You are now viewing the Dogwood Flower Top by guest designer Amelia.
When I think warm-weather crochet, lacy white projects are typically the first things that breeze through the mental open window in my “summer brain”. While they tend to take a little while to complete, these daintier patterns are worth it. As it happens though, the project and pattern I am bringing to you today does provide a little bit of a break from being too time-intensive.
The Dogwood Flower Top is inspired by one of my favorite local spring blooms-the Dogwood Tree! Just like these bright, classic trees add so much beauty to our landscape in spring, this lacy outer layer has been created to be a very pretty, feminine spring or summer top. It is also based on a pattern I previously wrote for the standalone flower design, so this could be a very portable project while you make the flowers individually. The only part that will require the space and concentration of a larger project will be putting the flowers together.
Find more: Women’s Top FREE Crochet Patterns.
Table of Contents
Pattern Overview
Would you like to save this?
We will email this pattern to you, so you can come back to it later.
Free, and you can unsubscribe any time.
If you like this crochet pattern, save it on Pinterest!
A Multipurpose Piece
The Dogwood Flower Top is really made to be styled in multiple different ways. Obviously it is a very summery and warm-weather article, but depending on the outfit it is a part of it can really take on several different looks. I made mine a good length for wearing with high waisted skirts or bottoms, and as you can see the results really range from classy to very bohemian. The almost free-form way that the flowers are joined also makes it just a little bit abstract.
Helpful Tools & Tips
Not Ready to Crochet it Yet?!
- Share about this crochet pattern on Instagram & Facebook using #joyofmotioncrochet.
- Save on Pinterest to make it later.
About the Dogwood Flower Top
The Dogwood Flower Top runs in a size small to medium in the way I made it. However, you can really follow these instructions to make any size by either using more/fewer flowers or by changing the number of chains that you use to connect between the flowers. If you study the pattern, you will see how easily it can be adapted.
Project level: Intermediate
Materials
Crochet Hook Size
Yarn
- Yarn
- Premier Yarn – Cotton Fair in color white
- Weight
- 2 Fine Yarn
- Fiber
- 52% cotton, 48% polyester
Yarn amount needed:
2 skeins · 200 grams · 550 meters · 600 yards
One skein is 100 grams · 290 meters · 317 yards.
Gauge
Each flower measures about 3.75″ from end to end(or from one petal end to the end of the opposite petal).
Crochet Pattern Notes
- This crochet pattern is written in US terms.
- All measurements given are unblocked.
- Note that measurements are given as exact as possible. But crochet tension & technique might give variations in the result, that changes from person to person.
- Read pattern instructions carefully before beginning to make sure you understand everything. It might save you hours frogging your work & crocheting it again!
- Make a couple of flowers to see if you can get the size t0 turn out pretty consistent. you might need to change your hook. Go up in crochet hook size if your stitches are smaller & go down in crochet hook size if your stitches are bigger (more details).
- Check yarn info if you want to find an alternative or test your yarn against the gauge. Learn more about substituting yarn.
- This pattern is written for 1 size. However, suggestions for adapting the size are included under the heading “Size & Measurements”.
Sizes and Measurements
Width: About 22 inches on the end(s), with an extra 5-6″ in the middle of the piece for sleeves.
Height: About 30 inches.
Note that these measurements are when the flowers are laid out and stitched together. In the middle of the work there is a neck opening as well as some extra flowers on the edges to help create the sleeves.
As I mentioned above, the Dogwood Flower top is a size small to medium. It uses 45 flowers total and joins that are 7 chains long each. So, once you take a look at how I put the project together, you can decide to change those details (the number of flowers you use and how many chains you use to connect them) to suit your sizing needs and preferences.
Abbreviations
- ch = chain(s)
- qtr = quadruple treble crochet
- sl st = slip stitch
- st = stitch (es)
We try our best to include all crochet abbreviations in the list above for the crochet pattern, but sometimes we may forget one or two.
Learn more about crochet abbreviations & find a complete list on our Crochet Abbreviations & Terms post.
Stitches You Will Need
Quadruple Treble Crochet
Yarn over 5 times, insert hook into next stitch(or indicated space) and pull up a loops. *Yarn over and pull through 2 loops on the crochet hook* Repeat from *to* 5 times.
Techniques You Will Need
Magic Circle (Mc)
- Holding the tail of the yarn between your thumb and index finger, wrap the yarn clockwise around fingers one and a half times and hold with pinky.
- Insert hook under the first wrap around then over the second wrap.
- Pull the second wrap under the first twist your hook,
- Yarn over pull through.
- You now have what looks like a large slip knot on your hook. (when working into the magic circle be sure to work over your tail also. Leave enough tail to pull at the end of round 1.
Instructions for the Dogwood Flower Top
Flower Pattern (make 45):
Note: This part of the pattern is based on my original Dogwood Flower pattern.
Round 1: *ch 6, ss into magic loop. Ch 4, ss into magic loop* repeat 3x for a total of 8 loops. Ss into the bottom of first loop and cinch magic loop tightly closed.
Round 2: going behind first ch 6 space, ss into the first ch 4 loop. Ch 6. Qtr 5 into the same ch 4 loop. Ch 6 and ss into the same ch 4 loop to finish the first petal.
Go behind the next ch6 space, and ss into next ch 4 space.
Repeat three more times so that you are left with four petals total.
Fasten off & cut yarn.
After I finished all of my flowers, I went back and tied the two ends tightly together(since you end each flower close to where it began). This allowed me to snip off my ends rather close and not weave them in. Plus, the knot gave me some assurance that my magic circles would not loosen up with wear.
Assembling the top
After completing all your flowers, stitching them together with lacy chains actually doesn’t take that long. However, it is best if you can lay out all of the flowers in their places and leave everything out until you have all of the flowers incorporated into the main piece.
As you may have seen in the progress pictures, setting up the flowers to stitch them together means putting them in rows, with the rows alternating so that the petals from one row of flowers fits into the “dip” between flowers in the row(s) beside them. With the length of the connecting chains, the flowers are about 1″ to 1.5″ in every direction.
Here’s how to lay out the flowers for the original design. Starting with what will become the front bottom edge of the top, put this many flowers in each row(staggering them):
Row 1: four flowers
Row 2: three flowers
Row 3: four flowers
Row 4: three flowers
Row 5: four flowers
Row 6: This is where the neckline opening starts. There are four flowers total but over a longer row. Two flowers go on one side, then a space for one flower is skipped in the middle, and then two flowers finish the row.
Row 7: Continuing with the neck opening, we have another row with four flowers total but over an even longer row. Two flowers go on one side, then a space for three flowers is skipped in the middle, and then two flowers finish the row.
Row 8: five flowers
Row 9: four flowers
Row 10: three flowers
Row 11: four flowers
Row 12: three flowers
Once you have your flowers arranged, you can start chaining to connect them. I recommend starting at one of the corners of the shirt so that you can work up and down each row and only cut and re-attach your yarn a minimal amount of times. I was able to only cut it once, after chaining all the way around the neckline and attaching the flowers there.
As mentioned before, each chain to connect these flowers is seven stitches long. Starting with two flowers and then incorporating a new one, here, is how my pattern went for connecting the petals with chains(these notes are for each time I was ending a chain with a slip stitch, or wherever I was chaining to)
Top of one petal one on flower one, top of petal one on a second flower, middle of petal one on the first flower again, then on to the middle of petal one on the second flower. Then, top of the closest petal on a third flower, which would be followed by probably going to the middle of a petal, and so on.
This is how I typically went about creating and connecting the chains, but at many different times there were slight variations.
After all the rows are done, it is easiest to hang the top on a hanger through the neck opening, and use chains of seven to go back and forth connecting the sides (up about three rows of flowers).
At the arm openings I did several more chains and connected them to each other until I was satisfied with the shaping of the sleeves.
To give the top a cleaner finish, the last thing to do is single crochet two rounds of stitches around the neckline and sleeves. I chose to leave the hem of the top “raw” to show off the shape of the flowers but you could also chain and then single crochet around the bottom as well for a straight edge.
Finishing
When you’re finished crocheting you have Just the one main part, which is all of the dogwood flowers put together in the right layout. At this point, simply fasten off threads & cut off/weave in the ends!
Share & Worth Noting
Thank you for sharing my FREE patterns & tutorials. When you do, you support me & the blog, which makes it possible to continue sharing free content with you.
Not all content on this blog website is free, but the more you share, the more free content I will be able to share. Note that all premium content are ad free.
My crochet patterns can be used to sell handmade pieces. You are required to credit Joy of Motion/Janne Kleivset as the designer by linking back to My website: https://joyofmotioncrochet.com. You can not use my pictures when selling your handmade items. Finally, you can not resell, reprint or share any parts of my patterns as your own.
