A cream lace oval with a scalloped picot edge, with a brown branch spreading across it and cherry blossom in three shades of pink scattered along every twig.
The branch is what makes this piece. It goes on first, before a single flower, and everything else is placed in relation to it. If you sew the blossoms on first and try to run branches between them afterwards, the result looks like flowers with sticks added, which is the opposite of how a real tree reads.
What you’ll need
Size 5 crochet cotton in cream for the ground, dark brown for the branch, and three pinks, a deep rose, a mid pink and a very pale pink, plus a little sage green and a dark red for the flower centres.
A 2.5 mm hook for the ground and a 2 mm for the blossoms, which keeps the flowers dense so they sit up against the lace.
You’ll also want a blocking mat or a folded towel, rustproof pins, and a tapestry needle.
Finished size is about 85 cm long and 32 cm wide.
Abbreviations are US terms. ch is chain, sl st is slip stitch, sc is single crochet, hdc is half double crochet, dc is double crochet, tr is treble crochet, MR is magic ring, sp is space.
Part 1. The lace ground
Worked as a long oval with pointed ends.
In cream with the 2.5 mm hook, ch 90.
Round 1. Dc in the fourth ch from the hook and in each ch across, then work 5 dc into the last chain to turn the end, continue along the other side of the chain, and 5 dc into the starting chain. Join.
Round 2. Ch 5, skip two stitches, dc into the next, then ch 2 and skip two, dc into the next, repeated all the way around, working two extra spaces into each end so it stays flat. Join.
Rounds 3 to 8. Continue in the same ch 2 mesh, adding two extra spaces at each end on every round so the oval grows evenly.
Keep counting the end increases. A mesh oval that is not increasing enough at the ends will cup, and one that is increasing too much will ruffle. Lay it flat every couple of rounds and check.
Rounds 9 and 10. Change to a finer mesh by working ch 1 between the dc instead of ch 2, still increasing at the ends. This tighter band near the outside gives the border something firm to sit on.
Part 2. The border
Round 1. Sc evenly all the way around, working 3 sc into each of the two points.
Round 2. Ch 5, skip two, dc into the next, ch 2, repeated around.
Round 3. Into each ch 2 space work 5 dc, sc into the next dc, repeated around.
Round 4. Into the centre stitch of each shell work sc, ch 3, sl st into the third ch from the hook, sc. Fasten off.
Part 3. The branch
This is one continuous armature made of cords, not separate pieces.
For the main trunk, ch 110 in dark brown, then work sl st back along the entire chain to firm it into a cord.
For the branches, make six cords of varying lengths between 20 and 50 chains, each worked the same way.
For the twigs, make about twelve short cords of 8 to 14 chains.
Do not join them yet. They get assembled directly on the blocked ground so you can shape the curves as you go.
Part 4. Blossoms
Make about forty in total, split between the three pinks and a few in cream. Use the 2 mm hook.
Open blossom. In your chosen pink, 5 sc in MR. Then into each stitch work sl st, ch 2, 3 dc in the same stitch, ch 2, sl st in the same stitch, for five rounded petals. Fasten off.
Add three or four straight stitches in dark red radiating from the centre, then a French knot in the middle. Those red lines are the detail that makes it read as cherry blossom rather than as a generic five petal flower, so do not skip them.
Bud. In the deepest pink, 4 sc in MR, inc four times (8), sc around, dec four times, close with a pinch of stuffing. Make about ten.
Leaves. In sage, ch 8, then along the chain sl st, sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, then 3 sc into the last chain and back along the other side in reverse. Make about ten, which is deliberately few. Cherry blossom flowers before the leaves come out, and a runner covered in green stops looking like blossom.
Part 5. Blocking the ground
Block the lace ground and let it dry completely before you attach anything.
Pin the oval to shape, open every mesh square, square the two points, and pin each picot on the border individually.
Blocking first is not optional here. Once the branch is sewn down you cannot stretch the ground underneath it, and any pucker becomes permanent.
Part 6. Laying out the branch
Lay the main trunk across the blocked ground in a long shallow curve, entering at one end and leaving at the other, off centre rather than straight down the middle.
Then add the branches, coming off the trunk at narrow angles and curving in the same general direction. Real branches leave the trunk at a sharp angle and then bend outwards. Branches at right angles look like a diagram.
Then the twigs, off the branches, getting finer towards the edges.
Pin everything. Step back and look at it from a few feet away before sewing anything. This is the stage that decides the piece.
Sew the trunk down first with small brown stitches every centimetre, following the curve. Then the branches, then the twigs.
Part 7. Placing the blossoms
Now the flowers, and there is one rule. Blossom grows along twigs, not floating in space.
Every blossom should touch a branch or a twig. Cluster three or four at the ends of twigs where a real tree would flower most heavily, thin them out along the middle of branches, and leave the trunk almost bare.
Put the palest pinks towards the outer edges and the deepest towards the centre, which gives the impression of depth.
Tuck the buds in among the open flowers, more of them at the twig tips.
Add the few leaves last, singly rather than in groups.
Sew each blossom through its centre only, leaving the petals free to lift. That lift is the whole reason for appliquéing.
Notes and variations
A white blossom version with grey branches reads as winter rather than spring.
An autumn version with the same branch and small red and gold leaves instead of flowers works from the same layout.
Make a single branch section with six blossoms as a matching set of placemats.
Questions I get asked
Why does my branch look wrong? Almost always the angles. Branches should leave the trunk at a narrow angle and curve outwards, never at ninety degrees.
Why does my mesh oval cup or ruffle? The end increases are off. Two extra spaces per round at each end is the starting point and you may need to adjust by one either way for your tension.
Can I sew the blossoms on first? You can, but the branch will end up running between flowers rather than the flowers sitting on the branch, and the difference is immediately visible.
Can I use acrylic? Not for this one. The ground has to block flat and hold an open mesh.
How long does it take? About twenty two hours. The ground is nine, the blossoms are eight, and the layout and sewing are the rest.