I finally made myself go ahead and finish the cushion cover I started last month. This could have been a very quick project, but I took my time putting the two halves together, so it ended up dragging out about a month. I'm highly skilled in the art of procrastination. ;o)
I used 16 of the Summer Garden Granny Squares for the front panel; for the back, I just made one large traditional granny square, adding rows until it was as big as the front panel. I edged each panel in a round of sc in the same color, then connected the two panels around the pillow insert with a round of single crochet (again, in the same color).
For a simple border, I used a modified* version of border #83 from Edie Eckman’s Around the Corner: Crochet Borders. (My first time making the bead stitch. I like it! I creates a slightly nubby texture… kind of like the bumps on the Circle of Friends square, but smaller.)
*The modifications: First, I used hdc instead of dc for the final round, because I didn’t want the border to be too deep and “floppy”. The second alteration was a mistake, but it worked out fine, anyway. Instead of crocheting the hdc on the corners together, I completed each one separately. This doesn’t give you a sharp corner, but it looks fine-- particularly if you don’t have the sharp-cornered border for comparison. (I didn’t notice until I’d done a fair bit of the edging, and I’d already discovered that I don’t enjoy the process of crocheting an edging on a stuffed pillow.)
A few of the colors (brown, maroon, and burgundy) in the photos look more similar than they do in the actual cushion, incidentally...
So there it is-- my first (completed) crocheted cushion! I'm already thinking about making a smaller pillow cover in a different pattern (but similar colors). I've always wanted to try the catherine wheel stitch... First, though, I ought to make a pillow so I can finish that first novelty yarn cushion cover I started so long ago...
I used 16 of the Summer Garden Granny Squares for the front panel; for the back, I just made one large traditional granny square, adding rows until it was as big as the front panel. I edged each panel in a round of sc in the same color, then connected the two panels around the pillow insert with a round of single crochet (again, in the same color).
For a simple border, I used a modified* version of border #83 from Edie Eckman’s Around the Corner: Crochet Borders. (My first time making the bead stitch. I like it! I creates a slightly nubby texture… kind of like the bumps on the Circle of Friends square, but smaller.)
*The modifications: First, I used hdc instead of dc for the final round, because I didn’t want the border to be too deep and “floppy”. The second alteration was a mistake, but it worked out fine, anyway. Instead of crocheting the hdc on the corners together, I completed each one separately. This doesn’t give you a sharp corner, but it looks fine-- particularly if you don’t have the sharp-cornered border for comparison. (I didn’t notice until I’d done a fair bit of the edging, and I’d already discovered that I don’t enjoy the process of crocheting an edging on a stuffed pillow.)
A few of the colors (brown, maroon, and burgundy) in the photos look more similar than they do in the actual cushion, incidentally...
So there it is-- my first (completed) crocheted cushion! I'm already thinking about making a smaller pillow cover in a different pattern (but similar colors). I've always wanted to try the catherine wheel stitch... First, though, I ought to make a pillow so I can finish that first novelty yarn cushion cover I started so long ago...