Continuing on our Whimsy journey with this strawberry patch cushion cover. This time we are combining Tunisian crochet fabric with quilting cotton.
Inspiration
Last week I shared with y’all the tunisian crochet strawberry motif and while I loved crocheting those extra large coasters, I thought the square would work beautifully as a picnic blanket.
As gorgeous as these picnic dreams were, y’all know my history with blanket making… It’s normally a long drawn out death for the blanket. Yes, I know I’m missing out in all those cozy makes/ moments. Given my lack of commitment to blanket making, it’s surprising that I’ve managed to finish 3 in recent years.
Anyhow, I had no desire to venture down a blanket road. What else can we make by joining squares together? It may surprise you that my answer was not in fact a garment. It was a cushion cover! I mean, they can be little blanket testers, can’t they?
Yarn and Materials for the Strawberry Patch Cushion Cover
Since I had more than enough Dishie yarn left over from crocheting 2 large coasters, this was a winner for the strawberry patch cushion cover. Not only did I have enough of all the colors but the 100% cotton makeup makes the cushion machine washable. Dishes’ stitch definition means it’s also a favorite of mine for when I want to combine crochet with quilting cotton.
Incidentally, that is exactly what we are doing for this cushion cover. In addition to our yarn, we are also going to need some fabric to make an envelope back for our cushion. We’ve done this previously on my youtube channel and honestly, I think it’s so much fun. Not only do I get to use my yarn stash but also my fabric stash.
How easy is the strawberry patch cushion cover
Because we are incorporating the use of a tunisian colorwork square, I would say this project is intermediate but also fairly simple in a way. In order to crochet up this beauty all you absolutely need to know is how to work the Tunisian Simple stitch and traditional single crochet. Yes, even for the colorwork all you need to really know is simple stitch.
I would also suggest looking up the Join AS you go method for Tunisian Crochet. Seriously, it’s a game changer.
Onto how I crocheted the Strawberry Patch Cushion Cover
What I used to make the cushion cover
- 100g of Dishie in your chosen colors
- Snow
- Fiesta red
- Honeydew
- 5mm crochet hook for the foundation sc cast on
- 5.5mm tunisian hook for the squares and the border
- Quilting cotton that is at least 28” in length and 16” in height
- This piece should be larger than your crochet to not only allow for seam allowance but also the overlap for the envelope back.
- I folded over ½” twice for the hem.
- Yarn needle to weave in ends
- Sewing needle and thread to sew the fabric backing.
Final measurements pre color border
19.25” length and 12” in height
To achieve this measurement I worked 3 strips of 2 squares each.
First 2 squares (vertical strip)
As mentioned, the base of the project is the Strawberry square, I cast on the same 23 sts that I mentioned in the pattern, but only worked 19 rows in Tss, 2 sts before completing the return pass row I switched colors to my next one and worked 19 rows of Tss before closing the row.
Second Vertical Strip
For the second strip I attached red yarn to the bottom rightmost stitch of the strawberry square and completed 23 foundation single crochet,
Forward pass row and after picking up my last loop from the foundation row, Insert your hook into the back loop and the very back bump of the row above, pull up a loop, start your return pass row YO and pulling through 2 loops. This is the join as you go method.
Once my three color strips were complete, I attached my white yarn to the top right most st and worked sc around. That is *67 for the long edge, 3sc in the last st of the row, 38 for the short edge, 3sc in the next st; rep from * once more, 2sc in the same space as the first sc, sl st to the first st to close the round.
After completing the front of the strawberry patch cushion cover I ironed the crochet to settle the stitches. Then I moved on to sewing the envelope back.
For the back
To create an envelope type closure for a cushion we not only need to take into account our seam allowance for our 4 sides, but also how much of an overlap we need so that the back doesn’t gape open. I recommend at least a 5″ overlap for the back pieces.
This is the video where I learned how to sew an envelope back. I still feel that her explanation is the clearest. Yes, I’m dating myself with that video date hahaha.
Attaching the crochet to our fabric.
In order to attach the sewn fabric to our crochet fabric I layed my pieces wrong sides facing and whip stitched them together using the very back bump of the sc. This left the top two loops free so that I could add two more rounds to the border.
Would you have gone for a fancier border? I did briefly consider some fancier borders like the strawberry stitch or a V stitch but I just didn’t like how they looked.
Now, I just need to find an insert close to this size or sew one myself… Where do you get your pillow inserts?
