We are launching our 12 Days of Christmas crafts with a beautiful handmade bookmark. Do you know someone who loves to read? For all the book lovers in your life, you can make this beautiful Shell Stitch Lace Bookmarker. Pair this with a best seller book and you will be sure to awe the most distinguished book enthusiast on your list!
My dad will continue to be the videographer, editor, and photographer for our videos when I move away.
Support YARNutopia today so we can continue to bring you clear, quality crochet tutorials even after I move into my new home!
There will be an added expense of more travel and hopefully this won’t deter our ability to provide consistent videos on a weekly basis.
Teacher: Nadia Fuad
Video and Editing: Fuad Azmat (My Daddy)
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Pattern:
Designed by Nadia Fuad You *may* sell items made from my pattern, but please reference my website YARNutopia.com.
Please do not copy, sell, and/or post this pattern and claim it as your own.
NOTES:
-Use a smaller hook to make these smaller
-Use a bigger hook to make these bigger
-You can do as many rows of this pattern as you want to make it as long as you want.
Special stitches:
Ch(s): chain(s)
YO: Yarn Over
BLO: Back Loop Only
FLO: Front Loop Only
St(s): Stitch(es)
Sl st: slip stitch
SK: Skip
SC: Single Crochet
HDC: Half Double Crochet
DC: Double Crochet
TR: Treble Crochet
Shell: [DC, Ch 1, DC, Ch 1, DC, Ch 1, DC] in same stitch
Pattern:
If you have any confusion or difficulty with reading this pattern, please watch the video tutorial that is linked above in this blog post to have visual instructions.
With Thread and 1mm crochet hook
Ch 35
Row 1: HDC in 3rd Ch from hook, * Sk 3 chs, [DC, Ch 1, DC, Ch 1, DC, Ch 1, DC] in next Ch (Shell made), Sk 3 Chs, HDC in next Ch, Repeat From * across, ending with HDC in last Ch. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 3, [DC, Ch 1, DC] in first st, *HDC in Center Ch of next Shell, Shell in next HDC, Repeat from * across, ending with [DC, Ch 1, 2 DC] in last St. Turn.
Row 3: Ch 2, HDC in first st, *Shell in next HDC , HDC in center of next Shell, Repeat from * ending with HDC in last st. Turn.
Rows 4-29: Repeat Rows 2 and 3
Row 30: Ch 3, *SC in center of next shell, Ch 3, HDC in next HDC, Repeat from * across, ending with HDC in last st.
Fasten off, weave in ends.
Attach many strands of yarn in the top center of your bookmark and make a braid. Tie off and cut the tassel to make it neat.
Enjoy!!
This post contains affiliate links, which I may be compensated for when you make a purchase. That means if you click on any link and buy from the linked websites, I will receive a small percentage of the value of your order. The amount you pay is not changed. Thank you for all your support in clicking the links in my blog!! You all are so amazing!! ~Nadia
The yarn provided for this pattern is courtesy of Red Heart Yarns
Below is a fun checklist of things found in a yarn bag! We carry our lives around in our totes and this game gives points for all the things we can find in there! Take a moment to go through your bags and tally your points for this activity. What is the craziest thing you have in your bag today?? How many points did you get??
Here’s My Score: 148 Points!
This activity was prompted because I was cleaning up my bag and found some packets of hot sauce and a diaper in my yarn tote! LOL I realized that I can’t be the only one who has this problem. I remembered playing a “What’s In Your Bag?” game at a bridal shower some time ago, and decided to make a game out of this to share with all of you!
When planning a wedding, one of the very first things you consider is the type of wedding you want and the budget to go along with your dream. It isn’t always easy to have those two things come together seamlessly unless you have all the resources available without the concern of finances. That’s why DIY (or do-it-yourself) is a great way to cut costs and bring some of those wedding expenses down – and dreams to life – using your own creativity. Be aware – there’s a cost to that too, just not always in dollars.
It Starts With YES!
When Nate proposed, we were in Amsterdam, Netherlands on a high – figuratively not literally. (read about it here) Excited from the thrill of getting engaged on this European trip, planning a wedding in that moment was not on the forefront of our minds. We hadn’t even chosen a date for our wedding until weeks following our engagement. I am such a planner, so I needed time to organize our wedding with guests from overseas, so we decided on March 17, 2018, St. Patrick’s Day. This was the perfect day to have our Pakistani/Irish fusion wedding. I wanted the Pakistani features and Nate is Irish, so he wanted to incorporate some Irish elements into our special day.
Looking a year ahead gave us much needed time to sort out details for this fusion wedding and put finances on paper. Thankfully, our parents were able to help, but how much would this all cost?
We visited vendors which was exciting and full of promise. Yet, when we started to talk dollars and cents, we began to realize that we needed to scale down considerably on some of our “wants.” Our budget was limited. One of the more shocking realizations was finding out that for flowers; personal flowers such as bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages along with centerpiece arrangements and other floral décor, would cost over $2000 USD. As much as I LOVE fresh flowers, spending $2000 on that one detail was out of the question.
Famous Last Words
Ideas began to formulate. I knew I wanted to incorporate elements of crochet into my wedding, and the more I considered it, the more it made sense for me to make all of the flowers. I knew it would be a lofty goal. Hand crocheting 200+ flowers for all my floral elements, as well as 200 place card meal flowers, was no easy task. But spending $2000 on bouquets and arrangement fresh flowers, which will wilt and be discarded was hard to contemplate. I could save a huge chunk of money if I did these myself. So, it was decided almost a year ahead of time, I would crochet the flowers. I had plenty of time, right?
I think I remember vaguely in the fog of my over-zealous wedding-muddled mind, Nate saying to me,
“Are you sure you want to do that? I don’t want you to get too stressed out…..” Brides and stress? Phfft…
Oh, how prophetic that conversation would be.
My flip response was something on the lines of,
“No worries, I won’t get stressed. It’s a year away. I have plenty of time.” Eye-roll please…
The Best Laid Plans…
Eleven months in advance may seem like plenty of time to take on a project like this. That is if you have NOTHING to do BUT this. I started out pretty well. I decided on using Red Heart Yarns Aunt Lydia’s Thread in the colors of my bridesmaids’ dresses for their bouquets and a throw bouquet. I would pair the groomsmen’s boutonnieres in coordinating colors. My bouquet would be shades of red and Nate would have a matching flower to mine. I could get a jump start on place card flowers once I decided on the coinciding meal. I would crochet similar coordinating flowers to use for my table centerpieces. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Puhll-eeaaazzze…I got this!
I mapped out the year. I could crochet three flowers a day which would put me on a course to finish in plenty of time for the wedding. It would give me an ample time-frame to make bouquets, plan those centerpieces, decide on any other arrangements, and color code all the seating place cards. The only thing is, I had to stay on task. One missed day meant the next day I had to make six flowers. One missed week meant making 21 flowers to catch up. Do you get my drift? Don’t even ask what it required to catch up on a lost month. There are no words…
(If you are looking for a tutorial on how to make these flowers, click here)
Fast forward to six weeks before the wedding and my fingers felt like they were falling off due to the insane flower making schedule I had going on. Every plan and deadline shot to hell. I even sliced my hand with that tiny 1mm crochet hook I was using! Haha! I remember at 2 a.m one morning, my eyes going crossed and mind delirious, thinking up curse words while miscounting my stitches, and repeating over and over that I will NEVER crochet with thread or make another flower in MY LIFE ever again. I must have asked myself a hundred times…WHY!? Why did I decide to do this?!
Honestly….This is why….
This Is What Dreams Are Made Of
I am such a detail person. It comes from my mama. And just like my mama, I believe those tiny details matter. Every single one of these details mattered to me. I would not have done it otherwise. Looking back, I know I complained, I may have even cried, but the results of all the hard work and late nights paid off. Each detail, each flower, each element came together in perfect harmony on our wedding day and it was so worth it! So, so worth it! Details, details, details….
The bouquets I designed consisted of 12-14 crochet flowers in the final assembly. I accented the burst of color using gold beads, gold tulle, gold ribbon, and gold jewels to wrap the handle of the bouquet holders I chose. I crocheted roses for my bridal bouquet and crocheted an assortment of handmade flowers for the bridesmaids and the throw bouquet. My sister-in-law/maid-of-honor and I still have the scars from the blisters burned on our hands from the hot glue! Bouquet assembly was not easy!
Each boutonniere consisted of a coordinating crocheted single flower attached to a stem and leaf. For Nate’s two younger brother’s, I created a trio of crocheted small flowers as an alternate look since they were our ushers and groomsmen! Even our little ring bearer had his own!
Each centerpiece was a combination of Moroccan Lanterns alternating with floating candles on opposite tables. Small votive candlesaccented each table, along with the gold framed table number we added Salal Lemon Leaf and Evergreen Huckleberry for a splash of deep green on our black table cloth linens. I accented the leaves with a combination of three crochet flowers on one side and an accent flower on the opposite side of the arrangement for a splash of crochet color and balance.
For the last table detail, we added small place card holders that were tiny replicas of brass oil lamps. Each name card was paired with a tiny crochet flower detail indicating the meal choice of each guest and inserted into the place card holder. I had four meal options, and each option had a color coordinated flower that matched the meal choice of each guest. Each place card was printed with our guests’ names, and I attached a tiny flower on the end with a gold brad using a paper hole-punch. This tiny, but impressive, element was a huge hit with our guests!
It Doesn’t Stop There
Aside from the details that adorned our tables, we had a couple other crochet specifics that I incorporated into our wedding day. Since it was a Pakistani/Irish Fusion wedding a few live flower arrangements had elements of plants indigenous to Ireland. Bells of Ireland mixed with Fringe Cups, Burdock, Thistle, Ladies Mantle, Clover and an assortment of other greens decorated our reception room. I decided to add crochet Calla Lilies to this greenery mix! I found an amazing pattern by Happy Patty and purchased it from her Etsy Shop! I fell in love with these Irish fused greenery arrangements even more with this added detail. Bittersweet Florist was fun to work with and loved the idea of adding crochet Callas. They had never seen crochet lilies before!
It may seem like an overwhelming amount of crochet flowers and crochet elements added to the wedding day. I did not want it to look like too many crocheted components pulled together, hoping it appeared as attractive as imagined when I started on this project. When we put it all together, it wasn’t at all over the top or too much. It was just the right amount. I even added the Henna Inspired Mandala as a table top cover in our reception area. I used it under some Huckleberry leaves to accent our seating chart table. Subtle yet lovely…a tiny splash of crochet color made it just the perfect element to add in this one spot.
It’s All in the Details
It took a lot of planning, but that’s my thing. I love planning, and details can make all the difference. Like I mentioned, I am a detail oriented person and being a bride didn’t change any of this. In fact, it amped it up! Just be careful not to get caught up in too many little things. It can suck you in! Doing all these crochet elements made this uniquely my own. It was such a wonderful feeling that I made each of these details come to life with crochet.
In the end, each guest had a small crochet take-away aside from their wedding favor. My bridesmaids, men of honor, groomsmen, ring bearer, and family, each had their flowers to have as a keepsake from our special day. One lucky guest caught the Throw Bouquet! Even the centerpiece flowers became souvenirs for some guests. We could not ask for more! This is what every bride should feel. I accomplished this incredible feat and brought a lot of joy not only to myself but to each guest who attended our wedding. It truly mattered in showing each person who attended how special they are and how much it meant to us that they were to celebrate our love.
In the end, I crocheted 140 centerpiece flowers, 70 bouquet flowers, 19 boutonniere flowers, 3 wrist corsages, 200 place card flowers, as well as the Calla Lilies to accent the greenery arrangement, the Henna Inspired Mandalaand lastly, I did make each of my girls a special wedding shawl which I will share in a separate blog. I did this work all in the months leading up to our wedding. It wasn’t easy, but it was so very special. I saved more than $1,500.00 USD by doing this myself.
Do-It-Yourself: Lovely But Not Easy
My advice for anyone planning to take on the task of DIY projects for your wedding would be to plan it out, give yourself plenty of time to tackle a project of this magnitude, know the commitment you are making because it can overwhelm you, and it is ok to get frustrated. Just don’t take on a project that consumes you to the point that you lose the joy in the reason you started this in the first place. With the right frame of mind, in the end, you will have a wedding that has the special added touches that make it your unique day with elements that are talked about for years! Always remember: This is YOUR special day do what feels right for YOU. Have fun and enjoy it all!
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make wedding flowers:
A special thank you to the following:
Our amazing parents for supporting us and making all our dreams come true.
Our entire wedding party for helping us through this whole journey and being the best wedding party ever!!
All of our guests, you are so special to us, and we were so happy to celebrate our special day with each and every one of you!
This post contains affiliate links, which I may be compensated for when you make a purchase. That means if you click on any link and buy from the linked websites, I will receive a small percentage of the value of your order. The amount you pay is not changed. Thank you for all your support in clicking the links in my blog!! You all are so amazing!! ~Nadia
If you are following me on my blog or any social media, you will recall that I released my Link to the Past Phrygian Cap last week as Part One of the Halloween cosplay costume designs that I am creating for Nate and myself.
Today, Part Two of the costume set, is this Destiny Headband. This is a bit of a tedious process using thin thread and crocheting around wire, but the results are worth the efforts! Continue to stay tuned to more great patterns along the way to complete one or both of my costume series!
Not into the costume idea? Make a headband with just leaves! You could also use the leaf applique separately for flowers or anywhere you would need to add a decorative embellishment.
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make this whole headband:
Support YARNutopia today so we can continue to bring you clear, quality crochet tutorials
Please check out the new beginning graphic designed and developed by my brother Nabeel. He and his wife own and operate NFD Graphics. Please hop over to their Facebook page and show them some love! For all your graphic and video/logo design needs be sure to contact them today! www.nfdgraphics.com
Pattern:
“Designed by Nadia Fuad
You *may* sell items made from my pattern, but please reference my website YARNutopia.com.
Please do not copy, sell, and/or post this pattern and claim it as your own.
You can buy any of the items in this kit. Buy all or buy one item. Check it out to see the supplies you can get online to make this project!
NOTES:
-This project uses less than 150 yards of yarn.
-Use a smaller hook to make these smaller
-Use a bigger hook to make these bigger
-Watch the FULL video tutorial for visual instructions for each row and tips on how to make this smaller and bigger.
-Weave in all the ends as you go so you don’t have to weave them all in at the very end.
-If the instructions above are confusing, please message me on Facebook, and I will answer any questions you may have. Please be specific in your questions. Thank you!!
-The measurements for this headband is 25 inches long, but you can make your braid as long as you’d like!
-It is recommended to use Cotton thread for this project.
Special stitches:
Ch(s): chain(s)
YO: Yarn Over
St(s): Stitch(es)
BLO: Back Loops Only
prev.: Previous
Sl st: slip stitch
SC: Single Crochet
HDC2TOG: Half Double crochet decrease
HDC: Half Double Crochet
DC: Double Crochet
TR: Treble Crochet
DTR: Double Treble Crochet
Pattern:
If you have any confusion or difficulty with reading this pattern, please watch the video tutorial to have visual instructions.
Make 8 Leaves:
With Metallic Gold:
Ch 18 Rnd 1: Sl st in 2nd ch from hook, SC in next, HDC in next, DC in next 2 chs, TR in next 2 chs, DTR in next 3 chs, TR in next 2 chs, DC in next 2 chs, HDC in next ch, SC in next, Sl st in last ch, Ch 2, Sl st back in the same ch as last Sl st, continue working on opposite side of foundation chain, SC in next st, HDC in next st, DC in next 2 sts, TR in next 2 sts, DTR in next 3 sts, TR in next 2 sts, DC in next 2 sts, HDC in next, SC in next, Sl st in next. Rnd 2: Add wire and continue working around wire and into the sts. Ch up 1, put 2 SC in each st around.
Fasten off, weave in ends. Cut wire and shape leaf.
(See video tutorial for visual instructions)
Center “Hooks”:
Make 2 in Metallic Gold
Ch 25
Sl st in 2nd ch from hook, SC in next, HDC in next, DC in next 2 chs, TR in next 2 chs, 2 DTR in each of the next 3 chs, TR in next 2 chs, DC in next 2 chs, HDC in next 10 chs. For one of the hooks, turn your work around and add the wire, SC around entire piece.
Fasten off, weave in ends, cut wire, shape your piece. For the other hook, do not turn your work around, just add the wire and SC around entire piece.
Fasten off, weave in ends, cut wire, shape your piece.
V-Shape:
Ch 31
Row 1: Add wire and work along chain and around the wire. HDC in 2nd ch from hook and in next 13 chs, HDC2TOG, HDC in 14 chs.
Fasten off, cut wire, shape piece in a V-Shape.
Jewel in the center:
Use Peacock Blue
Work in continuous rounds
Ch 2 Rnd 1: 6 SC in 2nd Ch from hook. (6) Rnd 2: 2 SC in each st around. (12) Rnd 3: [2SC in next st, SC in next] 6 times. (18) Rnd 4: [2SC in next st, SC in next 2 sts] 6 times. (24) Rnd 5: [2SC in next st, SC in next 3 sts] 6 times. (30) Rnd 6: [2SC in next st, SC in next 4 sts] 6 times. (36)
Add wire for your last round Rnd 7: [2SC in next st, SC in next 5 sts] 6 times. (42)
Fasten off, weave in ends. Cut wire and shape your piece.
Headband piece:
Make 6
Ch 300, fasten off.
Assembly step:
Braid the headband chains and tie knots on each end.
Sew all the pieces to the headband.
See video tutorial for visual guide.
Use photos as a visual guide.
Weave in the rest of your ends and make it look pretty!
Enjoy!!
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and buy from the linked websites, I will receive a small percentage of the value of your order. The amount you pay is not changed.
The yarn provided for this pattern is courtesy of Red Heart Yarns
This morning I pinned a bunch of scrap yarn to my headscarf and tried to untangle a bunch of yarn that got tossed in a pile. Wish me luck! This may take a while!
