Seat of the Problem


Look at those crochet beauties, don't they look a glorious sight?

They came about because I had a problem.  

Quite some time ago, I managed to get hold of some lovely Laura Ashley seat cushions.  They were in the sales too, so that was a bonus.  The only trouble is, they attach to my dining room chairs by some little strings which you tie around the chairs, no doubt you know the sort.  Now that is fine if you are very careful when sitting down and on said cushions.  If you are prepared to be a group of perfectly still and pristinely sat diners.   Not so good for bum wigglers, seat shufflers and 'kneeler uppers'.  Guess which group my family belongs to?


Exactly so, which is why my cushions are no longer on their respective chairs and the corners where strings used to be look like this.

Not exactly ideal.  Not what I wish to see in the 'Pretty Crafty Home' that I'm still trying so hard to create.  So I needed a plan to rectify the situation!

My plan (although my sister says she played a large part in the origins of this one), was to crochet new covers for the cushions and hope some fabulous idea for tackling the 'ties' problem would come to me as I went along.




I'm been having  thoughts of circles in squares for a while now, so I started making spotty dotty squares at once, using the rest of the Patons Smoothie DK that I used for my Riot scarf.  I definitely hadn't had enough of those pretty colours and it was such lovely yarn to knit with I hoped it would be just a lovely to crochet with too.  

I kept them nice and simple, just 16 squares stitched together with a granny square for the back.  It took me ages to get this project done though, for some reason I kept procrastinating and diverting my attention to other, quicker and more instantly satisfying things.  Finally, I forced myself to knuckle down and plough on with them and I'm so glad I did, because I love the results.



'And what was your fabulous and inspirational idea to solve the tie problem?'
'Yeah, well.... (shuffle feet)... umm....'

The answer is, nothing came to me.  Nothing at all.

In the end I decided just to go with the same simple ties as the original cushions had used.  I'm hoping, very hard indeed, that the fact they are crocheted into the actual cushion and the fact that the crochet will naturally be a bit more flexible, will be enough to make them last longer and stay in place.  Hoping really hard.  We'll see, I'll keep you posted.



Oh, and one more thing.

The circle in squares pattern is my own little creation.  (Although I'm sure there must be a hundred variations on this theme available out there.)
Still, I'll be posting a tutorial for these particular ones of mine very soon, in case you fancied making some.

Rosie Posie Square

New - Now updated with a video tutorial!

S x


Comments

  1. I love these and look forward to the tutorial.

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  2. Hi Sandra , these are gorgeous. I love your sunburst variation and look forward to your tutorial.
    Jacquie x

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  3. You are so clever and the cushions are gorgeous! Such a brilliant idea.

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  4. Beautiful cushions with gorgeous colours.
    irene
    xxxx

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  5. Your replacement seat pads look wonderful. Hope they last a bit longer with your bum wrigglers ;)

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  6. They are beautiful! Such lovely lovely colours.
    Claire

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  7. Your dining is going to look lovely. You always match lovely colors:) Yes I can't wait for a tutorial on these . I could use a cover for my couch pillows they need some colors.

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  8. I'm running out of superlatives for you dear Sandra, I just love, Love, LOVE everything you put your creative hands to, and those seat pad covers are no exception! x

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  9. Wow!!! Beautifull. Very nice!
    Greetings ,Corine

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  10. I put non slip mat (from the dollar store) between the cushion and the chair, no strigs needed!
    http://laurasners.blogspot.com.ar/2010/05/tus-cojines-se-deslizan-do-your.html
    hugs!

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  11. Good heavens - I think I've got the same chairs and definitely the same problem x Well done for persisting with the covers - they look fab x Jane

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  12. We are happy we found your blog! We really love it and are happy to be able to follow you. Regards from Holland,

    Ciska & Nathaly http://lavendelenpapaver.blogspot.nl

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  13. I LOVE your seat cushions!! They're beautiful!!

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  14. I LOVE your seat cushions! They're beautiful!!

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  15. Love these beautiful crocheted cushions! The background minty colour is just lovely. Looking forward to the tutorial as I am still a bit of a crochet donkey - once I'm in the rhythm of it I'm fine but there is lots of room for improvement! Yours is just so perfect - gorgeous x

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  16. I am such a fan of granny squares...Can´t wait to try your version! Such a cute solution for the seating problem

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  17. My daughter had lately taken up crochet and I'm sure she'll be wrapped to see a tutorial on these, and the haxagonal ones I saw on your site too. Might have to get her busy for our place, could do with some new cushion covers.

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  18. This is great,nice idea and very ,very cute.Love it.The pattern looks beautiful.

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  19. You did a great job!!! They are so beautiful!!!!! Brava Sandra!!!!
    xxxx Ale

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  20. that was going to be my suggestion and then I found your comment!

    Gorgeous as always Sandra! I just LOVE the colors - so 'Springy'!

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  21. Absolutely gorgeous! I love the colours you've used :-)

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  22. So very pretty! I can't wait for your tutorial - love that little square.

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  23. Beautiful! Great solution. I'm sure they'll be much more durable.

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  24. Your cushions are gorgeous! As for the bum-shuffling, I have found that it helps to put a little bit of those non-slip mats under the cushion. The ones you can put under your rugs or pots and pans. The cushion stops slipping and there's less strain on the ties.

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  25. Great solution.

    So very pretty.
    ¡Felicidades!

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  26. These cushions are wonderful! I love the colour combo.. Liefs Else X

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  27. These are gorgeous! Well done you!!!! Just a quick hint - I had the same problem with my fabric dining chair cushions so I made a material tube (you could crochet one) and pushed normal elastic through it then ruched up the tube which goes under the chair from one side of the seat to the other. You could also do one going from front to back. This has given the cushions more stability and they move around alot less. Hope all this makes sense..... xxx

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  28. NO NO NO gr too many beautiful things I NEVER do squares well until tuesday when I found some I couldn't resist now you have made the second set of squares I want to make . These are gorgeous and can't wait for the tutorial

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  29. Sandra, these are beautiful. I'm definitely going to make some for my kitchen chairs. I'm thinking non-slip mats would really help.
    Teresa

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  30. love these chair cushions! So cheerful! And I love the pattern... will be looking for that post! :) Thanks so much! Oh and the colors are sooo lovely!

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  31. Absolutely love them!! They're so wonderfully springlike too. Whilst you have bottom shufflers, I have a family of 'can't keep food on their plates' so fear they would be covered in spag bol before the day was out though!!! x

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  32. So beautiful Sandra!! Love the pretty colors and the pattern!! Such cheery cushions! Have a lovely weekend! xo Heather

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  33. Love how your cushions turned out, they are really pretty

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  34. Gorgeous!! I look forward to you posting the pattern!

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  35. Wooooooowwwww! What a beautiful blog with great colors and pattern. Love it. Greetings from holland, stephanie.

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  36. Those are very cool! Just a question though... How are you going to keep them clean?

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  37. There's no other way to say this, I LOVE THEM!! And now I think I need something like that in my home!

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  38. I recommend an edging which can be continued on and outwards at two corners to provide the strings.... I Made mine with two huge loops which I cut in half when I had finished the cushions.

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  39. I'm sure they will stay put now, as you say, the crochet is much more flexible than the stitched fabric. And if they do come apart in time surely you will be able to detatch the old ties and easily crochet new ones. Lovely job, and very PCH :D

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  40. Your crochet cushions are gorgeous, very pretty and crafty! And thank you for your tutorials, I am going to try making a cushion back like your crochet tute.

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  41. Dear Sandra. You are one of my big inspirations. Seriously. I admire your focus on taking on a task and finishing it, something I am pretty crap at to say it clearly. I love the consistency of your color choice throughout everything you make. Your blog layout is neat and user friendly, simple and elegant. I just don't get how you make all this so well. I could need days with 48 hours instead of just 24 to get this far. I am impressed by your project on pretty flying our home, something that I really need and want to do but yet I seem to have glue under my feet to really get started... Well, you want me to go on? :D these seat pads are gloriously beautiful. Love the pattern as it is tight and perfect for cover up project like this. Love your pictures. The one taken of the back of my chair is probably my favorite. Real. I am taking a blog course to improve my blogging and this weeks exercise is to review your favorite blogs and find out why you love them. Yours is on my top 8 list and this is probably why I know come up with all this constructive critique/feed back in this comment. Take it on board. You are so worth it. What blog platform do you use? It looks like you have changed a bit. This commenting field looks different. Am I right?
    Happy crafty Thursday my friend
    Annette
    My Rose Valley

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