Free Patterns
Published on May 6, 2025

Free Crochet Motif Pattern: Color Story Motif (US and UK Terms)

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1426 words // 8min read time

Hello, gorgeous crafter! Today I want to share with you my latest crochet pattern. I wanted to create a simple and fun pattern that could tie together any color palette. This piece would be great for a stash buster, or with a planned layout. You’ll love this one!

Color Story Motif is a modern crochet block inspired by my time reading through The Secret Lives of Color, by Kassia St. Clair. I did a book report – read it here! Her book gives historical accounts on the way that the colors are discovered or invented, and background historical information on them. This motif is meant to represent little collections of familiar themes throughout the book.

Whether you’re playing with muted tones, or contrasting brights, the Color Story Motif will make your color palette look amazing. US terms are in this post, and for UK Terms, just remember 1sc = 1dc.

PDF Format

The PDF version of this pattern is available on Ravelry, and both US and UK Terms are included in the PDF.

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Inspiration – The Secret Lives of Color

The Secret Lives of Color gives rich history behind many colors in several color groups. You can check out my full book report on this volume by Kassia St Clair here at the blog post. St Clair’s book is cut into sections by color group, and then each group has about 7 or 8 colors in it with their historical backgrounds. She draws from science, history, culture, and socioeconomic topics for each color.

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I chose some colors for each block that shared a similar theme. There are 6 colors per motif, but I have chosen 5 for each theme, and then picked a random color to add in.

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Theme: Scientific Discovery – A bold palette born of chance, chemistry, and curiosity.

  • Prussian Blue (early synthetic pigment, accident)
  • Scheele’s Green (arsenic-laced, toxic pigment)
  • Chrome Yellow (bright yellow, industrial and risky)
  • Baker-Miller Pink (color psychology experiment pink)
  • Cobalt Blue (stable, durable blue in porcelain and art)

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Theme: Romantic & Tragic – A tender palette of love, memory, and longing.

  • Cochineal (deep crimson made from insects)
  • Rose Madder (plant-based pinkish-red, historical pigment)
  • Mauve (first synthetic purple dye, Victorian era)
  • Dragon’s Blood (apothecaries, manuscripts, and exotic luxury items)
  • Opera Pink (bright synthetic pink, modern but included in the book)

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Theme: Power & Prestige – A stately palette of wealth, ambition, and legacy.

  • Imperial Yellow (reserved color of Chinese emperors)
  • Ultramarine (made from lapis lazuli, rare and expensive)
  • Venetian Red (pigment with aristocratic ties)
  • Tyrian Purple (ancient purple from sea snails)
  • Verdigris (green pigment from oxidized copper)

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Theme: Nature’s Secrets – An elemental palette of creation, decay, and wonder.

  • Sepia (from cuttlefish ink, deep brown)
  • Ochre (earth-based pigment, earliest color used by humans)
  • Indigo (plant-based deep blue dye)
  • Vermilion (cinnabar red, mercury-based)
  • Lead White (early, toxic white pigment)

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Yarn

Scheepjes “Catona”, Scheepjes “Stone Washed”, and Scheepjes “River Washed” (affiliate links) – Remnants and leftovers from my stash.

Pattern By Rachele Carmona of CypressTextiles.net

Project Details

  • Skill Level Beginner
  • Measurements Approximately 7in before blocking (Gauge is not necessary for this project)
  • Materials Size 4mm Crochet Hook
  • Social Media Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Etsy, Ravelry: CypressTextiles
  • Hashtags #ColorStoryMotif #CypressTextiles

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Stitch Descriptions (US Terms)

Note: For UK Terms, remember that 1sc = 1dc

  • ch chain
  • beg beginning
  • beg dc (1sc, ch 1) – counts as 1 dc
  • dc double crochet
  • lp(s) loop(s)
  • rep repeat
  • RS/WS right side/wrong side of work
  • sc single crochet
  • sk skip
  • sp space
  • ss slip stitch
  • st(s) stitch(es)
  • yoh yarn over hook

Schematic / Direction of Work

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Examples

Here are some color examples – you can play with pastels and darker colors in this way. There is a non-colored in sample further down in this post if you’d like to save it to color in!

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Instructions (US Terms)

Note: For UK Terms, remember that 1sc = 1dc

Note: RS of work is indicated in the pattern for construction purposes, but the final motif is completely reversible. Turn after every row throughout the entire pattern.

Section 1

Row 1 (RS) With first color, MR, 1sc, ch1, 1sc.
Row 2 Ch1, (1sc, ch1, 1sc) in ch-sp.
Row 3 (1sc, ch1, 1sc) in first ch-sp, ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp.
Row 4 [Ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp] across until final ch-sp is reached, (1sc, ch1, 1sc) in final ch-sp.
Row 5 (1sc, ch1, 1sc) in first ch-sp, [ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp] across to end. [4 sc, 3 sp]
Rows 6-13 Rep Rows 4 and 5 4 times, cut yarn after Row 13. [8 sc, 7 sp]


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Row 14 With next color, ss in first st, work as for Row 4.
Rows 15-25 Rep Rows 5 and 4 5 times, and Row 5 once more, cut yarn after Row 25. [14 sc, 13 sp]

Row 26 With next color, ss in first st, [ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp] across to end. [13 sc, 13 sp]
Row 27 [1sc in next ch-sp, ch1] across until final ch-sp is reached, 1sc in final ch-sp.
Row 28 [ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp] across to end.
Rows 29-37 Rep Rows 27 and 28 4 times, and Row 27 once more, cut yarn after Row 37. [8 sc, 7 sp]

Row 38 With next color, ss in first st, work as for Row 26.

Rows 39-49 Rep Rows 27 and 28 5 times, and Row 27 once more.

Row 50 Ch1, 1sc in ch-sp.

Row 51 1sc in ch-sp, cut yarn and weave all ends.

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Section 2

Note: Section 2 is worked back and forth across long side of Section 1.

Row 1 With next color, ss in final st of Section 1, 1sc in same st, [ch1, 1sc in side of next sc 2 rows below] 25 times, ch1, 1sc in starting ring of Section 1.

Rows 2-12 1sc in first ch-sp, [ch1, 1sc in next ch-sp] across to end, cut yarn after Row 12.            

Row 13 With next color, ss in first ch-sp, work as for Row 2.

Rows 14-26 Rep Row 2.

Row 27 1sc in ch-sp, cut yarn and weave all ends.

Finishing

Block motif if desired.

Recommended Joining Methods

For these motifs, I would use whip st join, slip st join on the wrong side through back lps only, zipper join, or some other such flat, narrow join.

These color block motifs will be best displayed close together, rather than with a wide joining method between them.

Creating a Layout

You can see that when the solid points touch, a square/diamond forms. For this reason I would make all of those triangles either a light color or a dark color. You can play with the placement to your liking!

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When the striped corners touch, they make this neat configuration. In the layout examples, you can see how the motifs look when they are multiplied through the blanket.

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Here you can see that I have made the small triangles from Section 2 as either a light color with the darker stripe, on the left, or a darker color with a lighter color stripe, as on the right.

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Coloring in Your Own

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The PDF version of this pattern is available on Ravelry, and both US and UK Terms are included in the PDF.

Thank you for reading through my latest crochet pattern! Enjoy!

Happy Crafting,

Rachele C.

Buy my pattern book – I wrote a super neat crochet blanket pattern book, published under Penguin Random House. You can buy it here!

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