Crocheted Paper Chain Heart Wreath

As my first project on the blog in my new crocheting adventures, here is my Crocheted “Paper Chain” Heart Wreath.

It’s made by linking a bunch of rings made by crocheting on the round. I won’t go through the specifics of crocheting on the round, maybe because I am not sure if I did it totally right technically (I need to check with my mom!). But I mainly followed this YouTube video by A Crafty House on how to make a crocheted coffee sleeve (thanks for your suggestions on beginning crochet tutorials on The Silly Pearl Facebook Page!) and made some changes to it. Instead of doing half double crochet as she did in the video, I just did single crochet (but you could totally do half double crochet or a prettier pattern if you like). And, there are lots of tutorials out there on how to make a crocheted or knit paper chain (which I will link to below), but this is basically what I did:

I used Red Heart acrylic yarn, worsted weight, with an US ‘I’ (5.5mm) hook. I started with a chain of 20 stitches.

I joined the ends…

…and crocheted on the round with five rows of single crochet. Again, see the YouTube tutorial I linked to above for more details on how to do this.

Weave in the ends, and you have your first link.

Then to make the next chain link, I made another chain of 20…

…and I inserted the chain into the first link, making sure the working yarn is outside of the ring.

Join the ends and continue crocheting five rows of single crochet as before, but you’ll have the previous chain dangling from it.

And continue on with your single crochet.

To make the heart, I made two chains of 10 links.

Here’s basically how they will fit together to form the heart. The top ends overlap, and the bottom ends sit next to each other.

To help the heart keep its shape, I made a cardboard wreath form. First I figured out the size by using some embroidery hoops as a template.

I traced the embroidery hoops onto cardboard…

…and after cutting out the wreath form, I wrapped it with twine. The twine will later serve as a place to anchor the heart.

Now to form the heart. Join the two lengths of chain at the center top and bottom with a tapestry needle and more of the same yarn. At the top, insert one chain into another so they kind of form a right angle and insert the needle through the whole thickness, stitching them together. It doesn’t have to be too neat since the yarn is the same color.

Lay out the chain links to form the heart, making sure the chain links are facing the same way on each side i.e. every other one is laying on its side and laying open side up. Then to join the chains to form the bottom point of the heart, pinch them together so they are laying side by side, and stitch together.

Then lay the heart on top of the wreath form, and stitch it to the twine, picking up 2-3 “stitches” of twine. As you go, pick up the wreath and see where the heart is sagging or uneven and stitch it to the wreath form there.

All done! Love my cozy wreath and I got a lot of crochet practice too.

There are a few other tutorials on Ravelry on how to make paper chains. You might need to log in to access them. And again, to see how to crochet on the round, see this YouTube video. And a great place to start learning how to crochet is Crochet School by Crafty Minx.

Here are my past Valentine’s Day ideas if you need more (just click on the pictures below).

And I will have a guest post on The Frugal Girls coming soon for one more Valentine’s Day project. Here’s a sneak peek. Update: Click here to see my Vintage-Inspired Wire Heart Mobile on The Frugal Girls!

Linking: Serenity Now ::Carolyn’s Homework :: Mad in Crafts :: Fine Craft Guild ::The Trendy Treehouse :: A Glimpse Inside :: The Frugal Girls ::Tidy Mom::Tatertots and Jello :: Homemaker on a Dime :: The CSI Project