WAVODE
Seasonalcrochet lily bouquet pattern

Crochet Lily Bouquet

Clara Hartwell, Wavode pattern designer
By Clara Hartwell
15 min read
A finished handmade crochet lily bouquet lying flat on cream linen — six long-petal lilies in dusty purple and blush pink cotton yarn with tiny yellow stamens, sage green leaves, wrapped in cream kraft paper tied with a lavender satin ribbon. Three balls of cotton DK yarn, a 3.0 mm wooden crochet hook and small brass embroidery scissors sit beside the bouquet in soft window light.

I have a tiny weakness for lilies. Real ones live four days on my kitchen counter and then I mourn them. So this bouquet was my compromise — six long-petal lilies in two colors, sage leaves, one cream paper wrap, and a lavender satin ribbon. It has been sitting on my dresser since I finished it and it still looks the same as day one.

The whole arrangement uses one 3.0 mm hook and cotton DK in four colors. Nothing here is technically hard; the challenge is patience across thirty petals. If you already know how to work in a magic ring, single crochet, half double, double, and treble crochet, you have everything you need.

If you'd rather print the ad-free version with every step photo on one page and a printable stem-count checklist, the printable PDF is $7 on my Etsy shop (link at the bottom).

Why crochet a lily bouquet: lilies are the flower of Mother's Day, weddings, and get-well cards — and they're the first flower everyone recognizes. A handmade lily arrangement carries all of that meaning and none of the four-day countdown. Give it once and it's on her shelf for years.

Key takeaways

  • Finished bouquet: 6 lilies + 4 leaf sprigs, about 14 in / 35 cm tall, wrapped in cream paper with a lavender ribbon.
  • Yarn: one 50 g ball each of dusty purple, blush pink, sage green, and yellow cotton DK (~380 yd / 348 m total).
  • Hook: 3.0 mm for a tight cotton fabric that holds each petal's curl.
  • Time: 8–12 hours total, easily split across a Saturday and Sunday.
  • Skills required: magic ring, single crochet, half double, double, treble crochet, working around a foundation chain.
  • You do not need floral wire — I use pipe cleaners for every stem.

What you'll need

Yarn (cotton DK / CYC 3 — cotton keeps each petal's almond curl, acrylic droops)

  • Dusty purple / lavender, ~140 yd (128 m) — for 3 purple lilies.
  • Blush pink, ~140 yd (128 m) — for 3 pink lilies.
  • Sage green, ~80 yd (73 m) — for all leaves and every stem wrap.
  • Bright yellow, ~20 yd (18 m) — for the stamens.

I used Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK — Dusty Purple, Rose Pink, Spearmint Green, and Daffodil Yellow. Ricorumi, Scheepjes Catona (held double), or DMC Natura all work.

Hook

  • 3.0 mm crochet hook (US size C/D). Go down half a size if your stitches feel loose.

Stems

  • 10 white pipe cleaners, 30 cm long — 6 for lilies, 4 for leaf sprigs. (Cheaper and safer than floral wire; they bend without kinking.)
  • Optional: 6 wooden skewers, 20 cm, for extra stiffness inside the lily stems.

Other

  • Tapestry needle.
  • A very small pinch of polyfill for the lily throats only.
  • Sharp scissors.
  • 1 sheet of cream kraft or crepe paper, roughly 20 × 25 in / 50 × 60 cm — for the wrap.
  • 1 m of lavender satin ribbon, about 1 in / 2.5 cm wide.
  • Optional: a small round sticker (2 cm) for a signature label on the wrap.

Palette swap: the same pattern in ivory + burgundy reads like a wedding bouquet. In white + soft peach + sage it becomes a christening or new-baby gift. In deep aubergine + gold it's an autumn centerpiece. The construction never changes — only the yarn colors.

Abbreviations (US crochet terms)

Abbr Meaning
st(s) stitch(es)
ch chain
sl st slip stitch
sc single crochet
hdc half double crochet
dc double crochet
tr treble crochet
inc 2 sc in the same stitch
BLO back loop only
MR magic ring
( ) x N repeat everything in the brackets N times
[number] stitch count at the end of the round

UK crochet terms note: US sc = UK dc; US hdc = UK htr; US dc = UK tr; US tr = UK dtr. If you crochet in UK terms, shift every stitch abbreviation one step up.

Bouquet composition — what you're going to make

Six lilies total, in the colors that look most balanced in the photo above:

  • 3 dusty purple lilies (the darker, richer color — placed on one side and at the front)
  • 3 blush pink lilies (the softer color — placed on the other side and one at the top)
  • 4 sage leaf sprigs (two long, two short — filling the back and cascading below)

Make all six lilies first, then all leaves, then assemble. That's the order I'll walk you through.

The lily petal (make 30 total — 15 purple, 15 pink)

This is the whole game. Each lily takes 5 petals, and the petals are the same shape in both colors. Batch them.

Thirty finished crochet lily petals laid in two neat rows on cream linen — fifteen dusty purple petals on top and fifteen blush pink petals below. Each petal is a long almond shape about 2.5 inches long with a soft curled tip. A woman's hand holds one blush pink petal up at the edge of frame, next to two small balls of cotton DK yarn, a 3.0 mm wooden crochet hook and brass embroidery scissors.

Thirty petals batched — the whole petal count for the bouquet in one photo. Each is a long almond about 2.5 in / 6.5 cm from base to tip, with a soft curl at the top from the treble stitches. Batch them across two evenings while you watch a series and the rest of the bouquet flies by.

With dusty purple yarn (or blush pink — same steps), for each petal:

  • ch 14.
  • Row 1 (going up one side of the chain): sl st in the 2nd ch from the hook, sc in the next, hdc in the next 2, dc in the next 3, tr in the next 3, hdc in the next 2, sl st in the last ch. Do not turn.
  • Row 2 (going down the other side of the same chain): sl st, hdc x 2, tr x 3, dc x 3, hdc x 2, sc, sl st. Join with a sl st to the starting point to close the petal outline.

Fasten off, leaving a 6-in / 15-cm tail. The petal should be a long almond shape, about 2.5 in / 6.5 cm long with a soft point at each end.

Get the natural lily curl: before you sew anything, pinch each petal along its length and gently roll the tip backwards between your fingers. Cotton holds the memory of that curl for weeks. If yours resist, mist them lightly with water, curl them, and let them dry flat on a towel — they will remember the shape after that.

Assembling one lily (repeat 6 times — 3 purple, 3 pink)

A woman's hands assembling one dusty purple crochet lily on cream linen — five long almond petals fanned open and gathered at the base with a threaded tapestry needle. Six tiny folded yellow yarn stamens sit next to the lily ready to be stitched into the center, one slightly longer than the others. A ball of dusty purple cotton DK yarn, a 3.0 mm wooden crochet hook, brass embroidery scissors and one white pipe cleaner sit beside the work.

Five petals fanned open and gathered at the base with the tapestry needle — this is the exact moment the flat petals become a lily. The six yellow yarn stamens on the right go in next, splaying up from the throat. One is deliberately longer than the others — that's the pistil, the one botanical detail that turns a "crochet flower" into a lily specifically.

You need 5 matching petals, a length of matching yarn, a tapestry needle, and a pipe cleaner.

  1. Line up all 5 petals in a fan, base ends together, tips outward, overlapping slightly at their bases.
  2. Thread a 12-in strand of matching yarn onto your tapestry needle. Sew through the base of all 5 petals in one line, then pull to gather them into a small circle — the petals will fan out around a tight center.
  3. Stamens (6 per lily): cut 6 short strands of yellow yarn, about 3 in / 8 cm each. Fold each in half. Tie a tiny knot near the folded end (that becomes the anther). Stitch all 6 folded stamens into the very center of the lily so the yellow knots sit just above the petals, splaying outward like real lily stamens.
  4. Push a tiny pinch of polyfill up into the throat of the lily from the underside to give it a rounded, cup-like shape (this is why lilies read as three-dimensional and not flat).
  5. Slide the pipe cleaner up into the underside of the lily and stitch it firmly to the base of the petals with the gathering yarn's remaining tail.

Real lilies have exactly six stamens (five anthers plus one longer pistil). If you want a botanically-accurate look, make one of the six stamens longer than the other five — cut its yellow strand at 4 in / 10 cm instead of 3 in / 8 cm.

Stem wrap

A woman's hands wrapping sage green cotton yarn in a tight barber-pole spiral around a white pipe cleaner. A finished blush pink crochet lily with six yellow stamens sits at the top of the stem. The wrap is partly finished — sage green covers the upper half, the white of the pipe cleaner still shows at the bottom. A ball of sage green cotton DK yarn, a 3.0 mm wooden crochet hook and brass embroidery scissors sit on the cream linen surface.

The barber-pole wrap in progress — one hand spins the pipe cleaner, the other feeds sage yarn diagonally down. Once you find the rhythm, a full 30 cm stem takes about a minute. If a gap opens, back up half a turn and re-wrap.

With sage green yarn, holding the pipe cleaner vertically:

  • Anchor a long sage strand at the base of the lily with a stitch through the underside of the petals.
  • Spin the pipe cleaner between your fingers while feeding the yarn diagonally down — the yarn spirals around the stem in a tight barber-pole wrap.
  • At the bottom of the stem, secure with 2–3 small stitches through the wrap and trim.

Fastest stem-wrap method: you can wrap a full 30 cm stem in about a minute once you find the rhythm. Keep tension by pinching the top of the stem with your non-dominant hand's thumb and index while your other hand feeds the yarn. If a gap opens, backtrack half a turn and re-wrap.

Leaves (make 4 sprigs, 2–3 leaves per sprig)

The long pointed leaves that fan behind and beside the lilies. Each sprig is a pipe cleaner wrapped in sage, with 2 or 3 leaves stitched along its length.

One leaf

With sage green yarn, for each leaf:

  • ch 14.
  • Row 1: sl st in the 2nd ch from the hook, sc, hdc, dc, dc, dc, hdc, sc, sl st, then a sl st at the tip. Do not turn.
  • Working down the other side of the chain: sl st, sc, hdc, dc, dc, dc, hdc, sc, sl st into the starting point to close the leaf outline.

Fasten off with a long tail. Give the leaf a gentle lengthwise fold down its center to create a natural crease.

One leaf sprig

Prep: wrap a pipe cleaner (or half a pipe cleaner for the short sprigs) in sage green yarn.

  • Long sprigs (make 2): stitch 3 leaves along the top two-thirds of the wrapped stem, spaced 4 cm apart, alternating which side of the stem each leaf sits on.
  • Short sprigs (make 2): stitch 2 leaves along a half-length stem, spaced 3 cm apart, one on each side.

Secure each leaf with a whip stitch through the leaf base and around the stem wrap, so no yarn shows from the front.

Prefer the printable ad-free PDF?

12 pages, big photos of every petal and every step, a printable stem-count checklist, US and UK terms side-by-side, and 4 alternate palettes (white wedding, autumn aubergine, soft peach, deep burgundy).

Get the ad-free PDF on my Etsy shop — $7

Assembling the bouquet

The finished crochet lily bouquet held upright by a woman's hand against a soft cream wall in warm natural window light. Six long-petal crochet lilies — three dusty purple and three blush pink — with tiny yellow stamens, layered so the pink lilies sit taller than the purple ones. Sage green crochet leaves fan behind and beside the flowers. The bouquet is wrapped in cream kraft paper with a wide lavender satin ribbon tied in a bow with long trailing ends.

The finished bouquet, held upright — the shape you're aiming for once all ten stems come together. Notice the pink lilies sit slightly taller than the purple, and the whole bunch is turned about 15° off-center. That imperfect angle is what makes it read as hand-tied rather than mass-produced.

The moment ten stems become one arrangement.

  1. Sort by height. The 3 pink lilies stay taller (28 cm from petal base to stem end). The 3 purple lilies sit slightly lower (25 cm) — this is what gives a real bouquet its layered look. The long leaf sprigs are the tallest (32 cm), at the back. The short leaf sprigs cascade downward, so they're actually placed pointing down at the front and sides.
  2. Start with one purple lily in your non-dominant hand, held at what will become the bouquet's binding point (about 10 cm below the flower head).
  3. Add the two long leaf sprigs behind it, angled slightly outward like a fan.
  4. Add the other two purple lilies to the same side, one slightly higher, one slightly lower — this is the darker side of the bouquet.
  5. Add the three pink lilies on the opposite side, one at the top of the arrangement, two nestled in.
  6. Add the two short leaf sprigs at the front sides, pointing down and outward so the leaves cascade below the flowers.
  7. Bend all pipe cleaners at your binding point so every stem hangs straight down together in a tidy column.
  8. Wrap the binding point tightly with sage yarn or floral tape for 3 cm — this is what holds the whole arrangement.
  9. Cut all stems to the same length (about 12 cm below the binding).
  10. Wrap the bouquet in the cream kraft paper — fold the sheet into a soft cone that flares out behind the flowers. Let one side sit taller than the other for that hand-tied florist look.
  11. Tie the lavender satin ribbon in a bow at the binding point, with long trailing ends.

Turn the finished bouquet slightly on its side when you display it — real hand-tied bouquets are never perfectly symmetrical. That imperfection is what makes it read as handmade rather than mass-produced.

Skill-level scaling

  • First lily bouquet? Halve everything. Make 3 lilies (2 purple, 1 pink) and 2 short leaf sprigs. A small mason-jar arrangement takes about 4 hours total and still looks beautiful.
  • Comfortable already? Add 2 more lilies in a third color (white for a purple-pink-white palette) and 2 more long leaf sprigs. Nine stems reads as a proper anniversary gift.
  • Wedding-scale bouquet? Double the counts (12 lilies) and skip the paper wrap — just bind with a wider ribbon that trails to knee-length. The construction stays identical.

FAQ

How long does one bouquet actually take? My tested time is 8–12 hours total. Roughly: each petal is 8–10 minutes, so 30 petals is about 4–5 hours. Assembling each lily (5 petals, stamens, stem wrap) is 25–30 minutes, so 6 lilies is about 3 hours. Leaves and sprigs together are about 90 minutes. Final bouquet assembly is 20–30 minutes. Batch the petals across two evenings and the project feels much lighter than the total hours suggest.

Do I need floral wire? No — I use white pipe cleaners for every stem. They're cheaper, they bend without kinking, they don't have sharp cut ends, and they're safer if the bouquet is a gift for anyone with kids around. If you want extra rigidity on the tallest lily stems, slip a wooden skewer inside the pipe cleaner before wrapping.

Can I use acrylic yarn instead of cotton? You can, but the petals won't hold their almond curl — acrylic is soft and lily petals tend to droop into a flat shape. If acrylic is what you have, block each petal by spraying it lightly with starch spray after finishing and letting it dry curled around a pencil.

Why does one of my lilies look flat? Probably the throat wasn't stuffed. That tiny pinch of polyfill inside the base is what pushes the petals outward into a cup shape. Add it after the fact by pulling the base open slightly, pushing a small pinch in with a knitting needle, and re-stitching the underside closed.

Can I sell finished bouquets at markets? Yes — you may sell physical bouquets made from this pattern. Please credit "Pattern by Wavode" on your listing and link back to this page. Reselling or redistributing the pattern text itself (free or paid) is not permitted.

Can I wash the finished bouquet? Dust it with a soft brush or a hair dryer on cool. Do not submerge — the wrap paper and pipe cleaners won't survive water. Every 6 months I give mine a gentle vacuum with a stocking over the nozzle to keep the fibers clean.

What if I only want to make one lily? A single lily on a stem in a bud vase is a gift on its own. It takes about 40 minutes start to finish and is the fastest handmade gift I know that doesn't feel small.

Keep making

Made this lily bouquet? Tag #wavodecrochet on Pinterest — I re-pin every finished make on my board and credit the maker.

Pattern by Clara Hartwell for Wavode.