Knitter’s Spotlight: Overstuffed Seat Cushions by Ellen Gormley

If you love to crochet, you’ve probably seen, and maybe made, one of Ellen Gormley’s patterns. She has more than 200 designs listed under her Ravelry profile, GoCrochet, and she’s always coming up with new designs for her beloved crochet motifs. “I’ve recently been enamored with oval motifs, which continue to pop-up sporadically in my work.”

Ellen’s latest design, Overstuffed Seat Cushions, started with ovals, but ended up being more “ravioli-like” – her words not mine! Though it sounds a bit odd, it really is a beautiful crocheted cushion. She chose Berroco Comfort for the project because of its durability and softness. “It comes in a great array of colors, too, which is very important to home décor and projects that encourage the interplay of color.”

You can get Ellen’s pattern in Brett Bara’s new book, Crochet at Home: 25 Clever Projects for Colorful Living.

How did you come up with this design?

I think ovals are a lovely, but underused shape, and making a seat cushion out of motifs sounded like fun. I didn’t want the same thickness throughout the cushion, so I used a trapunto technique (stuffing cording under fabric) that I remembered from one of my early design classes in college. So when I mash together motifs, ovals and stuffing…this is what I came up with.

What’s your favorite project that you’ve made?

One of my all time favorite projects is the Bonus Scarf from my book, Learn Bruges Lace. It’s quick and easy, has excellent drape and looks fantastic in a wide variety of yarns! It would look fantastic in Berroco Ultra Alpaca or Berroco Flicker. The Bonus Scarf was not even scheduled to be in the book, but when I finished the other projects I didn’t feel “done” yet, so I kept going!

Any funny knitting/crochet stories?

People say that cats have nine lives, but I once had a crochet project that had three. I made a beautiful baby blanket out of motifs. It was laying out blocking in the biggest open floor space in the house, the foyer. Though it was off to the side and spiny with pins, the plumber we hired managed to step right on it with his work boots. With a little attention and TLC, I cleaned it off and allowed it to rest and dry. For some reason, our cat chose the foyer as the right location to lose his lunch. So, yet another section of the beautiful motif baby blanket was offended. Even with TLC, the damage was done. Luckily, the project was resurrected when I removed the damaged motifs, moved a few motifs, and transformed the blanket into a smashing shawl.

What’s your favorite thing about knitting/crochet?

My favorite thing about knitting and crocheting is being able to take a ball of yarn, with its infinite potential, and make something functional and pretty with it. To see a project transform, from a raw material into something unique that didn’t exist before, is magical. 


Do you have a cool design you want to share?  Or did you recently finish a project with Berroco yarn?  You can email Ashley: apalumbo@berroco.com or post it to the Berroco Lovers forum in Ravelry.