Summer crochet ripple cushion with daisy buttons and applique
Summer crochet ripple cushion with daisy buttons and daisy flower applique

This summer crochet ripple cushion is made in vibrant summer colours and decorated with daisies. This tutorial describes how to make the cushion cover and then add a border and crochet buttons to close. It is an adaptation of the neat ripple pattern originally published by Lucy of Attic24.

Useful links related to the summer crochet ripple cushion

About the crochet ripple cushion pattern

This tutorial is written in UK terms.

Stitches used: chain (ch), double crochet (dc), treble (tr), slip stitch (sl-st)

The ripple cushion pattern is adapted from the neat ripple pattern by Lucy of Attic24. She has a detailed tutorial for the ripple on her blog, which you might want to look at if you’ve not done a ripple before. You can also read by troubleshooting guide to avoiding common problems faced by first-time ripplers.

You will need

  • Yarn: Deramores Studio Chunky DK yarn in rose, citrine, frost, pearl and peridot. 100g of each is more than enough. You would easily have enough yarn to make two matching cushion covers or to use for other projects.
  • Crochet hook: I used a 3.75mm Clover Soft Touch hook
  • Darning needle and scissors for the ends and the embroidery
  • Cushion pad, square, 16 inches x 16 inches (40cm x 40cm). I chose this duck feather one for £3.99

Tension required

You need to make sure that you have 8 rows (4 stripes) to 4 inches (10cm) and 16-18 treble stitches to 4 inches (10cm)

If your tension is tighter, try a larger hook size. If your tension is looser, try a smaller hooks size. I would recommend making a small sample first to check your tension to make sure the cushion will fit. There is some stretch but you don’t want the cover too big as it will look saggy.

The crochet ripple cushion pattern

I used a variation of the original neat ripple pattern by using 6 stitches between each increase and decrease, rather than 4. This gives a gentler ripple effect that I like. Its the same adaptation as I’m using in my seascape ripple blanket.

To fit my cushion pad I used three repeats of the modified ripple pattern. I have a smaller section at the start and the end as shown in this photo. To see more clearly click on the picture and it will open up to give you a larger view.

Ripple anatomy bigger labels

Row 1

Start by making a foundation chain in peridot consisting of 67 stitches. This includes the three chains that counts as the first treble stitch of row 1.

  • Make a treble into the fourth chain from the hook.
  • Make one treble into each of the next two chains.
  • *Make two treble decreases across the next four chains.
  • Make a treble into each of the following six chains.
  • Make two trebles into the next chain (first increase).
  • Make two trebles into the chain following (second increase).
  • Make a treble into each of the following six chains.**

Repeat from * to ** twice.

You are then almost at the end of your foundation chain.

  • Make two treble decreases across the next four chains.
  • Make one treble into each of the next two chains.
  • Make two trebles into the last chain (one increase). [64 stitches]

Row 2

Make three chains and then turn your work. Carry on in the peridot (green) yarn.

  • Make a treble into the first stitch at the base of your three chains.
  • Make one treble into each of the next two stitches.
  • * Make two treble decreases across the next four stitches.
  • Make a treble into each of the following six stitches.
  • Make two trebles into the next stitch (first increase).
  • Make two trebles into the stitch following (second increase).
  • Make a treble into each of the following six stitches.**

Repeat from * to ** twice.

You are now almost at the end of your second row.

  • Make two treble decreases across the next four stitches.
  • Make one treble into each of the next two stitches.
  • Make two trebles into the last stitch (one increase). [64 stitches]

All your rows are now repeats of row 2 worked first one way and then the other. This gives a stripe of each colour consisting of two rows per colour.

To fit my cushion pad I made 31 more stripes (so 32 in total):

The colour sequence

  • Foundation row  and first stripe in peridot
  • Pearl, citrine, rose
  • Frost, peridot, citrine
  • Pearl, rose, peridot
  • Frost, citrine, peridot
  • Pearl, rose, citrine
  • Frost, peridot, rose
  • Pearl, citrine, peridot
  • Frost, rose, citrine
  • Pearl, peridot, rose
  • Frost, citrine
  • Stripe zero is done in rose.

Pearl and Frost are proving very much in demand at the moment because of the Deramores Cedar River blanket CAL – you can just use frost or pearl for both of the very light stripes with a very similar effect if you are only able to get hold of one of these colours.

Having trouble with your ripple?

This can be a tricky piece of crochet to get the hang of. Read my ripple troubleshooting guide if you are running into difficulties.

Finishing your ripple: stripe zero

I call it that because I completed another colour stripe in the other side of the foundation row. This creates a better edge, with normal treble stitch tops, that makes it easier to join your ripple to form a tube for the cushion.

Stripe zero summer ripple cushion

To work stripe zero, join your rose pink yarn into the base of the first stitch of the original foundation chain. Then:

  • Make two chains.
  • Make a treble into the second stitch of the base of the foundation chain; this counts as a decrease.
  • Make a treble stitch into each of the following two stitches of the foundation chain.
  • *Make two trebles into the next chain and two trebles into the chain after.
  • Make a treble into each of the next six chains.
  • Complete two treble decreases across the next four chains.
  • Make a treble into each of the next six chains.**

Repeat from * to ** twice.

  • Make two trebles into the next chain and two trebles into the chain after.
  • Make one treble into the next two chain stitches.
  • Make a treble decrease in the last two chain stitches.

The finished raw ripple cushion

This will look nothing like a cushion cover and more like a long, thin blanket… here is mine just at the point where I have made the dc border on one side and am ready to seam the ripple to form a tube.

Summer ripple cushion pattern and tutorial from crafternoontreats.com

The dc border

When you have finished all your ripply stripes, including stripe zero, you will have a long rectangle of crochet ripple fabric. The edges should be pretty straight but you want to add a border before adding your button strip to make sure your edge looks perfect.

I found that a round of double crochet stitches (dc: UK terms) is the best way to accomplish this and I chose rose as a colour that would not stand out too much but that would provide a good contrast to the peridot I planned to use for the button and buttonhole strip. This pink is also the colour used in stripe zero, so seaming the ripple with this colour is perfect too.

Starting at the bottom of one side, with the rose pink stripe zero at the top, make 2dc stitches into the post of each end stitch in your ripple. Every other row this will be the three chains you make at the start of a row. Continue all along until you reach the top. You can see how this creates a really smooth line of stitches for the next border round to go into.

Summer ripple cushion first border row pink

Continue until you reach the end, making three dc stitches into the last stitch of the last row of stripe zero…

Summer ripple cushion pattern and tutorial from crafternoontreats.com

Creating the seamless join

Line up the ends of the crochet fabric strip, with the right sides together. The peaks and troughs of the ripple pattern will interlock nicely but you need to make sure that everything is lined up perfectly before you join using an sc stitch.

Summer ripple cushion lining up the peaks and troughs

Then start joining using dc stitches, working through the back loop only of the stitch in the front piece of fabric and the front loop only of the back piece of fabric.

Summer ripple cushion pattern and tutorial from crafternoontreats.com

Work all the way along the width of the strip of crochet, matching stitch for stitch and checking you are still correct at each marker. The join will only be seamless if you match up stitch for stitch!

If everything is correct, you will have a seam that looks like this… the arrows point to the join line…

Summer ripple cushion pattern and tutorial from crafternoontreats.com

You now have a tube of ripple crochet fabric and your rose pink yarn is still in use. Turn your work so that you can crochet along the side, making 3dc into the first row of stripe zero. Make 2dc into the side of the last stitch in every row around until you reach your starting point once more.

At this point I checked my cushion for size on my cushion pad; the seam is the line between the pink strip just above the midline of the cushion, with the cream (Pearl) stripe above it. Perfect seam and a perfect fit!! Wooooo hooooo – I was pretty happy when I got to this point and I hope you are too 🙂

Summer ripple cushion pattern and tutorial from crafternoontreats.com

The second round of dc border

You now have a tube of crochet fabric and the next step is to complete another round of dc stitches, one into each stitch of the first round, using the same rose pink. You need to work each side separately, working in the round.Once you have completed this second round of dc border on both sides of your ripple tube, fasten off and weave in your yarn ends.

Summer ripple cushion second round dc border

Adding the button strip

Join peridot yarn into one of the stitches of the second round of the dc border. Make one treble into each stitch all around the first edge. You can see that the contrast between the two colours produces a clear and neat edge to the cushion.

Summer ripple cushion first round button border

Continue all around the edge and join with a slip stitch when you reach the start of the round once more.

Making the button and buttonhole strip

You now need to lay your cushion flat and decide which side will be the front and which will be the back. Use some waste yarn to make a small holding stitch in all four corners and leave the tail ends dangling on what will be the front side so that you don’t get confused.

You now need to complete a second round of trebles using peridot and you will need to create 7 buttonholes in this strip of trebles on the front of the cushion only. These need to be evenly spaced.

I made my first buttonhole six trebles in from the top and then added 8 trebles between each button hole.

To create the buttonhole, simply make a chain and miss a stitch in the previous round and then continue making trebles.

When the second round of the button strip is complete, add a third round of trebles, making a treble into every stitch, including the chain stitches made for the buttonholes.

You should end up with the first side of the cushion looking like this:

Summer ripple cushion buttonholes

Repeat on the other side of the cushion.

Crochet buttons

These are made in exactly the same way as the cotton ones I made for the Craftsy crochet tutorial Making crochet buttons in minutes. All the buttons were made in frost and once the button was complete, I added a small embroidered cross in citrine. For firmer buttons, you could use white cotton yarn but this might make it more difficult to wash the cover later.

Crochet buttons for summer ripple cushion

Adding the buttons

The final step is to sew the crochet buttons onto the inside of the button strip. Mark the position carefully with pins before you sew on using the tail end of the button. Sew on the crochet buttons as any other stemmed button, taking care not to let the Frost yarn show through on the reverse side.

Adding the crochet buttons to the summer ripple cushion

Complete on both sides of the cushion but leave the buttons on one side undone. You will need to access the inside of the cushion to add the appliques before putting in the cushion pad.

Finishing the summer ripple cushion

To finish, make your daisy appliques attach them to the front of the cushion.

Add your cushion pad, do up the final strip of buttons and its done!

Useful links related to the summer ripple cushion

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7 thoughts on “Summer ripple cushion

  1. Amy O. says:

    Hello! It is thanks to your excellent tutorial on the ripple pattern that I was able to finish a lap-sized blanket. I can’t post a picture directly, but here is a link to the finished blanket. Thank you again so much for the tutorial! This was really fun for me to do once I understood how the pattern worked.

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/M9AKRiCi3TEyQGmU7

    • Crafternoon Treats says:

      Wow Amy – that’s gorgeous thanks for letting me see it! I hope you will go on to make more ripples with your hook 🙂 xxxx

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