This is a small puppy wearing a ghost costume: a white sheet with two eye holes, pleated at the front, and a pumpkin basket hanging from its mouth. It is about 10 cm tall in cotton at a 2.5 mm hook, and it is the sort of pattern that looks complicated and is not — the whole costume is a flat oval worked into a tube, with two chain loops for the eyes.
The ears are deliberately asymmetric, one up and one down, which is what gives the puppy its expression. The pleats are sewn afterwards with the yarn from the costume, so you can decide how gathered it looks.
Every round is written out below, plus the pleating sequence, which is the only part that needs a diagram.
What you need
- Yarn: cotton in white, brown and orange
- Hook: 2.5 mm
- Safety eyes: 5 mm, plus a 6.5 x 5 mm nose
- Notions: stuffing, yarn needle, sewing pins, stitch markers, scissors
Abbreviations
- MR magic ring, sc single crochet, inc increase, dec decrease
- dc double crochet, ch chain, BLO back loop only
- R round, and the number in brackets is the stitch count
Head
- R1: 6 sc in MR (6)
- R2: 6 inc (12)
- R3–5: 12 sc (12) — 3 rounds
- R6: 4 sc, 4 inc, 4 sc (16)
- R7–9: 16 sc (16) — 3 rounds
- R10: (2 sc, dec) x4 (12)
Stuff the head.
- R11: 6 dec (6)
Fasten off and cut the yarn.
Ears (make 2, brown)
- R1: 6 sc in MR (6)
- R2–3: 6 sc (6) — 2 rounds
- R4: (sc, dec) x2 (4)
- R5: 4 sc (4)
Do not stuff. Fasten off leaving a long tail, and sew one ear up and one ear down.
Ghost costume (white)
Ch 5 and start in the second stitch from the hook.
- R1: 3 sc, 3 sc in the same stitch, 2 sc, inc in the same stitch (10)
- R2: inc, 2 sc, 3 inc, 2 sc, 2 inc (16)
- R3: 16 sc (16)
- R4: 3 sc, inc, 3 sc, 2 dc in the same stitch, ch 6, skip 3 st, dc, ch 6, skip 3 st, 2 dc in the same stitch (25)
- R5: 10 sc, 6 sc on the chains, sc, 6 sc on the chains, 2 sc (25)
- R6: (5 sc, inc) x2, ch 5, skip 11 st, 2 sc (21)
- R7: (6 sc, inc) x3 (24)
- R8: 24 sc (24)
- R9: (7 sc, inc) x3 (27)
- R10: (8 sc, inc) x3 (30)
- R11: (5 sc, inc) x5 (35)
- R12: (6 sc, inc) x5 (40)
- R13: (7 sc, inc) x5 (45)
- R14: (8 sc, inc) x5 (50)
- R15: (9 sc, inc) x5 (55)
Fasten off, leaving about 30 cm of yarn: that tail is what you pleat with. The two chain-6 loops on R4 are the eye holes, and the chain-5 on R6 is the opening for the muzzle.
Pumpkin basket (orange)
- R1: 5 sc in MR (5)
- R2: 5 inc (10)
- R3: BLO 10 sc (10)
- R4–5: 10 sc (10) — 2 rounds
Fasten off and cut the yarn. Use felt or yarn for the pumpkin’s face.
Pleats
- Mark the four cardinal points of the costume’s hem with pins.
- Start at the near side, between R2 and R3 from the bottom.
- Pass the thread from the inside to the outside of the costume, move one stitch to the side, and go back inside.
- Pull the yarn to gather. Repeat around, then fasten off inside.
The tighter you pull, the more the sheet gathers. Two passes around is usually enough.
Assembly
- Put the nose on the head between R1 and R2, then pull the costume on.
- Push the eyes through the two chain holes on R4.
- Sew the ears on, one up and one down.
- Make the pleats with the costume’s own yarn.
- Sew the pumpkin basket to the mouth area, under the muzzle.
Notes
Cotton at 2.5 mm gives a stiff sheet that holds the pleats; acrylic will sag after a day. If the eye holes look too big once the eyes are in, work one round of sc around each hole before putting the costume on the head.
More Halloween makes: Pumpkin Bunny is the same idea with a pumpkin body, Mini Pumpkin Man is all velvet, and One-Eyed Monster is the bigger plush one. Everything is on the patterns page.
Pattern source: Halloween puppy in a ghost costume, as shared by the original designer on the amigurumi pattern blogs.
The other ghost on the site is Ghost with a Pumpkin Hat: a white plush cone with two bobble eyebrows.
