thursday 11 June 2015

Sea Rose Corsage ...

I've been having a bit of play over here at Talk-a-Lot Towers. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, my roses are blooming and I'm really enjoying the wonderful summer weather. Earlier today, as I was trying to design a rose as decoration for another creation that I'm working on, I came up with this sea rose corsage:



What do you think? In the very centre I've made a bead out of a piece of sea glass, beach-combed from our village beach last summer. It was the inspiration for the sea blue and sand colours that I chose to crochet in - and, hence, the notion of a sea rose.

Just read on for the low-down on how to make one of your own ...



I used Wendy Supreme 4 ply 100% cotton yarn in sand and blue (colours 1821 and 1824) and worked on a 2.5 mm crochet hook.

Row 1: Chain 6 stitches and join with a slip stitch to make a circle.


Row 2: [to make the central rosette of the flower]: Chain 3 and treble 11 into the centre of founding circle, working all the way round to create a rosette. Join with a slip stitch into the third chain of the first chain 3.



Row 3: *Slip stitch into next stitch, chain 3, Treble 2 chain 3 and join with a slip stitch, all into the same stitch* (this forms the first petal), work a slip stitch into the next stitch, then repeat from * to * to make another petal. Carry on in this way all the way round the circle until you have created 6, evenly spaced, petals. Cast off this colour when you're done.


By the end of Row 3 your rose should look a bit like this:


Row 4: Now it's time to join the other colour - blue in my case. Join it with a slip stitch on the reverse side of the rose in the space between two of the Row 3 petals.


And then work a petal into the same stitch - as per the instructions from * to * of row 3. Slip stitch across the back of the next row 3 petal, and work a slip stitch into the stitch between it and the next row 3 petal along. Work another petal as per * to * in that space. And carry on all the way round the back of the rose until you have another 6 petals worked into the spaces between the row 3 petals.


By the time you're done the back of your rose should look a bit like this:


And when you turn it over so that the right side is up it should look a bit like this:


Now darn all your stray ends of wool so that they all come from the same spot on the back of the rose,  and holding the rose up so that they fall freely down, trim them to an even length so that they look a little bit like a tail on the comet that is your sea rose.

You could sew a pretty button in the  centre your rose. That would look great. But I've got a big jam pot full of beach-combed sea glass that Emi and I carefully collected all last year, which I'm keen as mustard to use at every available opportunity. 

So, first of all, I chose the perfect gem of sea glass to form the centre of my rose. Here it is: 


Isn't it a beauty?

I bought some 0.25 mm silver coloured beading wire and very carefully wrapped it around the sea glass so that it held it securely. This was a bit of a fiddle, but, after a couple of attempts, I managed to get the glass gripped by the string-around-a-parcel-like folds of the wire.


Now you want to position the sea glass over the hole in the centre of the rose and bring the two ends of the wire through the knitted fabric to the back, where you twist them around a safety pin to hold everything together and provide a means of attaching your corsage to your lapel.



And that's it. Ta-dah! You've just made your sea rose corsage, the perfect jewel to wear with your favourite summer outfits. 



Enjoy!

Bonny x

1 comment:

  1. Great idea. I love to crochet the flowers so may have to give yours a try too. :)

    ReplyDelete