Summer Crochet Bolster Cushion

One of my favourite things to crochet are cushions and I love making oversized square, bolster and big round cushions, in fact cushions in any unusual shape or size! Oversized and unusual shaped cushions look so distinctive and if you make them give you the opportunity to show off your skills, your colour and yarn choices to best effect. You can find the pattern for one of my oversized cushions here.

But making large and unusually sized crochet cushions can create challenges for finding cushion pads. Round and bolster pads are now readily available online and square cushions come in a variety of sizes, but anything else can be a bit of a challenge. If stuck I’ve used and adapted pillows and children’s duvets, even though I’m not a fan of sewing. This month I’m making a bolster cushion for the garden chair in my small courtyard garden which is a bit uncomfortable!

I wanted some subtle colours as a change for the multi coloured throw I made in the winter. I picked Rowan Creative linen yarn, in teal, which I found for sale in Norfolk yarns last autumn. I also chose a DMC Wooly merino yarn, in a limey yellow, which I found in a garden centre! I also added some Debbie Bliss cotton, creamy beige, which I bought in the remnant basket at Little Lamb Yarns in Hovingham North Yorkshire.

I decided to use double crochet (single crochet U.S.) for the cushion as it creates a nice dense texture which suits the yarn I am using. To add interest I made some of the panels horizontally and vertically. This is a technique I used in my ripple stitch bolster cushion and I really like the effect it this creates.

I am a bit addicted to popcorn stitch flowers. They are a bit fiddly but I find them very relaxing to make. While I was making a row of them for the joins in the cushions I laid some of them out in front of me. I noticed that grouped together they made a lovely big flower so I’m also using this somewhere in the design.

The design isn’t finished! I have a bit of a reputation of designing as I go along rather than designing on paper which I should do! More on the design next month and the pattern will be available in May.

 See more of my patterns here.....