Free Pattern – Spiral Seashell Square

An on-line friend was having a baby. One of the members of our group asked us all to send an 8″ square, so she could put them together into a nice blanket for her. We were asked to use the blue and green colors that she was already using in other projects in the nursery. The colors made me think of the beach, and that is how the spiral seashell idea came about.

This is almost the same as the square that I made for that blanket, but I made a couple of changes when I wrote up the pattern. It starts with the Spiral Seashell Motif and has a little scalloped border. Although it was originally designed as a blanket square, It can also be doubled up and used as a trivet.

I’m currently working on a few other patterns that also use this motif as a starting point, so I should have more for you soon! As they become available, you will be able to find all my spiral seashell related patterns here.


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Spiral Seashell Square

4-medium

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Materials:

Difficulty:

Intermediate – Techniques include magic circle, working in the round, and some back stitching or straight stitching over the finished piece for the spiral detail.

Size:

8″ square

Gauge:

The seashell pattern works up as quickly as a separate gauge swatch would, so it’s easier to use the shell itself to measure gauge. Without the edging, the shell should measure approximately 4.25 inches (about 10.5 cm) at its widest point.

Abbreviations used:

  • ch = chain
  • sc = single crochet
  • hdc = half double crochet
  • dc = double crochet
  • st(s) = stitch(es)
  • sl st = slip stitch
  • sk = skip
  • RS = right side

Notes:

  • Use a stitch marker or scrap piece of yarn to mark the first stitch of each round (move marker for each new round).
  • Slip stitches are not included in any of the stitch counts that are noted at the end of rounds.
  • For a thicker hot pad / trivet, make two complete squares and join together with wrong sides facing. To join, you can either whipstitch the two pieces together around the last round of stitches, or you can work one round of sc through both thicknesses.

Recommended Resources:

Shell:

Work Spiral Seashell Motif pattern up to row 5 – edging will be done later.

Background:

With RS facing, join blue with sl st in top of last st on Rnd 4 of shell (see Fig 1).

Fig 1 blue

Row 1 (RS): Working around outside edge of shell and in back loops only, (2 dc in next st, dc in next st) 4 times, (2 hdc in next st, hdc in next st) 3 times, 2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 sts, sl st in next st (this should be the same stitch that the sl st from rnd 5 of the shell was worked into) (25 sts)

Row 2: Turn, working in both loops, sl st in next st, (2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 sts) four times, (2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts) twice, 2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 sts, sl st in top of first st on rnd 5 of shell. (32 sts)

Rnd 3: Turn, ch1, (2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 sts) 7 times, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next sl st (this should be the beginning sl st from Row 2), 2 dc in next sl st (this should be the ending slip stitch from row 1), continuing around shell and working in back loops only, dc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts, (2 sc in next st, sc in next 3 sts) 5 times, 2 sc in last st, join with sl st to first sc, fasten off. (72 sts)

Rnd 4: Turn, ch 3 (counts as first dc), working in both loops, dc in next 2 sts,*[hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next 7 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next 3 sts, (2 tr, ch 1, 2 tr) in next st], dc in next 3 sts, repeat from * twice more, then repeat between [ ] once more, join with sl st to top of ch 3. (84 sts, 4 ch sps)

With right side facing, join green with sl st in in any ch 1 sp.

Rnd 5: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), (dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in same sp, *[(sc in next st, sk next st, 3 dc in next st, sk next st) 5 times, sc in next st], (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in next corner sp, repeat from * twice more, then repeat between [ ] once more. join with sl st in top of first st, fasten off. (100 sts, 4 ch sps)

With wrong side facing, join blue with sc in in any ch 1 sp.

Rnd 6: (Sc, ch 1, 2 sc) in same sp, *[sc in next st, (ch 3, sk next 3 sts, sc in next st) 6 times], (2 sc, ch 1, 2 sc) in corner sp, repeat from * twice more, then repeat between [ ] once more, join with sl st in top of first st. (40 sts, 28 ch sps)

Rnd 7: Turn, ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, *[3 dc in corner sp, dc in next 3 sts, (3 dc in next sp, dc in next st) 6 times], dc in next 2 sts, repeat from * twice more, then repeat between [ ] once more, dc in next st, join with sl st in top of first st, fasten off. (112 sts)

Finishing:

Work sewn edging (option 2) from Spiral Seashell Motif pattern. Sew in all loose ends.


I hope you enjoy the pattern! An ad-free, downloadable pdf of this pattern is also available in my Craftsy store for a $2 fee. The pdf includes the Spiral Seashell bag, square, and motif patterns. The fee for the pdf format is to offset the advertising revenue lost when you print or download the pattern rather than viewing it online.

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