White Floret Handmade Crochet Cushion Cover

The crochet tradition of the Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh has an unlikely origin, Irish missionaries who arrived in the delta in the 1800s and taught local women to work with a hook and thread. Over one hundred and fifty years, what was introduced became something entirely indigenous, practised today by nearly one lakh women artisans for whom it is the primary livelihood. This floret-pattern cover is made by those hands.

A white crochet cushion cover made entirely by hand by women artisans in the Godavari river district of Andhra Pradesh. The floret pattern, a repeating circle of petals worked in white cotton, is not embroidered after the fact; it is built loop by loop, each floret connected to the next in the working. This is what makes crochet distinct from other surface treatments: the structure and the pattern are one thing, not two.

White cotton crochet sits easily in most rooms. It lightens dark sofas. It creates texture on a plain white couch without adding colour. It works in a bedroom as a layered element over linen or against warm-toned cushions. The cover is pure cotton throughout, and the work gets more supple with washing.

Handmade Crochet · Pure Cotton · Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh · Women Artisans

Care Instructions

• Machine wash cold, gentle cycle.
• Remove cushion insert before washing.
• Wash separately for first two washes.
• Do not bleach. Line dry or tumble dry low.
• Iron on medium while slightly damp.