Design Story

Floral prints are everywhere this season from painted prints at Dries Van Noten to graphically stylised prints at Gucci, pretty prints on chiffon at Armani and chintz printed silks at Kenzo. I wanted to tap into this trend and wear it straight away, and as it is summer, I wanted a quick and easy project, so I opted to create a brooch using my left over colourful Biggan Design DK yarns. And thus the Flower Power brooch was born.

Strongly influenced by the 60's, hence the name, I was inspired by the simple and vibrantly coloured pop art Flower prints I saw at the Andy Warhol exhibition earlier this year at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia and the equally bold and unmistakable Marimekko flower printed fabrics which I grew up with in my Mother's Scandinavian home.

This resulted in a playful and almost childish shaped flower which acts as the perfect canvas for the real pop in my colour contrast. A little fiddly to begin with, once you master the technique of knitting I-chord these flowers are very quick to make and are the perfect gift as a brooch, hair pin or as an embellishment on hats, handbags, belts even on flip flops.

Materials

2 x 3mm double pointed needles
Tapestry needle
Sewing needle
4 x pins
1 x Safety Pin or Brooch Pin
Cotton thread in similar colour to main body of flower.

Left over pieces of Biggan Design DK yarn in two contrasting colours.
5g x Mc
2g x Cc1

Pattern

Main body of Flower (Petals) I-chord

Cast on 4 sts with Mc.
* Knit 4 sts. Do not turn work but instead push stitches to the right end of the needle. Pull yarn to tighten sts into a tight neat loop. Rep from * until 25cm (10 inches) in length then cast off. Leave a tail of about 20 cm (8 inches).

Centrepiece of Flower I-chord

Cast on 4 sts with Cc1.
* Knit 4 sts. Do not turn work but instead push stitches to the right end of the needle. Pull yarn to tighten sts into a tight neat loop. Rep from * until 5cm (2 inches) in length then cast off. Leave a tail of about 15 cm (6 cm).

Sewing together

With the 4 pins mark 5cm along the Mc I-chord until there are 5 equal 5cm (2 inch) sections. Thread the 20cm (8 inch) tail through a tapestry needle, bend the I-chord in half so that the cast off end is in line with the first pin and push the tapestry needle through creating the first petal. Then bend the second section of I-chord so that the first and second pins line up and push the tapestry needle through thus creating the second petal.

Repeat the same process for the following three petals. Join the fifth petal to the first petal at the base and fasten the tail securely at the centre of the flower stitching between the centre of the five petals to secure the flower shape.

Thread the 15cm (6 inch) tail of the 5cm (2 inch) I-chord onto a tapestry needle. From the cast off end of the I-chord begin coiling the I-chord and stitching it together with the tail yarn as you go along. When complete fasten the tail yarn securely to the back of the flower centre piece.

With a sewing needle and thread attach the back of the round centre piece to the centre front of the flower, carefully sewing the bottom edge of centre piece to the centre of the Flower as close to the base of the centre piece as possible to hide the stitches. Then stitch a safety pin or brooch pin to the back of the flower and voila you have a Flower Power Brooch.

 

This pattern is not to be used commercially or to be resold.  Copyright © Henrietta Dups / Biggan Design 2008