Poppies Shaping Up

This is what a big bunch of poppies look like!
How many do you think there are?



 This post shows how to get from this:

… to this:

The secret is blocking.  It's like setting hair with rollers. 
(Wet the hair, pin it in place and then either allow to dry naturally or apply heat.) 

The simplest and safest way to block an item is to dampen the item, pin to shape and let it dry on its own. To dampen, either wash and squeeze out excess moisture or use a trigger spray bottle to apply a fine mist.  

Another way is to use a steam iron to apply heat which is what I am doing today.

Poppies on the ironing board.

The type of fibre and project will determine your best method. 

Just like ironing fabric, if you apply too much heat in the wrong way to a yarn fibre, it is going to melt, scorch or burn. Yarn labels indicate the  temperature tolerance for their fibres and dyes. 

Most synthetics will melt under high heat and will be labelled "do not iron". 

Natural fibres like cotton and wool can cope with higher temperatures while blocking. "But wait!" You may protest, "If I put a wool jumper in a hot wash it would shrink!" 

Well, yes, but that is exactly how blocking works. The fibres themselves twist and tighten–sometimes you can see the individual fibres moving before your very eyes– thus setting their final positions. The items you have made won't shrink if they are securely pinned to hold their shape. 

These poppies are made of 100% wool and easy to fit under the iron so I am going to use steam to set the stitches.

BEFORE BLOCKING
"Hope Bloom" poppy resting on the ironing board.

Flowers are not always perfectly symmetrical in nature therefore I am not too worried about precision as I pin the petals of this "Hope Bloom" into shape. By using only my eyes for judgment, if it isn't absolutely perfect, it might simulate the randomness that occurs naturally in real flowers.

PIN TO SHAPE
The petals have been opened and secured to the ironing board
with glass-headed, rust-proof pins in the following order:
1. Green pins open the outer petals and define the perimeter shape.
2. Yellow pins open the inner petals and close gaps between petal sections.
3. White pins uncurl the inside edges of the petals.

For a balanced shape, I find it helpful to pin the petals in  opposite pairs at a time; e.g. if the first petal to be pinned is on the top right, the next to pin will be the petal directly opposite on the bottom left, and so on.

Remember to use pins that are heat-proof and rust-proof. Watch out for those plastic-headed 'berry pins' and 'pearl' coloured pins. Keep them well away from your blocking pins unless you want melted plastic on your creations or on your iron. 

Fortunately, I haven't had to learn that lesson the hard way but I nearly got caught one day when I needed extra pins and reached for my sewing pincushion–
I forgot that half of them were plastic-headed pins until I found one in my hand as I was pinning it. I came to my senses just in time–the difference in size and colour alerted me and I realised that it was also plastic!  Phew! That was a close call! From now on, my sewing pins are kept well away from my crochet pins.

I use glass-headed stainless steel pins because I like the different colours to mark out sections but there are also T-shaped rust-proof pins that can be used for blocking. I imagine they would be perfect for blocking because their T-shaped heads would prevent them from getting hidden in the fabric. I have never used the T-pins before because they have never been available in my neighbourhood.  I would love to get your opinion of them if you have used them.

In the case of this "Hope Bloom" poppy, I have not pulled the petals tightly or pinned them flat because I want to retain the three dimensional curves of the flower and keep some body in the yarn.  The pins uncurl the petals just enough to reveal the centre of the flower and the petals' shapes.

STEAM BLOCKING
Hold the iron as close as possible to the item without actually touching it. 
Use the "continuous steam" function if the iron has one,
otherwise repeated "shots of steam" will also work.

AFTER BLOCKING
Allow to cool.
Wait until the item has completely cooled before removing pins.

For the Oriental Poppy, I positioned the six separate petals very precisely using a blocking board.  This poppy has two layers of petals - three in front and three in the back. They are offset from each other so I want to make sure that the back petals are evenly spaced between the front ones.

BEFORE BLOCKING
"Oriental Poppy"
The petals have curled inwards onto themselves.

My blocking board is a very cheap solution - a cardboard pattern cutting board which cost me about $14 ten years ago. $1.40 per year is good value to my mind!  The other benefit of the cardboard is that I can draw my own templates and guidelines on it using waterproof pens to suit my kinds of projects.

The board already had a circle divided into quarters marked on it.  My pen lines now use one colour to divide that circle further into 8ths and another colour to divide the circle into 6ths and 12ths.  I used my compass to draw concentric circles at regular spacings and now I have a very useful blocking board for anything worked in the round like doilies and granny squares.

"Oriental Poppy" pinned to the blocking board.
Marked guidelines aid precision.
1. Blue pin to secure and press centre into concave shape.
2. Green pins for first three petals.
3. Yellow pins for last three petals.

I still used the steam iron to block this poppy, taking care to protect the underlying surface from the heat.  This poppy's petals also have a natural curl so I did not pin it too flat or steam it for too long – too much and it will become limp and lifeless.

Sometimes the flowers need re-adjustment during the blocking process. Do it while the flower is still warm and steamy but be careful when handling to avoid getting burnt!

AFTER BLOCKING
"Oriental Poppy"
Again, allow to cool completely before removing pins.

Voila!

This beautiful bunch of 45 blooms are all ready to go to a special project which will be revealed later in the year.

These particular poppies are a selection of four different patterns:

Oriental Poppy 
by Lesley Stanfield

 


Poppy Choker 
by Anne Rousseau

Remembrance Poppy 
by Teena Sutton Murphy

 

Hope Blooms 
by Jenny King

More pattern ideas are in the Lupey Loops list of Poppy Patterns, published on 20 April 2015. Check the comments there too for extra links.

Pattern Details

Hope Blooms Poppy by Jenny King, Interweave Crochet magazine, Volume viii, No. 2, Summer 2014, Interweave Press LLC, <www.interweave.com>, 201 E. 4th St, Loveland, CO 80537, USA, 2011, digital edition* (former link):
http://www.interweavestore.com/interweave-crochet-summer-2014-grouped?_iwcspid=149891
Hope Blooms online pattern information, Crochet Me  web site* (former link):
http://www.crochetme.com/media/p/149891.aspx
Hope Blooms Tutorial by Lindsay Jarvis: 

• Interweave updated web site, 24 April 2020:
  https://www.interweave.com/article/crochet/hope-blooms-tutorial/
  
• Crochet Me, blog entry, 6 June 2014 (former link):  http://www.crochetme.com/blogs/inside_interweave_crochet/archive/2014/06/05/hope-blooms-tutorial.aspx

* Many patterns from Crochet Me have been moved to the Interweave web site.
 
Oriental Poppy by Lesley Stanfield, 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet: A collection of beautiful blooms for embellishing clothes, accessories, cushions and throws, second reprint, ISBN 978-1-84448-403-4, Search Press, Quarto Publishing, The Old Brewery, 6 Blundell Street, London N7 9BH, UK 2012.

Poppy Choker (free) by Anne Rousseau, Kiwi Little Things, blog, 2012:
http://www.kiwi-little-things.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Kiwi-Little-Things-UK-Poppy-chocker.pdf

Remembrance Poppy (free) by Teena Sutton Murphy, Flushed with Rosy Colour, 2015:
http://www.flushedwithrosycolour.com/2015/01/rememberance-poppy-free-pattern.html