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Basic Rose

© June Gilbank 2009

This basic rose pattern is a perfect introduction to crocheted flowers, and it’s so versatile – make it in any size and colour you like!

vase of crocheted roses

Here are some ideas for use:

  • Use the optional stem pattern below to create a whole vase of roses
  • Stitch a pin to the back of a rose to make a pretty brooch
  • Accessorize a bag by sewing on a couple of roses
  • Sew or glue a small rose to a hair clip or plastic hairband

crocheted rose hairclip

This Basic Rose pattern is Donationware – the pattern is available for free, but if you like it please consider sending me a donation to show your appreciation:

basic rose crochet pattern

Send me a donation and receive the easy-to-print PDF version of the pattern as a thank you!

Donations of any size are much appreciated. Just add the amount you wish to donate, and, once you have checked out and paid, your pattern will instantly be available to download from your PlanetJune account.

The complete pattern and instructions are available below, regardless of whether or not you choose to pay for them 🙂

This is a PlanetJune original crochet pattern. Feel free to use items made from this pattern however you wish, but I’d appreciate credit as the pattern designer. Please do not reproduce the pattern anywhere else; instead post a link to www.planetjune.com/basicrose/

Not ready to make it yet? Add it to your Ravelry queue:

Terminology

ch chain
sc single crochet (double crochet for UK/Aus)
dc double crochet (treble crochet for UK/Aus)
st stitch

You will need…

  • A suitably sized crochet hook*
  • Small amount of yarn* in a floral colour, e.g. pink, red, purple, yellow, orange, cream or white (plus green for the optional stem)
  • Yarn needle (or embroidery needle for a thread rose)

* Hook and yarn sizes: This pattern will work with any size yarn, provided you choose a suitable hook size for your yarn. For my roses, I used:

  • Worsted weight yarn and a size G (4mm) hook, which produced a 2″ diameter rose
  • Size 8 pearl cotton and a size 7 (1.5mm) hook, which produced a 3/4″ diameter rose

Crochet Instructions

Ch 46.
Row 1: sc in 2nd chain from hook and in each chain across. (45 st). Ch 1, turn.
Row 2: sc in first st, [skip next st, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, skip next st, sc in next st] 11 times.
Fasten off and cut yarn, leaving a long end for stitching the rose together.

rose before rolling
After completing Row 2, your rose should look like this (except it won’t lie straight like this!). In this picture, the scalloped edge is at the top and the flat edge is at the bottom.

If you look at your work, you’ll see that one edge is flat and the other edge is scalloped. Starting at the opposite end of your work to the long yarn end, begin to roll up the rose into a spiral, and roll so that the flat edge stays flat.

back of rose after rolling
Watch the back of the rose as you roll, and form the flat edge into a flat spiral

Thread the long yarn end with a yarn needle, then run the needle through all the layers of the flat edge from one side to the other, passing through the centre of the rose. Draw the yarn taut, but do not pull it tightly to compress the bottom of the rose – you want to maintain that flat spiral shape at the back. Rotate the rose and go back through the centre, passing through all the layers again. Rotate once more and stitch back through again. Fasten off and weave in both ends of the yarn.

front of rose after stitching
The front of the rose after stitching

Optional: Stem

Terminology: The green outer parts of the flower that sit at the flower’s base are called the calyx.

Calyx
Ch 5.
Rnd 1: sc in 5th chain from hook, to form a circle. Sc in each st around the circle. (5 st)
Rnd 2: (sc in next st, ch 4, sc in 2nd chain from hook and in next 2 chains) five times. Fasten off and weave in ends.

calyx
Star-shaped calyx

Stem
To make the stem, use a pipe cleaner or length of floral wire. Fold it in half and make a twist by the fold (you may need pliers to help you with this if you are using a stiff wire).

stem
Folded pipe cleaner stem (or use floral wire)

The points of the star shaped calyx will want to curl. Make sure they are curling down, away from the rose.

Poke the twisted end of the wire up inside the centre of the calyx, so it sticks out of the top by about 1cm. Thread a yarn needle with your green yarn, directly from the yarn ball, and stitch the stem in place by stitching through the base of the calyx and between the two arms of the stem with a couple of stitches. Remove the needle but do not cut the yarn if you plan to cover the stem with yarn (as explained below).

Twist the rest of the stem wires together. NOTE: For safety, I like to fold up the very ends of the pipe cleaner or floral wire, so there aren’t any sharp points at the base of the stem.

You can either leave the wires uncovered, or, for a more polished look, cover the stem with the green yarn. Here are two simple methods to cover the stem:

  1. Single crochet around the stem. This will leave a row of chains down one side of the stem. Fasten off and weave the end back up through a few stitches.
  2. Wrap the yarn around and around the stem. Knot the yarn around the end of the stem and secure the knot in place with glue before cutting the yarn.

stem
Wrapping yarn around a pipe cleaner stem

stem
This stem is single crocheted around floral wire
(note also the green floral wire sticking out of the top of the calyx)

Poke the visible end of the wire up through the back of the rose, to help anchor it in position. (NOTE: Make sure the wire is not visible from the top of the rose! If it is too long and is visible, fold it down inside the rose.)

With a yarn needle and a length of either yarn, stitch the base of the rose to the calyx. Weave in all remaining yarn ends.

stitch rose to stem
Stitching the rose to the calyx

I hope you enjoy this pattern. Please leave me a comment below if you do, and consider leaving me a donation. Thanks!

187 Comments »

  1. Hermione said

    Hi, I am doing the roses for the botaniCAL. I can’t get the calyx right. I do the chain 5 and sc into the 5 the ch from hook, but can’t seem to manage the SC in each stitch. I just can’t figure out why. Would it work if I did 5 sc into the middle instead?
    Regards
    Hermione

    • June said

      Yes, you can do that, Hermione – it’ll leave you with a more obvious hole in the middle of the calyx and won’t give you any free loops (leftover from the starting chain) to aid in stitching the calyx to the stem, but neither of those should be a big problem. (I’ll look forward to seeing your roses – don’t forget to register for the BotaniCAL by posting in the CAL thread, if you haven’t already!)

  2. Jane said

    The pattern is great. I’m making several bookmarks for Christmas gifts. THanks

  3. Liz Lennon said

    Thank you for a lovely straight forward pattern. Have made several roses to turn into brooches as teacher presents for the end of the school year. Great pattern!

  4. Brooke said

    Why didn’t you go into detail on HOW TO crochet around the pipe cleaner?!? I am having a terrible time trying to do this!! It’s not even, there are gaps where I can see the pipe cleaner; this is so frustrating!! I feel as though your “instructions” are incomplete. I would appreciate it if you fixed this.

    • June said

      When you bring a non-yarn item into the mix – the pipe cleaner in this case – there are a lot more variables that will affect your result: the thickness of your yarn; the length and thickness of the ‘plush’ on the pipe cleaner; how closely colour-matched your yarn and pipe cleaner are, etc. There’s no magic technique – it’s just single crochet! – but I suggest you try pushing your stitches more closely together if there are gaps between them, as you need to make sure they cover the whole surface of the pipe cleaner. If that still doesn’t work for you, you can try the floral wire I suggested, use a thicker yarn to crochet around the stem, or use the wrapping method I suggest instead – there are plenty of options, so I’m sure you can find one that gives you a result you’re happy with.

  5. Lisa said

    I’m the National Honor Society advisor for the high school at which I teach. This will be my third year crocheting roses for the top 20 graduates because your pattern is so simple to follow! I use our school colors, so the roses ate orange and the calyx portion is blue. (I only did the calyx one of the two years so far due to time constraints.) The kids are so proud to wear their crocheted corsage on graduation day! Their eyes really light up as I come around to distribute their honor cords and roses.

    Thank you for posting this pattern!

  6. Sabrina Ashbaker said

    Hi! I was wondering if you had any tips for trying to crochet down the side of floral wire. I imagine the pipe cleaner keeps the thread from sliding all over the place, but floral wire not so much. I’m new to crocheting and I love roses, so thanks so much for providing such a wonderful pattern!

    • June said

      Crocheted stitches have enough bulk to support themselves along the length of the wire – it’s the same concept as crocheting over anything solid, like my Twisted Chain Bangle (which is crocheted over a metal bangle). If you make a small hook shape at the end of the wire, you can clamp it around the first stitch once you’ve crocheted it, to keep the end of the wire in place and to stop the stitches from sliding off the wire! Once you get started, you’ll see that the crocheting just works 🙂

  7. Betty said

    Thanks for sharing,

  8. Ambreen said

    The only problem I had was after I repeated the pattern 11x I still had some of the chain left over. The end just had the singles from the previous row. Can anyone can explain what happened? I just made more of that scalloped edge to fill the space. A video or more pics would help a newbie like me.

    • June said

      Without knowing how many stitches you had left over or seeing your work, it’s hard to say, but I’d guess that you probably omitted some or all of the skipped stitches – there should be a skipped stitch both before and after each scallop, so each of the 11 repeats uses 4 of the stitches from Row 1 (totalling 44 stitches, plus the sc at the start of Row 2 to make 45).

      • Ambreen said

        Yeah I did sc, dc dc dc dc, skip, sc. So I think I missed some sc. Or skips. My first time following a pattern. Still turned out nice.

  9. Nora said

    Can’t wait to make a full vase of beautiful roses!! Thanks

  10. Jodie said

    Thank you, these are my moms favourite flowers so I am making them 4 her birthday !

  11. Inanis said

    Would it be okay if I used this pattern to make roses to give away as random acts of kindness?
    (I won’t be selling the crocheted roses, but give them out to random people to brighten their days)

    • June said

      Absolutely, Inanis! You’re welcome to use roses made from my pattern in any way you wish (including selling them, if you change your mind about that – see my FAQ for details). I’m sure your RAOKs will be much appreciated 🙂

      • Inanis said

        Thank you so much!

  12. Jane Green said

    How simple and beautiful! 🙂

  13. Analise said

    Wow June! This pattern is absolutely fantastic. It looks like a pattern for somebody that has been crocheting for decades. I have been looking all over the web to find a layered flower for a bag I am making, and this hits the spot! Thanks

  14. Sue Burke said

    Thank you very much for being so generous in sharing this lovely rose pattern. Once I had rewritten it with the UK stitches I was well away. I have made several in sparkly yarn and looking forward to trying out more. They are quite addictive and I think they may be growing all over the house 🙂

  15. Christine Frazier said

    Thank you so much!!! I have never found a rolled rose pattern thst i liked and yours is wonderful! Especially using the chainless foundation single crochet! My new go to rose pattern.

  16. AUTHOR CINDY LEWIS said

    thank you for the free and awesome pattern, my 2 tone pink rose turned out fabulously!!!

  17. law said

    Really love your pattern and what makes it so special is that it comes complete with the calyx and stem tutorial. It is easy for a beginner to follow with the pictures. Appreciate it !

  18. Karen said

    Such cute roses – I love them!!

  19. maggie said

    i love how quick these roses are to make! my best friend is getting married in about a month so i’m making her a bunch of them in her wedding colors for boutonnieres, corsages, etc. here’s hoping i can get them done in time XD

  20. Josephine said

    Lovely simple pattern, have been looking for a rose pattern for a while and this one has it all 🙂 thank you

  21. heather said

    Absolutely love this rose pattern. i have been searching onkine for one for days and finally came across this one. so simple and easy. im using it as a decoration for my nook case im making. Thanks again!! 🙂

  22. Elodie said

    I am using the rose pattern to make edgings for shorts that are too shorts, it looks so pretty!

  23. Cyndi said

    Just wanted to say how much I love these roses, I made a bunch of them for the Mom’s I know for Mothers Day and they all loved them. Hope you do more flowers with stems, your flowers are great. Very easy to read, follow and make, the pics really help also.

  24. Diana L said

    Made this flower to put on a vase of roses for my mom for Mothers Day. Her favorite flower is the rose. This pattern is beautiful and easy to understand. Thank you so much!

  25. violet said

    I love roses, in all shapes and forms, but I have never seen a crocheted rose bouquet until now….sooo beautiful! . Thanks for sharing. I will absolutely try to make them!

  26. ms rose said

    Oh june, by the way, I crocheted several “nemo” fish while I sal in the hospital with my granddaughter, thanks again for your site, rose

  27. ms rose said

    Hi June– I am a 74 year old greatgrandmother, without much time to spare, However, every once in a while, I take time off just for me, and I love the way crocet projects make a home really a home! Your roses are going to special people in my life, who need a “she still loves me” lift– that’s what your roses do for people, thanks much, I’ll send a donation out of my next check, thanks again, ms rose

  28. patricia said

    Thank you for this pattern. When I saw the roses I thought there was no way I would be able to make these beautiful roses.
    I had no problem following the pattern. I have made several roses and plan to do more….

    I have added a few differnent stitches and came up with a larger rose, a smaller rose bud and several made exactly from pattern.

    Thank you again. This pattern and other direction for making leaves and stem will be a part of my crochet supplies for now on.

  29. CB said

    I am using this rose to attach to a long chain of green to use as a bookmark! Thank you very much for the easy-to-follow pattern, and the very clear pictures! 😀 I would recommend this!

  30. Tanya said

    I know you have heard this so many times, but I will add mine to the list THANK YOU! Love the ease and style of the pattern. Please keep up the good work

  31. salmi bt salikin said

    I FROM MALAYSIA.I also like crochet.crochet is my hobby.i have many pattern crochet.can you share with me more crochet pattern please…your crochet very nice..

  32. Rachel G said

    This is a wonderful pattern and I’ve made several half dozen bouquets for family and friends. I did tweak the rose pattern just a tad by chaining an extra 2 times; then adding one more shell so that there are 13, not 12. This created a rounder rose without the square shape that I didn’t like. Thanks for patterns! This is my go- to for flowers, and I’ve been asked to make these over and over! 🙂

  33. Yasmine said

    Hullo June, it’s me again, I forgot to ask, is it ok if I re-teach you pattern for these roses on my site, translating it and with a link to this page?
    Many thanks in advance!

    Yasmine
    P.s.: I know lots of people would love to have instructions such as your but unfortunately it’s rather difficult to find patterns so detailed in Portuguese…

  34. Yasmine said

    Hi there June! Just wanted to thank you for being so kind as to post these free patterns ( for those of us unable to buy anything!!! Lol), they are absolutely adorable!
    I started crocheting a couple of years ago ( haven’t really improved much yet, self-teaching..) and this is one of the first sites I visited. I made a bouquet of your flowers and gave them as a gift to a very dear friend of mine ( if possible I’d like to send you the picture). I haven’t checked back here in about a year but I was very glad to see the changes! Your site looks beautiful, and as usual, very, very helpful!! I’m really srry I can’t make a donation at the moment, if there’s any site that deserves it, it’s yours!
    Please keep up the wonderful work!!
    From one of ( many) your biggest fans,

    Yasmine

  35. H said

    Hi, thanks for this beautiful pattern. I am making 3 white roses for my cousin who just lost her son. I will ship them this week. And I will add the picture on Ravelry. Thanks again.

  36. Alyx said

    Lovely little pattern. Found this page from an Alice in Wonderland Crochet patterns listing. Only one thing that I can’t do/figure out however, How do you single crochet on a pipe cleaner? Do you do the chain and then do the next crochet over or do you do two rows then hook on the two to the pipe cleaner?

    • June said

      Alyx, you treat the pipe cleaner as the loops of the stitch below for a normal sc. So, for each sc, put your hook under the pipe cleaner to the back, yarn over and draw up a loop to the front, then put your hook over the pipe cleaner to yarn over and draw through both loops. Each sc stitch will be formed around the pipe cleaner, to cover it.

      • Karen said

        I love your patterns, June! I’m having trouble with this part too…it is very difficult to sc around a floral wire and it is not turning out the way yours did in the photos. I think the yarn is too small and the wire is too small, as well. I’m going to try a pipe cleaner and a heavier yarn for better coverage. My flower and little green thing are nice, though. 🙂

        • June said

          I used pipe cleaners for mine and I found it worked very well. If you don’t like the pipe cleaner fuzz, you could try holding two or more floral wires together, to bulk up the stem and make it easier to crochet around.

          • Karen said

            I bought 40 pipe cleaners with beige fuzz yesterday for $1. lol…anyway I tried it and it is much better…I’m getting closer to the look I want! Thanks again, June for sharing with everyone! 🙂

  37. Andrea said

    You have always been my go to designer when I’ve needed to find an pattern for an crocheted animal softie. Just when I need to make a some flowers for a Ravlery friend I was delighted to find your name attatched to just what I needed. Thank you

  38. reshma said

    Thanks a lot for this beautiful rose design. Thanks to you I have got happy nieces:)

  39. Sandra said

    Sigh, I love your pictuers and the pattern is simple enuff.. Mine just looks nothing at all like what youve made.. I dont really get what im doing wrong, im not a beginner on crocheting but this just wont look good for me :S

    • Enchantress67 said

      Tension is SUPER IMPORTANT, and takes a little while to get the hang of, also, just a tip, make sure you insert your hook under BOTH TOP STRINGS, I couldn’t figure that out when I was first learning crochet, and it made my work look messy and none of it turned out right! There is a whole bunch of How-to videos and E-books and stuff on the web, it really helped me! Hope this helps.

  40. Lisa said

    Thank you so much for this pattern! I used this rose as an embellishment on a purse I was making, and it turned out fantastic! I sell my work to make a few extra dollars so little things like this can make a big difference. Thanks again!

  41. missnysa said

    hi i’m just involve in crochet and amigurumi world and first project i made is this rose with your pattern..this pattern is perfect for beginner and i’m totally agree with Tygermane that this pattern is memorized ^^..I also post this rose in my blog ^^

  42. Shawn said

    Thanks for posting this! I plan on doing a bouquet of crocheted flowers for my wedding, and this pattern is perfect!

  43. Tygermane said

    What a cute and easy rose pattern! I like this one the best out of the ones I found today! I’ve made a few of them so far and plan on using them for various amigurumi dolls 🙂 The thing I like best about this pattern is that you make it once, and the pattern is memorized!
    I can’t wait to attach them to my amis!!!!

  44. Kelsie said

    I’ve made two of these, one red and one pink, and they look SO realistic! I’ve tried many rose patterns, and this one is by far the best. I especially liked the way you explained how to sew it, as none of the other patterns have done that! 🙂

  45. rehana said

    i liked the pattern but would be grateful if you could me a video of this. I would love to make a donation but i’m in india, tell me how to make one. thanks.

  46. nanaprita said

    very pretty =)

  47. Niler Fernandez said

    Realmente las rosas parecen reales !!!

  48. Janniffy said

    Only beginner with crochet, and I love these made a sample one and my mother stole it. Going to make a bunch once I get the right colours.

  49. sue said

    Love the pattern, so simple to follow thank you

  50. ugyen said

    nice pattern

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