Crafts & DIY

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

• Naztazia
• Bella Coco
• Annoo Crochet Designs
• Simply Daisy
• Sharon Ojala

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.

Are you looking for a fun and quick crochet project to make? Try this crocheted kid’s tote bag with rosette flowers. Little kids love carrying around their own bag and filling it with special trinkets. This bag is lined so it is soft inside and helps to keep the crochet piece from stretching. This crochet kid’s tote bag took me about 2 to 3 hours to crochet and another 1 or so to line using hand stitches.

The crochet instructions below assume you know how to chain stitch, single stitch, double stitch and hand sew. You can learn how to do basic crochet stitches by watching videos on YouTube. I especially like “Happy Berry Crochet” to learn from. She is very patient and has a wonderful Aussie accent.

Supplies Needed for a Crochet Kid’s Tote Bag

• one skein of Red Heart Monet (or whatever yarn you like)
• G Crochet Hook
• Embroidery floss
• large eye needle
• Felt or fabric for lining
• Scissors

I purchased Red Heart Monet yarn in the Super Saver size. I only took about half a skein to make this child’s tote bag. For the crochet needle I used a size G. You will also need a large eye needle with sharp point (not blunt) and some embroidery/needlepoint floss. And, to finish the inside of the bag I used felt but you could line it with any type of fabric.

To start your child’s crocheted tote bag, chain 24 stitches. Turn and double-stitch to the end. Now you will continue rows of double-stitches until the piece measures approximately 12″ long.

Alternate Pattern: double-stitch one row and then single stitch the next row. Continue this method until your main piece is finished.

Once your main piece is 12″ long, you are going to go around the edges with a single stitch until you have 3 rows all of the way around the outer edge of your tote bag piece.

Now you will want to make the rosette flowers. I made a larger and a small rosette flower. I made the larger rosette flower by watching this YouTube crochet video. I made the small rosette flower by watching this youTube crochet video.

Next, you will sew the crocheted rosette flowers to the top right (or left) on the front of the crocheted tote bag piece. I say “front” and back” only if you had to tie yarn on and there are tails to be hidden inside. If you use a continuous piece of the Red Heart crochet yarn, you can decide which side you think is front and sew the flower on it.

To tie the rosette flower onto the crocheted piece, take the yarn tail that was left when the flower was made and use the crochet hook to pull each tail through the back. Then tie them together to secure them onto the crocheted bag. Use embroidery floss and sew a row of hidden stitches under the rosette flower. attaching it to the crocheted piece, to give it extra strength. Just tying the rosette flower on may not be strong enough and kids like to pull on things so I suggest you sew more stitches using embroidery floss to make sure it is securely attached to the bag.

I used a piece of felt for the inside of my child’s tote bag. You can use whatever you like – cotton fabric, felt and flannel make nice linings for this tote bag. I used embroidery floss and did a basic whip-stitch to sew the felt on. I sewed it just inside the edge of the main crocheted piece. You want to sew the lining on the inside and not put the right-side of the crochet piece and lining together and sew and turn because you need to have the edges of the crocheted piece available so you can crochet the edges closed.

Now you will begin to close the crocheted tote bag. Fold the tote bag in half with the lining on the inside. Tie a piece of the yarn to the edge where the bag folds on one of the sides.

Make a loop with the long end of the yarn and use the crochet hook to pull the loop through one loop of the last row to get the edging crochet process started.

Crochet the edges closed on one side using a slip-stitch to sew one side to the other. Continue until to get the end of the row where the bag opens and stop.

When you get to the end of the row where the bag opens, you are going to make a chain-stitch that has 114 stitches. Once you have your 114 chain stitches completed, hook your crochet needle into the first row on the other side of the bag where the bag closes. This is going to be your tote bag handle. Slip-stitch the remaining side closed. When you get to the end of the row you will end up on the other side of the bag where it folds. The edges will look like this.

When you look at the crocheted tote bag from the opening you should be able to see the felt lining inside. Your child’s tote bag should look similar to this photo at this point in the instructions.

Now, turn the piece and make a row of single stitches all of the way around the edge of the tote bag on one side, across the chain stitched handle and all of the way to the far end of the tote bag. Once this is completed, turn and single-stitch across the whole piece again until you reach the other side. Remove the crochet needle and cut the end of the yarn, leaving about a 2″ to 3″ tail. Pull the end of the yarn through the final loop to finish it off. Now use the crochet hook to weave the yarn tail into the piece to hide it.

I hope you have enjoyed these child’s crocheted tote bag with rosette flower instructions. If you decide to make your own tote bag, please leave a comment and show  a photo of your finished tote bag or give us your link to the photo of your crocheted project on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.