Chocolate Lotus Pillow and Play with Colors

I love the combination of brown and orange. It looks very tasty to me. Like sweet oranges combined with dark chocolate. Here is my latest pillow cover design. The flower in the center of each square motif reminds me of Lotus. That’s why I called this pillow “Chocolate Lotus”. Its pattern is already available for purchase in my Etsy, Ravelry and Craftsy shops.

This decoration for a pillow cover consists of 9 squares made in overlay crochet technique and joined with single crochet stitches. There are also popcorn stitches used in this design. Together with a big amount of overlaid stitches they bring nice volume and structure to the pillow. I decided to use very simple joining for motifs – just single crochet stitches made in back loops of the last round on the squares. This helped to keep the whole design even more structured: the squares are lying a bit lower and the whole piece reminds a chocolate bar.

As for my other pillows I sewed a fabric pillow cover for this one as well. I am not fond of totally crocheted pillows and I don’t have a reasonable explanation for that. I just like to combine yarn and fabric. This “duet” seems very modern to me. And you can always use a zip for a fabric pillow cover which makes it very easy to take care of it. But of course you can also crochet a back part for this pillow. And I would recommend single crochet for it as it will help to keep the crocheted “fabric” firm and balanced with the front decoration which is very thick (due to usage of many overlay stitches).

Normally, it can take me long to choose the colors for a new project. I thought about starting to study some color-charts or even using the special programs developed for designers. I found a few very interesting links but to be honest I haven’t managed to try them yet and I still rely mostly on my natural feeling of colors.

Sometimes I make lots of ripping as I am not satisfied with the final look of the project. I can remake it five or even seven times completely from the beginning – and then remake it again. But sometimes colors work very well at once. And this is what happened to my “Chocolate Lotus” pillow. I just chose the skeins and didn’t put my work down before I was ready with 9 squares.

I am very strong in my belief that the right colors are half the work done. But unfortunately I don’t have the recipe on how to choose them. I often “borrow” the color combinations from other people. I just love to stare at people in the streets and their outfits… Yes, this is not very polite but I can do nothing with that. Sometimes I notice a cute scarf in a great color palette and I take notes on the colors immediately, sitting in the bus. I don’t always have a pen but always a small pencil from Ikea (I probably have hundreds of them at home), and I can write the colors down on a piece of a napkin.

But usually before starting to design a new item I just put all my stash to the floor and start choosing the skeins. Putting them together and looking at them, and thinking… It’s funny but sometimes it takes me less time to design than to choose the colors! Really!

I know that some professional designers have special boards on Pinterest devoted to colors and the variety of their combinations. And sometimes I think I should probably start one myself and pin some nice images there. I don’t have one at the moment. But instead I have a nice collection of crochet tutorials, patterns, tips and tricks. You can actually have a look at my Pinterest account and choose something you like.

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