A bouquet of crocheted daisies, each flower about 4.5 inches across. Made in Lily Sugar ‘n Cream or any similar cotton yarn.
Why they are worth making
Crocheted flowers do something real flowers cannot: they last. A bouquet made now will look the same in five years, needs no water, and survives being posted. For someone who cannot keep cut flowers – in an office, a hospital room, a house with cats – they are a genuinely better gift.
Yarn
Cotton is the right choice and the pattern is written for it. It holds a crisp petal edge, where a softer yarn gives shapeless blobs. It also comes in the clean white and bright yellow that make a daisy read as a daisy.
Sugar ‘n Cream is inexpensive and comes in a large colour range, which suits a project where you want several colours in small amounts.
The stems
This is the part that decides whether the bouquet stands up or flops. A crocheted tube on its own has no rigidity at all.
Work the stem around a florist’s wire, a length of stiff craft wire, or a wooden skewer. Crochet the tube first and thread the wire through, or work directly around it – either way, the core is what holds the flower upright.
Wire also lets you bend the stems, which makes arranging the bouquet possible. Without it every flower points straight up.
Making the centre stand out
A daisy is white petals and a yellow centre, and the contrast is the whole design. Work the centre densely, and consider stuffing it very lightly so it sits proud of the petals rather than flat among them.
Arranging
Odd numbers look better than even. Five, seven or nine daisies make a better bouquet than six or eight, and varying the stem lengths slightly reads as natural where uniform lengths look artificial.
Care
Dust them occasionally. Cotton takes a gentle hand wash if they get grubby – reshape the petals while damp and let them dry flat.
