The Making of "Blumen"

I thought it might be interesting to talk about my design process for the “Blumen” bouquet. The brief that I was given by Norah Gaughan, the design director at Berroco, was simply, to design a bouquet for Mother's Day in a cotton yarn (Pure Pima). She directed me  to a Berroco centerpiece pattern, for inspiration. While waiting for the yarn to arrive, I began scouting photos of modern bouquets. I sketched a few ideas, and emailed them to her to get a feel for what she was looking for. Sketch #4 turned out to be the lucky one, a mix of lilies and wildflowers with a few buds. Next, I went to work designing each flower, leaf, and bud. I didn't have any “Pure Pima” on hand, so I found the closest thing in my stash and made several variations of each until I was happy with the results. I wrote the pattern as I worked, so when the yarn arrived, I would be ready to crochet the sample bouquet and edit the pattern at the same time. Then, I made a paper mock up of the design, which was so helpful in determining exactly how many flowers to make and how long to make each stem. The paper mock up was actually a fun project in itself , and it now cheerfully graces my studio. Finally, the yarn arrived and I was able to survey the color selection. I decided to use all but 2 of the colors. I only had one skein of each color, and was a little worried that I would run out of yarn, because there was no time to wait for another shipment.   I was careful not to waste an inch!  I crocheted every spare moment (while entertaining my 3 year old) for about 5 days. Thankfully, I had just enough yarn to complete the bouquet! I took a few photos before I assembled the flowers. I am posting them here, so you can see each flower in detail. I love Berroco's photos. It is always wonderful to see your work professionally photographed! I have received some lovely comments about the bouquet on Ravelry. One woman told me that she would like it to be her wedding bouquet one day. I think a crocheted bouquet is a lovely idea. After the wedding, the flowers could be put in a beautiful vase in the couple's home to remind them of their big day.