Buds-a-Blooming Christmas Throw Pillow – Crochet Pattern Hack

See how I turned the Buds-a-Blooming Afghan Square (Free Crochet Pattern) into a throw pillow for Christmas!

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One of the things on my New Year’s Resolution list was to finish more projects, this includes some of the ones that have been sitting in my WIP bin. That was my original intention with this throw pillow, but…

This is my original Buds-a-Blooming Afghan Square (CROCHET PATTERN REVIEW HERE). I made this square in April of 2017, and it’s been sitting in my WIP bin since with the intention of making a throw pillow out of it. I can tell you that I made this square with yarn from my stash, and when I was recently thinking about investing the time to make the backing for a throw pillow, I just couldn’t justify spending the extra time to work on this since it didn’t match any of my home decor, PLUS it’s hard to post things like this off season because everyone is in the holiday mood, ya know?

So… the afghan square continues to sit in my WIP bin for now.

Materials:

• 350 Yards of Worsted Weight Yarn – I used Red Heart’s Super Saver Yarn in Paddy Green, Cherry Red and White: 160 Yards for the front panel, and 190 Yards for the back panel and edging
• I9/5.5mm Crochet Hook for Front Panel & Edging
• H8/5mm Crochet Hook for Back Panel
• Tapestry Needle for Weaving in Ends
• Optional, Sewing Pins for Assembly
• 14″ Pillow Form

Material Notes:

Yarn Alternatives: Caron’s One Pound, Bernat’s Super Value, Lion Brand’s Wool Ease, Crafters Secret (Hobby Lobby)

Time Spent:

This pillow took me about five and a half hours to complete.

Measurements:

Fits a 14″ Pillow

Gauge (with H8/5mm Hook):

14 HDC by 10 Rows = 4.13″ Wide by 4″ Tall

Abbreviations:

• HDC – Half Double Crochet

Tutorial:

Front Panel:

To begin, you will need to make a front panel following the Buds-a-Blooming 12″ Afghan Square, Free Crochet Pattern from CrochetN’Crafts. I modified Rounds 1, 2 and 11 – please see my CROCHET PATTERN REVIEW to see those modifications.

To make the square larger, I worked:

• Round 14 in double crochet (instead of triple/treble).
• Round 15 in single crochet.
• Round 16 – repeat Round 10
• Round 17 – repeat Round 11
• Round 18 – repeat Round 9
• Round 19 – 20 – repeat Round 10.

At the end of Round 20, I had 192 stitches, and my square measured 14.25″ wide.

Back Panel, Piece 1 – 7.13″ Tall:

Chain 50. HDC into the 3rd chain, and across. (49 HDC)

Rows 2 – 18: Chain 1, turn. HDC into the 1st HDC, and across.

Back Panel, Piece 2 – 11″ Tall:

Chain 50. HDC into the 3rd chain, and across. (49 HDC)

Rows 2 – 29: Chain 1, turn. HDC into the 1st HDC, and across.

Assembly:

Turn afghan square to the wrong side, and place the smaller back panel (#1) with the edge lining up with the bottom of the square.

Then, add the other back panel piece lining the edge up with the top edge of the square.

At this point, you may want to use sewing pins to hold everything in place.

Border:

With the right side of the front panel facing you, attach yarn in any stitch throw both layers, and chain 1. Working from this side will make it easier to work evenly as you’ll be able to follow the single crochet stitches around. Evenly single crochet through all given layers (mostly two layers, but will be three layers in the center where the two back panels overlap), and work a “single crochet, chain 1, single crochet” in each corner. Once back to the beginning, slip stitch join, and fasten off.

Weave in any remaining ends you have, and you’re ready to add in a 14″ pillow form.

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