Sunburst Mandala Cushion

I wanted to create a burst of sunlight

Then I found this image

I played with crochet stitches and designs, over and over again


Eventually, I came up with this design

But I prefer something useful. So I decided to make it into a cushion

I could have made it into a round cushion like this. But I decided to play some more. I'll turn it into a square

I wanted to try something different to square it off. And I wanted to incorporate the border again, I really liked the way that turned out


So eventually I came up with this cushion 

And now for the back. Do I just do a fabric back?  No. I wanted more crochet. But I also want to do something that will match..... But not the same ..... 

Finally I came up with this

Worked as a square, but still using some overlay stitches

And still the suggestion of rays of the sun

Want to make this?

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Pdf's now available

I've decided to make my free patterns also available as printable pdfs

They are still available for free here, but if you want a nice easy way to print it, you will be able to download it for a small fee

Patterns take a very long time, and a lot of effort to create

It is a huge process, that includes many steps

Thinking of the design

Occasionally this step can be easy.

But most often it takes a lot of thought and ideas, and looking at a lot of inspiration


Creating the design

This is probably the hardest part.

What yarn, or thread would work best for this?

What stitch, or combination of stitches would work best for this?

How many stitches will I need?

Then it needs to be made, and undone, and made, and undone, many times, usually, until it's right, and it works the way I want it


Writing it up

This is another challenging part. I usually write notes as I go. But it's a completely different thing to have the pattern written with all the proper terms and wording in it.

It takes a lot of work going through the whole pattern to add all the words, terms and phrases in the proper crochet terms so that everyone can understand it


Testing

This is where other people come into it

I need a range of people who can read crochet patterns to look through the pattern, and crochet the item

They will see it through new eyes, being unfamiliar with the design, they will often see errors, or better ways with wording than I can

I'm often amazed at what I can miss. And how different testers can see different things


Final pattern

And finally we have the final pattern

All my patterns are pretty cheap, especially when you consider my most expensive pattern might only just buy me a coffee in Australia.

The pdf's are $2 Australian, which is half a coffee