Mary’s Roses

If anyone deserves to have roses thrown at her feet it is my friend Mary McCarthy.

Mary\'s roses

Pattern For Mary’s Roses

In the sample I used Cebelia size 30. It is easiest to work with two shuttles, but you can do the pattern with a shuttle and ball of thread. The pink rose is a combination of dark pink size 12 perle cotton and size 30 light pink Cebelia

Ring: 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 (8 picots) close ring and make a mock picot.

From here on it is all chain work

Start each round of chains with the second half of the ds. This “lifts” the stitches up. Tighten up the chain before the join. These are all shuttle joins, so you can’t tighten up the chain after the join. You want each row of stitches to lay on the one before it. If you need to make more stitches in each row do so.

Round 1

  1. *Chain: 6 , skip one picot on the ring and join to the next picot. Rev
  2. Chain: 8, join to the mock picot, Rev
  3. **Chain: 10, join to the same picot as the first chain. Make a lock stitch (transferred half stitch) do not reverse
  4. Chain: 6, skip one picot on the ring and join to the next picot
  5. Repeat from *to**around the ring. Join the last row to the first picot.

Round 2

Draw one of your shuttle threads through the next free picot. Pass the other shuttle through the loop. Tighten the knot but don’t pull the work out of shape. The following chains will cover the loop on the back of the work.

  1. Chain A: 8, join to the next free picot, rev
  2. Chain B: 10, join to the first picot. rev
  3. Chain A: 12, join to the same picot as the chain A, rev
  4. Chain B: 14, join to the same picot as chain B, rev
  5. Chain A: 20, join to the same picot as chain A, lock stitch do not reverse
  6. Repeat all around using the free picots. Join last chains in the first picot of round 2

Done, but doesn’t look like much does it. Take the rose and drop it into some warm water. While still damp, lift the petals and push them together. Separate some of the chains to fill in the rose. When you are pleased with the shape allow the rose to dry.

The pink rose has an extra center, which I added on:

  1. Ring 2-2-2 close ring, make a mock picot (5 picots)
  2. Chain A: 4, skip 1 picot join into the next free picot, rev
  3. Chain B: 6, join into the mock picot rev
  4. Chain: 8, join into the same picot as chain A. rev
  5. Chain: 10, join in the same picot as chain B, do not reverse,
  6. Chain B: 6, join in same picot as chain A, rev
  7. Chain 8, join in same picot as chain B rev
  8. Chain 10, join in the same picot as chain B, lock stitch.
  9. Cut threads leaving ends long enough to draw through the center of the rose.

Alternate method:

  1. Ring 3-3-3-3 close ring mock picot
  2. Do a lock stitch after each join to give the petals a more defined shape
  3. Chain 6, join in next picot, chain 6, and join in next picot all the way around ring. Lock stitch
  4. Chain 8, join in next picot, chain 8, and join in next picot all the way around ring, lock stitch.
  5. Chain 10, join in next picot, chain10, join in next picot repeat all the way around as before.
  6. Chain 12, join in next picot, chain 12, join in next picot, and repeat all the way around as before.
  7. Cut and tie off threads and draw to the back. This produces a more flat flower.

This is a fun pattern to use up scraps of thread. And different colors can make you think of different types of flowers. Sew them down on a head band, or a barrette. Send me scans of your roses and I will put up the pictures. Get Crazy, I know there are some “WILDFLOWERS” out there.

This pattern is copyright free, share it with a friend who isn’t on line.