I’ve had quite a few requests for this pattern since I made these guys. There is a great free pattern from Erica Dietz that uses worsted weight yarn that I originally started making but…omg it was taking forever!! So I decided to make my own with 2 strands of worsted instead. Btw Nan Sovde has a really great baby head and body mannequin pattern for $9 if you’re interested!
The size of the baby head is way dependent on your tension, luckily working with 2 strands of yarn means it’s a pretty quick project and if you end up needing to pull out and redo your baby with a different hook size or stitch count you won’t want to kill yourself. The yarn matters a lot too, you want to use a sturdy yarn, not a softy like caron or vanna’s choice.
According to charts, newborn size is 14 inches, 3-6 months is 16 inches, and 6-12 months will get to 18 inches. Obviously there’s variation because people all grow at different rates, but a 14, 16 and 18 inch is really all you’ll need. At this moment I have a 14 and 16. I’ve not really needed the 18 yet!
So let’s get started!
Supplies needed:
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worsted weight yarn. If you’re making multiple heads, go ahead and buy 2 skeins instead of splitting one in half. Yarn like loops & threads impeccable and red heart with love* are the texture you’ll want. You can use regular red heart if you like but it always looks so..gappy. Full of gaps. I used up the very last bits of loops and threads I had; one day I will live near a michaels again!! You could try using bulky yarn too but you’ll probably have to make count adjustments.
(*affiliate link) -
6.5mm hook
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polyfil (or some other stuffing)
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a hard base you can cut into a circle (cardboard, plastic etc)
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heavy bits to weigh the base down, I don’t think poly pellets are heavy enough for this. Think floral glass beads, pennies, washers etc.
The head and the base are made separately, then sewn together. The base is the same for every head so make as many as you need. They’re both worked in the round with no joins, so use a stitch marker. And remember, use 2 strands of ww together.
I made this for personal use so I didn’t take any in progress shots, but I don’t really think you’ll need any.
BASE:
Make a magic ring of 9 sc.
R1: 2sc into each st (18)
R2: *sc, sc, 2sc* repeat until end of row (24)
R3: sc into each st (24)
R4: *sc x 4, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (20)
Stop here a second. Grab your hard base material and cut it into a circle that’ll fit perfectly inside your base, to make it lay flat. Once that’s done, continue on:
R5: *sc x 2, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (16)
R6: *sc, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (12)
Finish off. Add your heavy stuff and top it off with polyfil.
16 inch / 4-6 month head
Make a magic ring of 6 sc.
R1: 2sc into each st (12)
R2: *sc, 2sc* repeat until end of row (18)
R3: *sc, sc, 2sc* repeat until end of row (24)
R4: *sc x 3, 2sc* repeat til end of row (30)
R5: *sc x 4, 2sc* repeat til end of row (36)
R6: *sc x 5, 2sc* repeat til end of row (42)
R7-R14: sc into each st (42)
Before you go and do all 8 rows of sc, stop after row 10. Now stuff your head and measure the curcumference of the last row you did. It should be 16 inches, or very verrry close. If not you’ll need to do some things to change this. If it’s too big, one thing you can do is skip 1 or 2 increases in row 6, likewise if it’s too small you can add them. You can adjust your tension. You could try going up or down a hook size. Just do what you gotta do!
R15: *sc x 5, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (36)
R16: *sc x 10, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (33)
R17: *sc x 9, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (30)
R18: *sc x 3, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (24)
R19: dec2tog entire row (12)
Finish off and leave a tail for sewing to the base. Add your stuffing and sew on! I made a little nose on R13 by simply winding yarn around a stitch over and over.
This is the head I made first. I figured out the stitch count for the 14″ by measuring how many stitches were in 2 inches, and subtracting that from 42. I ended up with 35 (7 stitches in 2 inches), so that’s the number I needed to get to for the newborn head.
14 inch / 0-3 month head
Make a magic ring of 6 sc.
R1: 2sc into each st (12)
R2: *sc, 2sc* repeat until end of row (18)
R3: *sc, sc, 2sc* repeat until end of row (24)
R4: *sc x 3, 2sc* repeat til end of row (30)
R5: *sc x 5, 2sc* repeat til end of row (35)
R6-R12: sc into each st (35)
Again, stop early and measure, let’s say at row 9. Stuff your head
and measure the curcumference of the last row you did. It should be 14
inches, or very verrry close. If not you’ll need to do some things to
change this. If it’s too big, one thing you can do is skip 1 or 2
increases in row 5, likewise if it’s too small you can add them. You can
adjust your tension. You could try going up or down a hook size. Just
do what you gotta do!
R13: *sc x 3, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (30)
R14: *sc x 8, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (27)
R15: *sc x 1, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (18)
R16: *sc x 1, dec2tog* repeat til end of row (12)
Finish off and leave a tail for sewing to the base. Add your stuffing and sew on! I made a little nose on R11 by simply winding yarn around a stitch over and over.
I’ve not made it yet, but to make the 18“ my stitch repeat would be 49. I would follow the same pattern for the 16 inch but R6 would be an increase of 7, then I would start repeating, so hopefully you guys can figure that out yourself!
Let me know if you guys find any typos or mistakes :)
Tags: crochet pattern, Display, freebies
