Feb
When I Actually Made These Flower Pillows
So I made my first crochet flower pillow back in spring 2022 when I was stuck at home with nothing to do and my couch looked incredibly sad. I had this beige pillow that came with the couch and it was just so boring I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. I’d seen some flower pillows on Pinterest or wherever and thought how hard could it be right?
The thing is I didn’t follow a specific pattern because honestly I never learned how to read those properly. I just kinda winged it with some Red Heart Super Saver yarn I had lying around from another project. The color was called “Soft White” but it was more like off-white which actually worked better because pure white looks weird in my living room.
Basic Structure You’re Gonna Need
Okay so the way I did it was making individual flowers first and then attaching them to a base cushion. You need to decide if you want the whole pillow covered in flowers or just like a scattered look. I went with scattered because my cat Felix was already giving me suspicious looks and I knew he’d destroy anything too fancy.
For the base cushion you can either crochet a simple square or rectangle using single crochet or double crochet, or honestly you can just buy a plain pillow cover and sew the flowers onto that. I’m not gonna judge you for taking shortcuts because the flowers themselves take forever.
Making the Actual Flowers
The flowers I made were pretty simple. You start with a magic ring which took me like 50 tries to learn back when I was teaching myself. Chain 3, then do about 12 double crochets into the ring. Pull it tight. That’s your center.
For the petals I did this thing where you chain 3, then do 2 double crochets in the same stitch, chain 3 again, and slip stitch into the next stitch of your center circle. Repeat that around until you have 6 petals or however many looks right to you. Sometimes I did 5 petals, sometimes 7, because I wasn’t being precise about it.
One thing that really annoyed me was how the petals would curl up weird if I crocheted too tight. I tend to crochet pretty tight naturally and these petals would just fold over themselves and look crumpled. I had to redo like 8 flowers before I figured out I needed to keep my tension looser, which felt wrong the whole time but whatever it worked.
Yarn Choices That Worked For Me
I used Red Heart Super Saver for most of them because it’s cheap and I had a bunch already. The colors I used were “Perfect Pink” for some flowers, “Spring Green” for leaves, and that white I mentioned. Later when I made another pillow in summer 2024 I splurged on some Caron Simply Soft in “Plum Wine” because I wanted a more sophisticated look for my bedroom.
The Caron Simply Soft was definitely nicer to work with, softer and less splitty. Red Heart has this problem where the yarn splits when you’re trying to get your hook through and it makes you wanna throw the whole project across the room. But it’s durable and holds up to washing which matters for pillows.
I also tried some Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in “Mustard” but that yellow looked radioactive when I actually made flowers with it so those ended up on a different project entirely.
Leaves Because Flowers Look Weird Alone
You gotta make some leaves too or the flowers just look like they’re floating there. For leaves I did a simple oval shape by chaining about 8, then single crocheting back along the chain. When you get to the end you do 3 single crochets in the last chain to turn the corner, then single crochet back up the other side of your foundation chain.
Second row you can do a border of single crochet around the whole thing with a chain stitch at the pointy end to make it more leaf-shaped. I wasn’t following a pattern so mine were kinda wonky but honestly that made them look more realistic because real leaves aren’t perfect either.
Assembly Is Where It Gets Annoying
This is the part that made me wanna quit. You have all these flowers and leaves and now you gotta figure out how to arrange them. I laid everything out on my pillow base like 15 different ways before I found something that didn’t look stupid.
My advice is take a photo of each arrangement because after awhile they all start looking the same and you forget which one you liked. I used my phone and took like 30 photos while watching The Great British Baking Show which probably would’ve gone faster if I was actually paying attention.
Once you figure out placement you can either sew them on with regular thread and a needle or use yarn and a yarn needle. I did yarn because I didn’t wanna deal with finding my sewing kit. Just stitch through the back of the flower center and through the pillow fabric a few times until it feels secure. Don’t just stitch the edges or the middle will poof up weird.
The Pillow Base Options
If you’re making the whole pillow from scratch you need two squares or rectangles the size you want plus seam allowance. I made mine about 16 by 16 inches for a standard throw pillow. Crochet both pieces separately using whatever stitch you want – I did half double crochet because it works up faster than single crochet but isn’t too holey like double crochet can be.
Then you single crochet them together around three sides, stuff it with polyfil (I used Fairfield Poly-Fil from the craft store), and close up the last side. Or you can be smart and make an envelope closure on the back so you can actually wash the cover but I didn’t think of that until after.
If you’re doing the lazy version just get a pillow cover from Target or wherever. They have plain ones in every color. Attach your flowers and you’re done in like half the time.
Color Combinations I Tried
The first pillow I did was pink and white flowers with green leaves on a cream base. Very spring looking, kinda basic but it worked. The summer 2024 one was those plum purple flowers with gray leaves on a charcoal gray base which looked way more modern and less cutesy.
I also started one with orange and yellow flowers that was supposed to be autumn themed but I got bored halfway through and it’s still in a bag somewhere. Maybe I’ll finish it, maybe not.
Something I learned is you don’t want too many colors or it looks chaotic. Stick with like 2-3 flower colors max plus one green for leaves. Unless you’re going for a rainbow thing but that’s gonna look very… bright.
Size and Quantity of Flowers
For a 16 inch pillow I made about 9 flowers total – 3 big ones, 4 medium, and 2 small. The big ones were probably 4 inches across, medium like 2.5 inches, small maybe 1.5 inches. You make different sizes by using different hook sizes or adding extra rows of petals or just making your foundation ring bigger or smaller.
I used a 5mm hook for most of it but went down to 4mm for the small flowers and up to 6mm for the big ones. You don’t have to be exact about this stuff, just eyeball it.
Making It Look Less Homemade
The trick to making these not look like a craft fair reject is keeping your stitches consistent and weaving in all your ends properly. I know weaving in ends is the worst part of crochet but you gotta do it or they’ll come loose and look messy.
Also block your flowers before attaching them. I didn’t know about blocking when I first started and my flowers were all curly and weird. You pin them flat on a blocking mat or just a towel with some pins, spray them with water, and let them dry. They’ll hold their shape way better.
Another thing is varying the direction your flowers face. Don’t have all the petals pointing the same way or it looks too organized and — wait I think I was gonna say something else but I forgot.
Durability Issues
These pillows actually hold up pretty well if you use decent yarn. My spring 2022 one is still on my couch and looks fine except where Felix decided to use it as a scratching post once. The flowers don’t fall off if you attach them securely.
You can wash them but I’d hand wash or use delicate cycle and air dry. I threw one in the regular wash once and it came out fine but I wouldn’t risk it with one you spent hours on.
The main problem is they collect dust because of all the texture so you gotta shake them out or vacuum them occasionally. More maintenance than a regular pillow but not terrible.
