Sunflower Granny Square Crochet Pattern (Free)

Why You’ll Love This Sunflower Granny Square

• A real flower in the middle. Puff stitches give the center the bumpy look of sunflower seeds, and twelve pointed petals stand out from the cream around them.
• It squares up cleanly. The cream rounds turn the round flower into a flat square with sharp corners, so it joins to other squares without stretching.
• Ten rounds, four colors. Each color is one short section, so you change yarn only three times.
• One square, many projects. Four of them make a cushion front, a long row makes a table runner, and a pile of them becomes a summer blanket.

Materials You’ll Need

• Worsted weight (4) cotton yarn in four colors: chocolate brown (about 10 yd / 9 m), golden yellow (about 15 yd / 14 m), cream (about 20 yd / 18 m) and sage green (about 20 yd / 18 m). These amounts are for one square.
• 4.5 mm (US 7) crochet hook. The hook size chart converts it if your hook uses letters.
• Yarn needle for weaving in the ends, scissors and one locking stitch marker.

Cotton keeps the petals flat and the puff stitches round and defined. Acrylic works the same way and is softer for a blanket; the square may come out a little larger. Not sure if your yarn is worsted? Check it in the yarn weight guide.

Gauge, Size and Skill Level

• Skill level: Easy. You need chains, single and double crochet; the puff stitch and the treble are explained below.
• Finished size: about 6½ in (16.5 cm) square.
• Gauge: Rounds 1 to 5, the finished flower, measure about 4 in (10 cm) across from petal tip to petal tip. If yours is bigger, try a 4 mm hook; if it is smaller or the petals curl, try a 5 mm hook.

Gauge matters only if you join many squares: they all have to be the same size to line up, so make every square with the same hook and yarn.

Abbreviations and Special Stitches

The pattern is written in US terms. Crocheters who learned UK terms can use the US/UK stitch converter or the pattern terms list.

• Magic ring (mr). Wrap the yarn twice around two fingers, insert the hook under the strands, pull up a loop and chain 1. Work the first round into the ring, then pull the tail to close the hole.
• Puff stitch (puff). Yarn over, insert the hook in the stitch or space and pull up a loop to the height of a double crochet. Do this three times in the same place (7 loops on the hook), then yarn over and pull through all 7 loops. The ch 1 that follows each puff in the rounds below closes it and makes the space for the next round.
• Treble crochet (tr). Yarn over twice, insert the hook and pull up a loop (4 loops on the hook), then (yarn over and pull through 2 loops) three times.
• Standing single crochet. To start a new color without a slip stitch: make a slip knot on the hook, insert the hook where the pattern says, pull up a loop and finish a single crochet as usual.

Pattern Notes

• Every round is joined with a slip stitch and starts again with chains. Keep the right side facing you the whole time; do not turn.
• Beginning ch 3 counts as a double crochet and beginning ch 4 counts as a treble. The ch 1 at the start of Rounds 2 and 10 does not count as a stitch.
• The number in parentheses at the end of each round tells you how many stitches and spaces it has. Count them before you join.
• Fasten off at the end of each color and weave the ends in behind stitches of the same color.

How to Crochet a Sunflower Granny Square

The square is worked from the middle out in four stages: the brown puff-stitch center, the yellow petals, the cream rounds that make the corners and the green border.

The center (Rounds 1 to 3) is a small disc of 16 puffs around a ring of 8. Pull the magic ring tight before the first puff round, otherwise a hole stays open in the middle of the flower.

The petals sit on a round of 48 yellow single crochets. Each petal is a group of seven stitches worked into one stitch, with a 2-chain tip, and a slip stitch between two petals pulls the base in. That gives 12 petals evenly spaced.

Before you start the cream, lay the flower flat and gently pull each petal into a point. It makes the next round much easier to place.

The cream rounds do the squaring. Round 6 links the 12 petal tips with chain loops. In Round 7, every third tip becomes a corner made of trebles, and the loops between the corners get clusters of 3 double crochets. Round 8 is a normal granny round.

The green border is one more granny round and one round of single crochet, which firms the edge and gives you a neat line of stitches for joining.

Finishing and Blocking

Weave in all the ends, each one behind stitches of its own color, so nothing shows through the cream. Then block the square: pin it to a foam mat or an ironing board at 6½ in (16.5 cm) on each side, with the corners square, mist it with water and leave it to dry. Blocking flattens the petals and makes every crochet sunflower granny square in a set the same size.

Joining the squares

Place two squares right sides together and whipstitch through the back loops of the green single crochets, one stitch to one stitch, from corner space to corner space. With 29 stitches on each side between the corners, the seams line up exactly. For a raised seam on the front, join with slip stitches on the right side instead.

Tips for Success

• Keep the puffs even. Pull up every loop to the same height, about the height of a double crochet, and the center will be round instead of lumpy.
• Find the corners first. Before Round 7, put a marker in every third petal tip. You will always know where the next corner goes.
• Count the clusters. Every side has 3 clusters between the corners in Round 7, 4 in Round 8 and 5 in Round 9. If a side has one more or one less, a space was missed.
• Change colors at the join. Finish the last stitch of a round, fasten off, and start the new color with a standing stitch in the place the pattern gives.

Variations and Color Ideas

• A blanket. Seven squares by nine make a throw of about 45 × 58 in (115 × 148 cm). Alternate the sunflower with plain cream granny squares to save time.
• A cushion. Four squares joined two by two cover a 13 in (33 cm) pillow front; back it with fabric or a large plain granny square.
• Other flowers. Keep the brown center and swap the yellow for white to make a daisy-like flower granny square, or for orange and rust for an autumn version.
• A different border. Cream instead of sage green gives a softer, vintage look; navy makes the yellow stand out.

For a single motif without the square, stop after Round 5: the crochet sunflower makes a nice appliqué for a bag or a hat. If you enjoy flat pieces like this one, the tulip border placemat uses the same kind of joined rounds.

Care Instructions

Cotton squares can be machine washed on a gentle cycle in a laundry bag, in cool water, then laid flat to dry. Reshape the corners while the piece is damp. Do not tumble dry a finished blanket: the heat can shrink cotton unevenly between squares.