Easy Crocheted Baby Doll Blanket

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Dolls are so magical.  They help children learn empathy and mimic their parents to learn important skills.  They also provide much comfort, joy and even companionship.  That’s why I love packing them in my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes or even to donate to local first responders, foster care and homeless family shelters.  Here’s a way to make them even more special – wrap them in a lovey!  I made an Easy Crocheted Baby Doll Blanket!  You could expand this pattern to make an easy baby blanket as well – it’s all in the size.

First – where do you get a nice baby doll?  I’ve looked online and searched every store.  They are generally fairly expensive.  I’ve refurbished many I’ve found at garage sales and thrift stores, but often they are rather large and difficult to fit into a shoebox gift.  Walmart sometimes has Baby Dolls  with free ship to store available, but you would have to check for availability, they are not always in stock.  I’ve found several wonderful ones at Burlington on sale and you can check them out HERE.

However – my absolute favorite Baby Doll to purchase in bulk is from Dollar Tree.  And they are just $1 each.  They are perfect for bulk donation needs!  We’ve picked up cases of them over the years.  They are 9″ with a soft fabric body in a variety of cheerful designs. They also come in either Caucasion or African American skin tones.  This week I checked 3 of my local Dollar Tree stores and only found a few dolls in only one store.  I suggest saving yourself a trip and purchasing them online.  They have FREE ship to store – which is the best.  Saves so much time driving around.

Once you’ve gotten your Baby Doll – it’s time to make this Easy Crocheted Baby Doll Blanket!  The child can use it as a lovey themselves and then play and wrap their dolly.  You certainly can use any kind of a stitch.  Both crocheting or knitting (or even sewing) is great.  But today I decided to try a Triple or Treble Crochet and make an entire blanket with just that one stitch for the main section!

Easy Crocheted Baby Doll Blanket

Yarn and Needle:

These will be loose general directions.  The easy crocheted baby doll blanket is a square.  The doll is placed in the center of the square on point, the bottom is folded up, and the sides wrapped in.  This makes a cozy wrapped baby doll! (You can tie with a ribbon or yarn to keep the blanket secure.)  A larger doll will require a larger blanket and more stitches, while a smaller doll can use a smaller blanket.  In addition, the weight of your yarn and the size of your needle will make a difference.  This project is supposed to be enjoyable so use anything you have at home and eyeball it!  If it comes out too small, when you crochet the border edge during the last step – make additional rows until it is the size you require!

Normally I use RedHeart SuperSaver yarn.  Recently I have tried the Michaels and the ACMoore less expensive store brands.  I LOVE them.  The ACMoore store brand (Stitch Studio by Nicole) is very soft and yummy while still being the same weight as a Red Heart.  However I had some Hobby Lobby BabyBee yarn left over from another project and thought I’d try that.  It is thinner and a lighter weight yarn and for this particular project I decided to use a small needle sized H.   I think you’ve gotta be able to roll with what you have!

Directions for the Body of the Blanket:

Time required: Total time will vary

Difficulty:  Easy

Tools:

• Yarn
• Hook – I used an H (like this one from Amazon)

I like to have a variety of needles on hand to use for different projects.  I have used lucite ones, but my favorite are the metal hooks.  Here is a good variety a 6 pack: with an F, G, H, I, J and K from Amazon:
To Start.  Make a slip knot and loosely chain as many as you think you need (eyeball it – we will end up with a square), then chain three more in addition.

For my BabyBee yarn with an H needle and for the Dollar Store Baby Doll, I chained 44 stitches.

Row 1.  Yarn over your hook 2 times.  Skip the first 4 chains (that will become your first stitch).  Insert your hook into the fifth chain (from front to back) and draw the yarn through the chain and pull up a loop.  There are now four loops on your hook.  Yarn over and pull through two loops.  Now yarn over and pull through two loops again.  Now yarn over and pull through the last two.  You’ve pulled through 3 times – You have now made a Triple or Treble crochet stitch!

Continue that stitch for the entire length of your chain stitches.

2nd – row 14.  Chain 4, turn.  That Chain 4 is your first stitch!  Begin your triple crochet in the second stitch! This is important or things will get wonky!  Continue across the row with your final triple crochet in your chain 3 stitch from the row below.

TIP:  For accuracy – If you want to make sure you are continuing your blanket accurately, and not getting bigger or smaller – count your stitches.  They should be the same throughout your blanket.  The tricky bit is to make sure you are making your final triple crochet in your chain 3 stitch from the row below!

With my yarn and my hook, 14 rows made the square.  This easy crocheted baby doll blanket could easily be enlarged for any doll, OR to make an actual BABY BLANKET as well!


Directions for the Border:

The blankets don’t necessarily need a border, but how fun!  Use a different colors to add some flair!  They also can make a smaller blanket larger if needed.

My border has 3 rows. I used a white BabyBee yarn to match the weight of the blanket yarn.

Row 1.  Chain 1.  Single crochet in each stitch across the top, and then 3 single crochets in the corner.

For the side,  single crochet  = using 2 single crochets PER ROW.  That helps it not get wonky.

3 single crochet stitches in the corner,  then single crochet in each stitch across the bottom chain foundation stitches.

Repeat the single crochet up the side with 2 single crochets per row.  Slip stitch into your first chain.

Now check to see if your piece looks correct.  Even with these directions, I think I didn’t pay attention and one side got crazy wobbly (TV must have been very distracting at that moment!) You have 2 choices at that point – rip out and repeat – or in your next row, do less stitches to see if it can be reigned in (a much riskier approach, lol!)  Remember crocheting should be enjoyable but still beautiful.

Row 2-3.   Chain one and single crochet into each stitch with 3 single crochets in each corner.  Slip stitch at the end, cut yarn and weave in the tail.

Optional 3rd row:

Chain 1 and single crochet, chain 3, single crochet in next stitch.  Repeat (still have 3 single crochet stitches in each corner)  These create the “picot” or little decorative bumps around the edge!

Now you’ve made this easy crocheted baby doll blanket!  You can even make it a larger size for any sweet babies in your life!

If you would like to make some sweet clothes for your baby doll, here is a post from my friends at Crafting for Shoeboxes for a knitted hat and sweater!

If you want to sew some clothes for your baby doll, my friends have another post for that! Trousers and a Sleep Set for Baby Dolls.

 Want to check out my other free crochet tutorials?

• Colorful Folk Dolls
• Aunt Ida Easy Hat Pattern
• Tossing Rings
• 10 Washcloth Patterns

How about adding a “I made this with LOVE just for YOU” tag?  I have free printable tags that you can print HERE.

Do you need YARN for all of your crocheting?  Definitely check out my post on
How to Get FREE (or really cheap) YARN

You can check out all my other craft posts.

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I love finding great deals and crafts to save on our family budget - AND have plenty to share. Join me in finding JOY through the PURPOSE of helping others, and have lots of fun along the way!