Here’s how to make a Kids Crochet Shrug and matching Teddy Bear Shrug. These projects take less than one skein of yarn each so you can often use leftover yarn from previous projects. My instructions assume you know the basics of crocheting. You will need to know how to make a basic chain, double-crochet, and sew seams together using either the crochet method or the large-eye yarn needle sewing method.
If you do not know the basics of crocheting and want to make the kids crochet shrug and the teddy bear shrug or sweater, I can suggest these YouTube videos to teach you crochet basics. I follow all of these talented ladies on YouTube and find that they are very clear with their crochet instructions. Learning how to crochet through a YouTube video is much easier than learning to crochet by following written instructions. With a crochet video you can watch it on your smartphone or tablet while you practice, start and stop the video, rewind, skip through the video, and play it all over again when you want to make another piece.
I am a left-handed crocheter and there are lots of videos on YouTube just for us as well.
Beginner Crochet “Basics” Videos
- How to Create a Crochet Chain (Right Handed, Left Handed)
- How to Create a Double-Crochet (Right Handed, Left Handed)
- How to Sew a Crochet Flat Seam with a Needle (Mattress Stitch Seaming)
- How to Crochet a Seam with Crochet Hook and Yarn
- How to Make a Solid Style Granny Square
My Favorite Crochet YouTubers
Crochet Supplies Needed for this Project
- J Hook
- Red Heart Super Saver Yarn (Pretty N Pink)
- Stitch Markers
- Large-Eye Yarn Needle
- Fiskars Softgrip Scissors
My instructions are to show you how I modified the YouTube video instructions for how to create an Easy Crochet Cocoon Cardigan by Annoo Crochet Designs to make a crochet shrug smaller for a child, in this case a 3-years old girl and also one for a 10″ to 12″ teddy bear. The video below shows a huge shrug or cardigan for an adult. You just make the square smaller and use a smaller hook to achieve the look I created below. You could keep making the square larger and larger and it will act more like a sweater than a shrug and the sleeves will be longer.
Follow the video and see how she makes this cardigan, aka, my kids shrug pattern. It is basically a SUPER large Granny square. Bella Coco has a great video on how to create a basic granny square too that you may want to follow.
I made this pink shrug for my grand daughter, Layla, who is 3 years old by following the video above. If the video doesn’t show you can view it on YouTube here.
The sleeves are created using the ribbed crochet instructions as shown in the video above. The crochet ribbed stitch is pretty easy to create. The only problem I had was that I would miss stitches if I didn’t count right. You may want to use a stitch marker at the beginning of each row so you don’t lose your place.
How to Crochet a Kid’s Shrug
Step 1: To make this kid’s crochet shrug, you will follow the video above to make a large granny square but you will use a smaller crochet hook (I used a J hook). Because you are using a smaller hook your square is going to come out smaller and the holes in between the double-crochet stitches will also be smaller. I made my square approximately 16″ but you can make it smaller or larger as needed. Make sure to leave a long tail of yarn when you finish off your square. You will use this tail to sew up one of the sides.
Step 2: Next, you will sew the sides closed, leaving an opening for the sleeve. Fold your square in half and you will have a rectangle. Decide how large you want the opening to be for the sleeves and sew up the sides using the large-eye yarn needle or crochet sewn seam method above (or mattress stitch seam). If you stop the video above at 17 minutes you will see how to sew the side seams.
Step 3: Next you will be making the ribbed-edge sleeves. Once again, the instructions are on the video above starting at 23 minutes. I made about 6 rows to get the sleeves this length but you can make them longer if you like by adding more rows.
Step 4: I added two rows of basic double-crochet stitches around the edge of the shrug. This is not in the video. Attach your yarn to the bottom edge of the shrug and make a double-crochet in every stitch around for two rows. Fasten off.
Step 5: Using a large-eye yarn needle, weave all of your yarn tails into your shrug. Crochet Guru has a good video on how to weave your loose yarn ends into your work using either a large-eye yarn needle or a crochet hook.
After you finish your square and fold it to stitch up the sides, you wonder how this is actually going to look like a shrug when it looks like a rectangle that is closed in the middle. Lay the shrug down and pull the center up as shown in the photo above and instantly you can see that it looks more like a shrug or a sweater – pretty nifty! The collar forms by itself and adding those two extra rows of double-crochet make the collar more pronounced.
Teddy Bear Crochet Shrug or Sweater Vest
The Teddy Bear Crochet Shrug or Sweater vest is based off of the Solid Granny Square YouTube video by Bella Coco. I used a J hook to create my granny square. I made the solid Granny square approximately 12″ inches using matching yarn to my kid’s crochet shrug.
Step 1: to create the Crocheted Teddy Bear Shrug or Sweater, first, create the Granny Square. Follow Bella Coco’s video to create your solid granny square.
Step 2: fold the granny square with the top down about 3″ and tack each edge using a large-eye yarn needle. This leaves the opening for the sleeve.
Step 3: you could leave it done at this point but if you want you can fold up the bottom and sew in and out with matching yarn to give your sweater a straight bottom edge.
If you have any suggestions how to make this better or how you modified the instructions, I would love to hear them. Just leave me a comment below.
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