If one flower could bottle the whole feeling of late summer, it would be the sunflower — tall, golden and completely unapologetic about taking up space. A crochet sunflower gives you that same hit of sunshine in yarn form, and it never wilts, never needs watering and looks just as good in October as it does in July. I sew them onto bags, string them along mantels and keep a little vase of them on my desk all year round.
So here are twenty of my favourite sunflower makes for you, every one genuinely free: quick appliqués, three different granny squares, two bags, bouquet stems you can arrange in a vase, wreaths for the door, two sunny tops and a big squishy pillow. I have noted the sizes, the yarn and the honest little details for each one as we go. Pick your favourites, dig out the yellow yarn, and let's grow a whole garden.
1. The Beginner Appliqué That Goes on Everything
We are starting with the friendliest sunflower of the bunch. Melissa at Lovable Loops works her appliqué in joined rounds of worsted yarn with a 5 mm hook — a smooth brown centre first, then eight pointed petals worked around the edge — and the whole flower finishes at about four and a half inches across. It is a true beginner pattern: single crochet, doubles and trebles, nothing scarier than that, and she has filmed a step-by-step video to sit alongside the written instructions. This is the sunflower to sew onto hats, tote bags, blankets and cardigans, or to stitch onto a wrapped present instead of a bow. Make a stack of them in one evening and you will find uses for every single one.
Pattern: Sunflower Applique by Melissa at Lovable Loops — Get the free pattern
2. A Mini Bean Stitch Centre, Just Like Real Seeds
Crystal Marin at ChristaCoDesign had the cleverest idea for a sunflower centre: she works it in mini bean stitch, and those plump little stitches genuinely look like packed sunflower seeds. Her appliqué is also in worsted yarn with a 5 mm hook and finishes around four and a half inches wide, but instead of a handful of petals you get a full, frilly ring of thirty-two of them. The complete written pattern is free on her blog, with a video tutorial too; she also sells an ad-free PDF version if you prefer printing, but the blog version has everything you need. She suggests sewing one onto a baby blanket or a pair at the ends of a scarf — I would add a set in cotton as cheerful table décor.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Applique by Crystal Marin at ChristaCoDesign — Get the free pattern
3. Mustard Petals, Plus a Bonus Granny Square
Maria at Maria's Blue Crayon designed her sunflower as part of a fall-themed blanket, and it has that cosy autumn palette built in: a dark brown centre and petals in mustard yellow rather than bright lemon. It is a quick three-round make in worsted yarn with a 4 mm hook, giving you ten neat petals, and there is a video tutorial if you like to watch first. My favourite thing about this post is the generosity of it — scroll on and she gives you a bonus pattern for turning the same idea into an eight-inch granny square, so the one page sets you up for either appliqués or a whole blanket of squares. Two patterns, one visit.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Applique by Maria at Maria’s Blue Crayon — Get the free pattern
4. The Jumbo Sunflower With Stem and Leaves
Most appliqués are little; Colleen's is gloriously not. She works her sunflower with yarn held for bold, chunky stitches and two big hooks — a 6.5 mm for the chocolate centre and a whopping 9 mm for the petals — so the finished flower is a real statement piece, and the pattern includes a stem and two leaves, which means it arrives as a complete flower rather than a flat motif. She suggests sewing or hot-gluing it to a jute bag, and honestly it would look fabulous on a cushion cover or a wall hanging too. One honest note: she offers the pattern for personal use only, so make them for yourself and for gifts rather than for selling. Big, bold and refreshingly quick.
Pattern: Sunflower Applique by Colleen at Crochet by Colleen — Get the free pattern
5. Pointed Petals in Floss, Thread or Any Yarn
Amy Solovay's little appliqué is the most flexible pattern in this whole collection: she has worked it in yarn, in crochet thread and in embroidery floss, and it behaves beautifully in all of them. The petals are pointed with a gentle curve, which gives her sunflower a graceful, slightly wildflower feel, and she originally designed it for embellishing projects and mending holes in children's clothes — the sweetest reason to crochet anything. Her sample is worked in embroidery floss with a tiny 1.65 mm steel hook, but you simply pick a hook to suit whatever fibre you choose. The design is free; the Ravelry listing links you through to the full pattern on her website. One pattern, every size from brooch to cushion motif.
Pattern: Sunflower Applique by Amy Solovay — Get the free pattern
6. Puff-Stitch Seeds and Cluster Petals
Lisa Auch's sunflower granny square is a small masterclass in texture. The seed head is worked in brown puff stitches — sixteen of them by the second round — so the centre sits up plump and tactile, and then sixteen yellow four-double-crochet clusters form the petals before a plain round turns the circle into a square. She uses DK yarn with a 4.5 mm hook and talks you through both special stitches with photos, so even if puffs and clusters are new to you, you are well looked after. The complete pattern is free on her site. Join a pile of these into a blanket or cushion and the texture does all the talking — this is the square that made half the internet's sunflower cardigans possible.
Pattern: Sunflower Granny Square by Lisa Auch at LisaAuch Crochet — Get the free pattern
7. Bobble Petals Framed by Green Leaves
The GrannySquare.me sunflower takes yet another route: its petals are twelve fat bobbles worked with treble stitches, which gives the bloom a vintage, almost embroidered look, and a round of green forms leaves at the four corners before a cream round squares everything off. Sizing is usefully flexible — in DK yarn with a 3 mm hook the square blocks to about four inches, while DK with a 5 mm hook gives you a generous six-and-three-quarter inches for blankets and sweaters. The full step-by-step pattern is free on the page, with a video version too. I love the smaller size for the thirteen-square tote bags everyone is making this year. Pretty, practical and very blockable.
Pattern: Sunflower Granny Square by GrannySquare.me — Get the free pattern
8. Plump Puff Petals in a Diamond Frame
If you like your sunflowers dimensional, this is your square. The petals here are proper puff stitches — two full rounds of them — so the flower stands right up off the fabric, framed by sage green that forms a diamond and finished with a rich brown border in the sample. It is a smaller, denser square at roughly three and a third inches, which makes it perfect for projects where you want lots of motifs: bags, cardigans, cushion fronts. The complete pattern is free on the page with step-by-step photos and a video. The designers suggest a dusty pink petal version with a cream centre, and I have to say, a whole blanket of blush sunflowers sounds like a wonderful idea.
Pattern: Puff Sunflower Granny Square by GrannySquare.me — Get the free pattern
9. Popcorn Seeds and Pink Petals, If You Dare
The third square from GrannySquare.me is the playful one: the seed head is textured with a ring of bobbles and then a full round of sixteen five-double-crochet popcorns, so the centre is wonderfully nubby, and the petals and square are worked around it in five colours with a 3 mm hook. Their sample breaks the rules deliciously — pink petals around a golden ring on a soft blue square — which is your reminder that sunflowers do not have to be yellow. The complete pattern is free on the page, rounds one to six all written out with photos. Worked in classic colours it is pure summer-garden; in the pinks it is a statement square for a very fun blanket.
Pattern: Seed Sunflower Granny Square by GrannySquare.me — Get the free pattern
10. Thirteen Lacy Squares Become a Tote
Kristen Mangus at Good Knit Kisses turned her sunflower square into a proper carry-everything bag, and the square itself is a beauty — a big sunflower centre ringed with trailing vines and a scalloped edge, worked in mercerised cotton worsted with a 5 mm hook. You make thirteen squares of about five and three-quarter inches, seam them following her schematics, and finish with spiral handles; the bag body ends up a roomy sixteen inches square. The full written pattern is free on her page, with right- and left-handed videos for every stage, plus optional instructions for a fabric lining and pocket. She also sells a PDF version, but everything you need is on the page. Lined, it is a handbag; unlined, a beach bag.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Bag by Kristen Mangus at Good Knit Kisses — Get the free pattern
11. The Corner-to-Corner Sunflower Bag
Here is a completely different way to put a sunflower on a bag: corner-to-corner crochet. Melissa at Lovable Loops charts one giant sunflower as a C2C graph — white background, golden petals, café-au-lait centre — and the post gives you both the picture graph and the full written row-by-row colour counts, all forty-nine rows of them, free on the page. You pair the sunflower panel with a solid brown C2C back, join three sides, and add a simple strap; the finished bag is just over thirteen inches square in worsted cotton with a 4 mm hook. It is rated for advanced beginners, and if C2C is new to you she links her step-by-step tutorial. Pixel-art sunflowers, but make it crochet.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Bag by Melissa at Lovable Loops — Get the free pattern
12. Tiny Bouquet Stems for a Desk Vase
These little stemmed sunflowers are made for gathering into a bunch. The pattern, shared on Ngoc Lan Handmade and collected from maker Marybrowncraft, works in fine cotton yarn with a tiny 1.75 mm hook: a bobble-dotted brown head, seventeen individually crocheted petals sewn around it, and a crocheted green stem with a wire inside so the flower stands up properly in a vase. The complete pattern is free on the page. Because each flower is small and quick, a bouquet of five or seven is a realistic weekend project, and they never, ever wilt. I keep a jam jar of them by my computer. Honest note: this is a translated, collected pattern, so read each round through before you start.
Pattern: Sunflower by Marybrowncraft at Ngoc Lan Handmade — Get the free pattern
13. Poseable Sunflowers With Loop-Stitch Seeds
Jocelyn Windover at Red Mitten Designs makes the most realistic stemmed sunflower on this list. The seed head uses loop stitch, so the front genuinely looks like a field of tiny seeds; the petals come in two staggered layers, green leaves grow from the back, and the stem is crocheted over jute-wrapped wire so you can bend and pose each flower in the vase. Worked in DK yarn with a 4 mm hook, the flower head is about five inches across and the finished stem around nine inches tall. The complete pattern is free on her blog, photo-heavy in the best way. She was inspired by the sunflowers in Martha Kent's kitchen on Smallville, which might be my favourite pattern origin story ever.
Pattern: Sunflowers by Jocelyn Windover at Red Mitten Designs — Get the free pattern
14. A Mini Bouquet You Can Clip to Your Keys
Small-scale makers, this one is pure joy. Claire at Claireabellemakes patterns a tiny wrapped bouquet — a sunflower, a daisy and a tulip — worked in milk cotton with a 2.5 mm hook, and I will be upfront: the sunflower shares the bouquet with two friends rather than starring alone, but it is crocheted with real care, two centre discs joined as the petals are worked so the head is lightly stuffed and sturdy. The finished bouquet stands about five inches tall in its crocheted wrapping-paper cone, ready to clip onto keys or a bag. The full pattern for all three flowers, leaves, stems and wrap is free on the page. Make them in batches; everyone you know is about to ask for one.
Pattern: Mini Flower Bouquet Keychain by Claire at Claireabellemakes — Get the free pattern
15. Layered Petals on a Hoop Wreath
Crochet Cloudberry's wreath is the realistic one: each sunflower carries three layers of petals in different yellow tones — thirty small inner petals, fifteen picot-tipped outer petals and a third round behind — around a centre worked in cotton held together with a strand of ochre kid silk for that fuzzy, seedy texture. You make two flowers, add leaves, and tie everything to a plain hoop with the long yarn ends. The complete pattern is free on her page, written in US terms, and it was designed for a Summer Quickies crochet-along, so it is a quicker make than it looks. Hung on a door or above a mantel, it reads as a wreath from across the room and as pure crochet cleverness up close.
Pattern: Sunflower Wreath by Crochet Cloudberry — Get the free pattern
16. Crocodile-Stitch Petals for Wreaths and Décor
Dana at Darling Dana Designs could not find the sunflower she imagined, so she designed her own — with crocodile stitch petals, those overlapping scales that make petals look layered and lush. Her centre is built with little picot-style piqué stitches for texture, and the pattern includes leaves and a short stem, all in worsted yarn with 5 mm and 4.5 mm hooks. She made hers to pin onto her Rustic Charm Wreath with bobby pins, which is genius: the flowers swap on and off, so the wreath changes with the seasons. The complete pattern is free on her page. Use the same trick on a plain grapevine wreath, or pin a single flower to a tote bag and move it whenever you like.
Pattern: Sunshiny Sunflowers by Dana at Darling Dana Designs — Get the free pattern
17. A Whole Fall Wreath, Sunflowers Included
If you want the complete door-ready project rather than just the flowers, Agnes at Agnes Creates walks you through the whole thing: a crocheted cover worked in autumn-shaded yarn and stitched around a sixteen-inch foam wreath form, then her own stuffed sunflowers — two centres joined as the petals are crocheted, with a whisper of fibre fill inside — plus fluffy little mums to fill the gaps. The sunflowers use cotton yarn and a 3.5 mm hook, and every step is written out free on the page; a print-friendly version lives in her free resource library, which you join by email for the password. Hot-glue everything on, tie a hanging loop, and your front door is officially the best-dressed on the street.
Pattern: Easy Crochet Fall Wreath by Agnes at Agnes Creates — Get the free pattern
18. The Sunshine-Yellow Backless Crop Top
A wearable sunflower, with one honest caveat: Jenny at Jenny and Teddy named this top for the flower because of its glorious sunflower-yellow colour rather than a petal motif — the top itself is beautifully simple. Three rectangles do everything: a single-crochet front panel, and two back panels in her fancy lace stitch, leaving a peek-a-boo open back that ties at the waist with a wooden button to finish. It is written for sizes small to 3XL in aran-weight cotton — about 600 yards for the small — with a 4.25 mm hook, and the full pattern plus a step-by-step video are free on her page; an ad-free PDF is sold in her Etsy shop for those who want it. Beginner-friendly and festival-ready.
Pattern: Sunflower Crop Top by Jenny at Jenny and Teddy — Get the free pattern
19. A Crop Top Built From Lace Sunflowers
And here is the other kind of sunflower top — one where the flowers are literally the fabric. The Beautiful Crochet Stuff design joins whole lace sunflowers together with a clever chain-star technique: each flower has a filet-style centre in brown or green and a round of yellow shell petals, and you crochet sixteen of them for sizes S–M or twenty-two for L–XL, using fine cotton yarn and a 3 mm hook, then link them into a top with sunflower straps. The complete written pattern is free on the page, with a video tutorial and joining scheme; a PDF version is available in her shops if you want it printed. The result is airy, adjustable and unlike anything in the shops.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Lace Crop Top by Beautiful Crochet Stuff — Get the free pattern
20. A Big Bobble-Centre Sunflower Pillow
We are finishing with the cosiest sunflower of all. The Caffeinated Snail's pillow is a giant flower you can hug: the centre is worked in alternating single crochet and bobble stitches, so the seed head is deeply textured and, as she says, genuinely fun to run your hands over, and petal rounds grow it out to about eighteen inches across. You crochet two centres, add the petals, and join front to back around a squashy filling — worsted yarn keeps it simple, though she notes any weight works if you adjust the hook. The complete pattern is free on her blog. On a porch chair or a reading nook it is instant late-summer, and in chunky blanket yarn it would be bigger and squishier still.
Pattern: Crochet Sunflower Pillow by The Caffeinated Snail — Get the free pattern
Conclusion
And that is twenty sunflowers, my friend — appliqués for embellishing, squares for joining, bags for carrying, stems for arranging, wreaths for hanging and even two tops and a pillow for wearing and hugging, every single pattern free. If you are short on time, start with an appliqué or a mini bouquet; if you want a project to savour, the lacy thirteen-square tote or the layered hoop wreath will keep you happily busy. My best sunflower tip: make the centres in batches first, production-line style, and the petals will feel twice as fast.
Now tell me — are you team classic golden yellow, or are pink sunflowers calling your name, and which of these twenty is going on your hook first? I read every comment, and I cannot wait to see your makes!
