Crochet Citrus Fruit Slice Cushion Pattern

 

Over christmas I was talking with my cousin about my crochet and he requested that I make him some cushions. After much deliberation he decided that what he really wanted was to turn his sofa into a ‘fruit bowl’ – yes seriously! He wanted 10 cushions and the only stipulation as to what fruit was that there must be amongst them a banana.

Whilst planning this fruity commission I needed to think about a few things such as a variety of shapes, colours and how to make the cushions easily identifiable as fruit. I ended up with this list of 10: Banana, pineapple, grape, watermelon slice, kiwi slice, apple, strawberry and slices of orange, lime and lemon.

Todays post is about the lemon, orange and lime cushions I will save the others for a later post.

Next step was to order wool! I wanted to make the cushion covers to feel soft and substantial so decided on aran/worsted weight wools from red heart, lion brand and stylecraft. The trickiest wool colour to find was the right yellows given that I was also making a banana so needed different distinct shades. There seems to be quite a lack of variety in affordable (read cheap!) yellows but eventually I settled on stylecraft special aran in lemon and Lion brand vannas choice in radiant yellow for the lemon, Lion brand vannas choice in lime and Kelly green for the lime and Lion Brand vannas choice in radiant orange for the orange. I used stylecraft special aran in white for all three to represent the ‘pith’.

I also ordered cushion inners in various shapes and sizes, for the slices I ended up using round 16inch inner pads (from amazon).

Whilst waiting for my materials to arrive I set about looking for inspiration/patterns to help with the completion of what was looking like quite a mammoth task. I don’t know if I was looking in the wrong places but crochet fruit cushions do not appear to be a ‘thing’. I found a few sewn ones, lots of amigurumi fruit but not so many cushions.

Materials

materials

You will need…

One 100g ball of the colour of your choice for the ‘skin’ of the fruit (mine was vannas choice radiant yellow – Colour A)

0ne 100g ball of the colour of your choice for the flesh of the fruit (mine was stylecraft special aran in lemon – Colour B)

One ball of white aran weight yarn

Crochet hook – I used a 5/H one

Darning needle

16inch inner cushion pad

Scissors

Sleeping dog optional!!

Abbreviations – us terms

dc = double crochet

sc = single crochet

ss = slip stitch

hdc = half double crochet

ch = chain

White Yarn instructions…

Because I did not want to have a lot of ends to sew in or to carry the white yarn around I ended up cutting pieces of white yarn into approx 3 metre lengths (5 in total) and the original ball to give me 6 balls to work with.

Changing yarns: (apologies for the awful pictures the light in here is terrible!)

This pattern relies on quite a few yarn changes my method for changing yarn is…

with colour a yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch, yarn over hook, pull through stitch, (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through first 2 stitches (2 loops on hook), using the new colour yarn, pull through remaining 2 stitches on hook(1 loop on hook)

You then continue the next stitch/s with the new colour

The Pattern.

Rd 1 – to begin using your original ball of white yarn make a magic circle and chain 2 (the chain two does not count as a stitch) then do 12 dc into the circle and ss into the top of the first dc and fasten off.

Rd 2 – join colour b in any stitch and chain 2, dc into the same stitch. Next you will dc again into the same stitch but this time you will also be joining another of the balls of white yarn.

(When making stitches with white yarn I always do my stitches over the yellow (or what ever colour you are using) so that is carries it along for the next time I need to pick it up.)

With white yarn dc into next stitch then dc again into the same stitch – on the second dc you will be changing back to your colour b – do not break the white yarn as you will be picking this up again on subsequent rounds

*With colour b dc into next stitch twice, on the second dc you will be joining another of your balls of white yarn.

With white dc twice into the next stitch, on the second dc you will be picking up and rejoining colour b*

repeat from * to * 4 more times – you should end up with 24 stitches in total. 6 sets of white and 6 sets of colour b and colour b on your hook ready for round 3.

And more tails than you know what to do with!!

Rd 3 – colour b – chain 2, dc in same stitch, 2 dc in next stitch, in the next stitch you will want to dc but change to white picking up the yarn from the first change in the previous round.

Using the white yarn dc into the next stitch twice, and change back to colour b

the white stitches are always increases.

*With colour b dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next, dc in next change to the next ball of white from previous round

with white 2 dc in next stitch changing back to colour b*

continue * to * around ss to join, you should have 36 stitches, 6 sets of white stitches

end of round 3

Round 4:

With colour b chain 2, dc into same stitch, dc in next stitch, two dc in next changing to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing back to colour b

*With colour b dc into next 2 stitches, two dc in next, dc in next two stitches changing to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing back to colour b*

repeat from * to * around ss to join – you should end up with 48 stitches and 6 sets of white stitches

end of rd 4

back of work at end of round 4

The back looks kinda messy so at this point I sew in the ends that I will not be working with – that way you end up with only the 6 tails of white that you are crocheting with and colour b.

after sewing in

Much tidier!

Rd 5:

With colour b chain 2, dc in same stitch, dc in next, dc in next, dc twice in next, dc in next 3 stitches and change to white yarn on the last dc,

with white yarn dc twice in same stitch and change back to colour b

*With colour b, dc in next 3 stitches, dc twice in next, dc in next 3 stitches and change to white yarn

with white yarn dc twice in same stitch change back to colour b*

repeat from * to * around ss to join you should have 60 stitches and 6 sets of white stitches

end of round 5

Rd 6:

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch dc in next 3 stitches, dc twice in next, dc in next 4 stitches and change to white yarn

with white, dc twice in next stitch

*With colour b, dc in next 4 stitches, dc twice in next, dc in next 4 stitches changing to white yarn

with white dc twice in next stitch changing to colour b*

repeat from * to * around and ss to join, you should have 72 stitches with 6 sets of white stitches

end of round 6

Rd 7:

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc into next 4 stitches then dc twice into next, dc in next 5 stitches changing to white yarn

with white, dc twice into next stitch, change to colour b,

*with colour b dc into next 5 stitches, dc twice into next, dc into next 5 stitches and change to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch change back to colour b*

repeat from * to * ss to join, you should have 84 stitches with 6 sets of white stitches

end of round 7 and someone is awake!!

Rd 8:

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc into next 5 stitches, dc twice in next, dc in next 6 stitches, changing to white yarn

with white, dc twice in next stitch changing to colour b

*with colour b, dc into next 6 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 6 stitches, changing to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch, changing to colour b*

repeat from * to * around ss to join, you should have 96 stitches with 6 sets of white stitches

end of round 8

Rd 9:

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc into next 6 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 7 stitches changing to white yarn

with white dc twice in next stitch, changing to colour b

*with colour b dc into next 7 stitches, dc twice in next, dc in next 7 stitches changing to white yarn

with white dc twice in next, changing to colour b*

repeat from * to * around and ss to join, you should have 108 stitches with 6 sets of white

end of round 9

.

Rd 10,

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc into next 7 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 8 change to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing to colour b

*with colour b dc into next 8 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 8 change to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing to colour b*

repeat from * to * around and ss to join, you should have 120 stitches with 6 sets of white

It would appear that I forgot to take a pick of round 10 so here is another of my dog!

Rd 11:

With colour b chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc into next 8 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 9 change to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing to colour b

*with colour b dc into next 9 stitches, dc twice in next, dc into next 9 change to white yarn

with white dc twice into next stitch changing to colour b*

repeat from * to * around and ss to join and break yarn snip ends to manageable lengths leaving enough to weave in and to free up your large ball of white yarn  , you should have 132 stitches with 6 sets of white

end of round 11

Thats the end of the fiddling around with colour changes!! woohoo!! Now to add the pith.

Rd 12.

Attach white yarn in same stitch as ss

chain 2 and dc in same space, dc in next 9 stitches, dc twice in next, *dc in next 10 stitches, dc twice in next*(these should line up with your sets of white stitch increases)

Repeat from * to * around ss to join – you should have 144 stitches

attaching white yarn

end of round 12

Rd 13

chain 2 and dc in same space, dc in next 10 stitches, dc twice in next, *dc in next 11 stitches, dc twice in next*

Repeat from * to * around ss to join – you should have 156 stitches

end of round 13

Rd 14 join colour a in any stitch

Chain 1 (does not count as stitch)

Hdc around and ss to close, break yarn and weave in ends

end of round 14

back of work

Now for the back or ‘skin’ side!

Rd 1

With colour a make a magic ring and chain 2, dc 12 times into ring and ss into top of first dc to close.

round 1 of back

Rd 2 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc twice in each stitch around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 3 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc twice in next, *dc in next, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 4 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 2 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 5 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 2,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 3 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 6 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 3,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 4 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 7 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 4,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 5 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 8 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 5,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 6 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 9 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 6,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 7 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 10 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 7,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 8 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 11 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 8,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 9 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 12 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 9,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 10 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 13 – chain 2 and dc into same stitch, dc in next 10,  dc twice in next, *dc in next 11 stitches, dc twice in next* repeat from * to * around, ss in top of first dc to close

Rd 14 – Chain 1 and hdc in same stitch, hdc around, ss to join, do not break yarn

end of row 14 of back

Now we just need to sc the two pieces together!

joining

line up the two pieces right sides facing out – chain 1 and sc in the same stitch through both pieces, sc in each stitch until you are about 3/4 of the way round, at this point you can if you prefer insert a zip – I was requested not to add a zip – insert your cushion inner between the two pieces and continue to sc around both pieces until closed, ss to join and weave in ends.

And you should have a zesty squishy soft cushion of lemon slice goodness!

finished!!

Change up the colours to have yourself a citrus party!

orange, lemon, lime

I hope you like the pattern and its not too badly written to follow! I shall make a post about the other fruity cushions I am making soon!

if you share this pattern anywhere or make items to sell please give credit to anonymouse or link back to the blog

anonymouse x