If you’ve been around my blog for awhile, you’ll notice that I love bees! I especially love them when I get to crochet them on different crochet projects! If you love bees too, then you are going to love this latest free crochet pattern on my blog: the Bee Pillow! This free intarsia crochet pillow pattern adds a splash of spring and summer to your home, and is so much fun to make.
This pattern is designed by my latest guest blogger, Sunflower Cottage Crochet, who used such creativity in this intarsia crochet pattern! I think you are going to love it, so let’s jump right!
Want to save this pattern for later? Save it to your favorite Pinterest Board!
Intro to Sunflower Cottage Crochet
Sunflower Cottage Crochet is a partnership between myself (Helen Wilkinson) and Sara Marsh. It’s kinda interesting because we have never actually met face to face but we work so well together! We live thousands of miles apart – I live in the UK and Sara lives in Kansas. Our working relationship is definitely one born of friendship. We met whilst testing for another designer and got to know each other via the chats and within the group. We were both asked to become moderators for the group and so our friendship only got stronger. Sara started designing and set up Sunflower Cottage Crochet about 20 months ago and asked me to test her very first pattern. How could I refuse? I had just taken a career break from work and had a lot of time on my hands. Sara designed a couple more patterns (our Paige Collection) which I tested and helped to tweak and work out kinks. Sara soon asked if I would officially join Sunflower Cottage Crochet as an equal partner. You can imagine I was beyond thrilled!
Since then, we have an awesome new website and designed over 60 patterns. There are about 25 patterns ready to be published too. We have published over 100 blog posts, created a YouTube channel, and have been part of countless collaborations with other designers to offer free patterns to our followers. All of this in just under a year! There is no sign of things slowing down and we are looking forward to seeing where this crochet adventure takes us.
About the Pattern
When Claire put a call out for guest designers, I knew immediately that I wanted to apply with a pattern for the home. I have been following Claire for a couple of years and love her designs!
When it came time to pitch a pattern idea the Bee Pillow just came to me! Color work was something that we had been wanting to do. I wanted a pattern that was quite simple, not too time consuming and a great pattern for all experience levels. And who doesn’t love bees? They have such an important role in our lives but sometimes I think it is way too easy to forget just how much they do for us!
This pillow is a great accessory for your home or garden. It also makes a great gift for any occasion – birthdays, Christmas, a housewarming or simply just because!
The Yarn
I used Caron Simply soft yarn for my pillow (except the grey – that is paintbox simply aran). And I used yarn from my stash! I love a great stashbuster.
You can use any #4 weight yarn for this pattern and the world is your oyster with the color of the background, the wings and the flowers. The back of my design is a white square but you can make a second bee panel and have it reversible. I just love what our testers did with the backs of their pillows! Most of them had never worked a sc graph before but you can see how they had fun adding their own touches to the back panel. You can check out their photos on the ravelry project pages for this pattern. I would love to see what you do with yours!
New to Intarsia Crochet or Crochet Crochet Color Work?
When I was first learning how to do crochet color work, I often felt so lost having to learn how to do color changes and reading crochet graphs. It can seem so intimidating to learn a new crochet skill! If you’re new to tapestry crochet or color work, then I’ve got just the resource for you.
Here on my blog, I’ve got a two free crochet tutorial for how to do tapestry crochet and intarsia crochet, which are the two most common crochet color work techniques. They’ll walk you through what each technique is, how to read crochet graphs, how to change colors in crochet, and a bunch of other tips I have for color work! You can find them here on my blog at:
– The Beginner’s Guide to Tapestry Crochet: This technique is used when you would like to carry your yarn, and the color work is close together. I used this technique for the Rose Garden Tee.
– The Beginner’s Guide to Intarsia Crochet: This technique is used when you don’t want to carry your yarn, and instead would like to use yarn bobbins. You can easily use yarn bobbins when making this crochet pattern.
Supplies list: including hook or needle size, yarn used, etc.
To make this pillow you will need:
- #4 weight yarn 7 colors – I used Caron Simply Soft in
- White (1 skein)
- Black
- Super duper yellow
- Strawberry
- Vert (scrap amounts for the stalks)
- Green
- Gray (for this one I used Paintbox simply aran)
- 5mm hook
- 16’’ x 16’’ pillow form
- Stitch markers to mark first and last stitches (optional)
- Scissors
- Tapestry needle
Abbreviations:
- Ch(s) – chain(s)
- St(s) – stitch(es)
- Sc – single crochet
- CS – crab stitch
- >> or << – indicates which way the row is worked – left to right or right to left
Gauge: Using sc as your gauge stitch, 2’’x 2’’ is 8 stitches x 10 rows
Sizing: Finished size for each panel is – 15’’. 15’’
Notes:
- This is a side to side graph and is worked left to right on the right side (odd numbered rows) and right to left on the wrong side (even numbered rows) and from the bottom to the top.
- To work out how much yarn you will need you will need to do a sample swatch and then measure how much yarn you used per stitch multiplying that by the number of stitches of that color and adding some for the tails to be worked in at the end.
Bee Pillow Pattern
Front Panel
Starting chain: Ch 61 and sc in second ch from hook start row 1.
Row 1 (<<): (green) sc 3, (white) sc 4, (green) sc 6, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 4, (green) sc 6, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 5, (white) sc 5, (green) sc 3, white, green, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 4, (green) sc 3
Row 2 (>>): (green) sc 3, (white) sc 3, (green) sc 7, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 3, (green) sc 6, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 7, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 7, (dark green) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 3, (green) sc 4
Row 3 (<<): (green) sc 4, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 6, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 4
Row 4 (>>): (green) sc 4, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 2, dark green, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 5, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 5
Row 5 (<<): (green) sc 11, (white) sc 2, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 12, (white) sc 2, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (green) sc 13, (white) sc 1, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 11
Row 6 (>>): (green) sc 10, (white) sc 3, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (green) sc 11, (white) sc 2, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (green) sc 10, (white) sc 3, (dark green) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (green) sc 10
Row 7 (<<): (white) sc 11, (peach) sc 5, (white) sc 12, (peach) sc 5, (white) sc 11, (peach) sc 5, (white) sc 11
Row 8 (>>): (white) sc 10, (peach) sc 7, (white) sc 10, (peach) sc 6, (white) sc 10, (peach) sc 7, (white) sc 10
Row 9 (<<): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 9, (peach) sc 7, (white) sc 9, (peach) sc 8, (white) sc 9, (peach) sc 8, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 10 (>>): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 8, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 11(<<): peach, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 12 (>>): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 13 (<<): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9,(white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 14 (>>): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 15 (<<): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 16 (>>): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 17 (<<): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 9, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 18 (>>): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 3, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 2, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 2, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 3, (white) sc 2, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 19 (<<): (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 7, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (peach) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (peach) sc 1
Row 20 (>>): (white) sc 60
Row 21(<<): white) sc 60
Row 22 (>>): (white) sc 60
Row 23 (<<): (white) sc 60
Row 24 (>>): (white) sc 60
Row 25 (<<): (white) sc 19, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 40
Row 26 (>>): (white) sc 40, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 19
Row 27 (<<): (white) sc 19, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 40
Row 28 (>>): (white) sc 34, (black) sc 7, (white) sc 19
Row 29 (<<): (white) sc 19, (black) sc 3, (yellow) sc 4, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 32
Row 30 (>>): (white) sc 31, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 8, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 19
Row 31 (<<): (white) sc 18, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 8, (black) sc 3, (white) sc 30
Row 32 (>>): (white) sc 24, (black) sc 4, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 6, (yellow) sc 6, (white) sc 18
Row 33(<<): (white) sc 17, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 4, (black) sc 9, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 3, black, (white) sc 23
Row 34 (>>): (white) sc 23, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 4, (black) sc 11, (yellow) sc 3, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 17
Row 35 (<<): (white) sc 17, (yellow) sc 2, (black) sc 10, (yellow) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 23
Row 36 (>>): (white) sc 24, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 4, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 3, (black) sc 10, (white) sc 17
Row 37 (<<): (white) sc 17, (black) sc 7, (yellow) sc 6, (grey) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 24
Row 38 (>>): (white) sc 18, (black) sc 7, (grey) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 6, (black) sc 6, (white) sc 17
Row 39 (<<): (white) sc 17, (black) sc 4, (yellow) sc 8, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 6, (black) sc 3, (white) sc 15
Row 40 (>>): (white) sc 14, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 4, (black) sc 2, (yellow) sc 9, (black)sc 2, (white) sc 17
Row 41(<<): (white) sc 15, (black) sc 3, (yellow) sc 8, (black) sc 4, (grey) sc 2, (black) sc 2, (grey) sc 12, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 13
Row 42 (>>): (white) sc 12, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 15, (black) sc 8, (yellow) sc 4, (black) sc 2, (grey) sc 3, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 14
Row 43 (<<): (white) sc 13, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 6, (black) sc 1, (yellow) sc 2, (black) sc 7, (grey) sc 17, (black) sc 1,(white) sc 12
Row 44 (>>): (white) sc 13, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 16, (black) sc 9, (grey) sc 8, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 12
Row 45 (<<): (white) sc 12, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 7, (grey) sc 15, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 14
Row 46 (>>): (white) sc 15, (black) sc 2, (grey) sc 12, (yellow) sc 5, (black) sc 3, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1,(white) sc 12
Row 47 (<<): (white) sc 13, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 6, (black) sc 3, (yellow) sc 8, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 17
Row 48 (>>): (white) sc 19, (black) sc 10, (yellow) sc 8, (grey) sc 3, (black) sc 3, (grey) sc 2, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 13
Row 49 (<<): (white) sc 14, (black) sc 3, (grey) sc 5, (yellow) sc 7, (black) sc 5, (white) sc 26
Row 50 (>>): (white) sc 26, (black) sc 7, (yellow) sc 5, (grey) sc 7, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 14
Row 51 (<<): (white) sc 13, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 9, (yellow) sc 2, (black) sc 9, (white) sc 26
Row 52 (>>): (white) sc 26, (black) sc 11, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 12
Row 53 (<<): (white) sc 12, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 11, (white) sc 26
Row 54 (>>): (white) sc 26, (black) sc 12, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 11
Row 55 (<<): (white) sc 11, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 9, (white) sc 6, (black) sc 3, (white) sc 18
Row 56(>>): (white) sc 17, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 6, (black) sc 8, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 10
Row 57 (<<): (white) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 9, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 6, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 5, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 17
Row 58 (>>): (white) sc 17, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 7, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 8, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 10
Row 59 (<<): (white) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 6, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 9, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 7, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 17
Row 60 (>>): (white) sc 18, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 6, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 11, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 10
Row 61 (<<): (white) sc 10, (black) sc 1, (grey) sc 2, (black) sc 3, (white) sc 6, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 5, (black) sc 7, (white) sc 19
Row 62 (>>): (white) sc 31, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 8, (black) sc 3, (white) sc 10
Row 63 (<<): (white) sc 21, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 4, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 31
Row 64 (>>): (white) sc 31, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 21
Row 65 (<<): (white) sc 21, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 3, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 31
Row 66 (>>): (white) sc 32, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 3, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 1, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 21
Row 67 (<<): (white) sc 21, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 5, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 32
Row 68 (>>): (white) sc 33, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 2, (black) sc 1, (white) sc 22
Row 69 (<<): (white) sc 23, (black) sc 2, (white) sc 35
Row 70-75 (>>): (white) sc 60
Fasten off and weave in ends
Back Panel:
There are two options here.
- You can make a second front panel so that your cushion has the picture on the front and the back.
- If you would like a plain back panel, follow the instructions below. I did mine in white. You could make your stripy by changing color every 5 rows or randomly!
Row 1: Ch 61, sc in second ch from hook and each st across (60)
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in the first st and each st across (60)
Row 3-75: Repeat row 2.
Fasten off and weave in ends
Assembly:
Step 1: Take your front and back panels and place wrong sides together (this means
that the right sides will be facing outwards).
Step 2: SC around three sides of your cushion ensuring that you sc through both the
front and the back panels (see photo below). At each corner (sc, ch1, sc). Do NOT work the last side yet.
Step 3: Insert pillow form into pillow cover and then continue to sc
along the last side. This might be a little trickier as you have the pillow form to
work around too. Slip stitch to the first stitch you made. Do not fasten off yet!
Step 4: Crab stitch in each sc and ch1 space around.
SS to join
Fasten off and weave in ends.
We hope that you have enjoyed this pattern as much as we enjoyed creating and testing it! In fact, we loved it so much we currently have the matching corner to corner afghan in test at the moment so that should be released very soon!
You can get an ad-free printable pdf version of this pattern with printable graph , written instructions and a photo tutorial of the assembly for only $2.50 at:
Ravelry – https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bee-pillow-2
Etsy – https://www.etsy.com/listing/839958517/bee-pillow
Our Shop – https://sunflowercottagecrochet.com/shop/bee-pillow/
If you would like to find out more about Sunflower Cottage Crochet, check out our other patterns or follow us you can do so at the following links:
| Blog | www.sunflowercottagecrochet.com |
| Facebook Group YouTube | Sunflower Cottage Crochet Community |
| Ravelry | https://www.ravelry.com/people/SunflowerCCBiz |
| Lovecrafts Etsy | https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-us/user/Sunflower-Cottage-Crochet |
| https://www.instagram.com/sunflower.cottage.crochet.too/ |
Happy stitching,
Helen & Sara
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