Captain America

May 25, 2023

Captain America was one of the first marvel crochet patterns I made and I think he still holds up pretty well as adorable little amigurumi doll all these years later! Today I’m adding this Captain America crochet pattern to the blog free, in his Avengers suit, with more Marvel characters to follow! This pattern is one of my more complicated ones, with plenty of colour changes and a removable helmet and shield. This means he may be a challenging project for beginners, but definitely a rewarding one.

There are plenty of pictures, but check out the colour change tutorial to make sure the colour change happens in the right spot to get nice solid vertical lines, there are plenty of pictures to help out along the way.

You can purchase a printable ad-free version of this pattern over on my Ravelry, and if you do a huge thank-you in advance for your wonderful support!

What materials will you need?

Note some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means I get paid a small fee if you decide to purchase anything at no extra cost to you. I will only ever link products I happily use myself.

The colour codes in the brackets are for Stylecraft Special DK yarn.

Red yarn (Stylecraft Special DK in 1246 Lipstick)
White yarn (Stylecraft Special DK in 1001 White)
Blue yarn (Stylecraft Special DK in 1117 Royal)
Beige yarn (Stylecraft Special DK in 1710 Stone)
Yellow yarn (Stylecraft Special DK in 1856 Dandelion)
White felt
Black thread
2 x 8.00mm safety eyes
Fabric glue
3.00 mm crochet hook
Polyester filling

The yarn I use is an 8ply Australian brand with a guage of 22 stitches x 30 rows. This is equivalent to a DK yarn. When finished, your doll should be about 17.5 cm or 12 inches tall.

Quick reference for beginners

Check out some of the below tutorials if you get stuck on any of the stitches or techniques. Captain America can be a tricky pattern for absolute beginners, but is very rewarding!

If you get stuck anywhere else, check out the FAQ.

Captain America free crochet pattern

HEAD

Because Captain America’s mask is made to come off in this pattern, there are a few colour changes in the head part of the pattern to give him hair!

row 1: (in Yellow) MR 6 (6)
row 2: [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3: [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4: sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
row 5: [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6: (continue in Yellow) sc 2, inc, sc 4, inc, sc 2 (change to Beige) sc 2, inc, sc 4, inc, sc 2 (change to Yellow) sc 2, inc, sc 4, inc, sc 2 (12) (36)
row 7-9: (continue in Yellow) sc 12 (change to Beige) sc 12 (change to Yellow) sc 12 (36)
row 10-12: (continue in Yellow) sc 11 (change to Beige) sc 14 (change to Yellow) sc 11 (36)
row 13: (continue in Yellow) sc 2, dec, sc 4, dec, (change to Beige) [ sc 4, dec ]x 2, sc 4, (change to Yellow) dec, sc 4, dec, sc 2 (30)
row 14: (continue in Yellow) dec, sc 3, dec, (change to Beige) sc 3, dec, sc 3, dec, sc 3, dec, sc, (change to Yellow) sc 2, dec, sc 3 (24)
row 15: (change to Beige) sc, [ dec, sc 2 ]x 5, dec, sc (18)

SIMPLE HEAD

Feel free to skip all these colour changes and do the entire head in Beige if you don’t care about the removable helmet. The single colour instructions are below for ease of reading:

row 1: (in Beige) MR 6 (6)
row 2: [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3: [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4: sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
row 5: [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6: sc 2, inc, [ sc 4, inc ]x 5, sc 2 (36)
rows 7-12: sc 36 (36)
row 13: sc 2, dec, [ sc 4, dec ]x 5, sc 2 (30)
row 14: [ dec, sc 3 ]x 6 (24)
row 15: sc, dec, [ sc 2, dec ]x 5, sc (18)

ARM (make 2)

row 1: (in Red) MR 6 (6)
row 2: [ inc, sc 2 ]x 2 (8)
rows 3-4: sc 8 (8)
row 5: sc 3, 4sc popcorn, sc 4 (8)
rows 6-7: sc 8 (8)
rows 8-10: (change to White) sc 8 (8)
rows 11-15: (change to Blue) sc 8 (8)

The arms are so small, they don’t need stuffing! Leave a tail for sewing and finish off.

TIP The popcorn stitch in the arm is the thumb, if you prefer straight arms, simple replace the popcorn stitch with a sc.

LEG (make 2)

row 1: (in Red) MR 6 (6)
row 2: inc 6 (12)
row 3: [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4: BLO sc 18 (18)
rows 5-7: sc 18 (18)
row 8: sc 3, dec 6, sc 3 (12)
rows 9-11: sc 12 (12)
rows 12-19: (change to Blue) sc 12 (12)

Finish off the first leg with a slip stitch and cut the yarn with about 4cm or so – no long tail necessary. For the second leg, don’t cut the thread, we’ll continue crocheting and join the two legs together for the body.

TIP Crocheting one round in the back loop only makes it easier to give the foot it’s shape, as it helps the row curve and make the base flat.

BODY

Take the two legs and position them so that the feet are pointing correctly, I like to place two bobby pins in the stitches where the legs will join to make it easier to manage. Make a slip knot, insert hook in the stitch you are going to begin the round with, make sure to begin the round at the back of the doll so that the colour changes are kept out of sight. Put the slip knot on the hook, and pull it through. The next stitch will be a regular single crochet and will begin the round.

Join with two bobby pins, this is where you’ll go from one leg to the other.

Make one sc in the right leg in the stitch the bobby pin marks. The next sc will be on the left leg, in the stitch the bobby pin marks.

Do the same thing when you reach the next bobby pin. This is what it should look like after one round.

See more pictures below for further instructions on rows 4-7.

rows 1-3: (in Blue) sc 24 (24)
rows 4-7: [ (change to Red) sc 2, (change to White) sc 2 ]x 6 (24)
row 8. (change to Blue) sc 24 (24)
(at this point stuff the legs)
row 9. sc 3, dec, [ sc 6, dec ]x 2, sc 3 (21)
row 10. [ dec, sc 5 ]x 3 (18)
row 11. sc 2, dec [ sc 4, dec ]x 2, sc 2 (15)
row 12. [ dec, sc 3 ]x 3 (12)
row 13. sc 12 (12)
row 14. (change to Beige) [ sc, inc ]x 3 (18)

TIP When stuffing, make sure he’s not stuffed so firmly that he can’t still stand – this is easier if you can push the bottom of his feet inwards to help his balance.

For rows 4-7 of the body colour changes have to be done in a particular way in order to make sure that the lines of red and white are straight. It’s possible you already do it this way:

This is the last stitch before the colour change (stitch 24 of row 3). Don’t complete it as usual. Instead, do the first 2 steps of a sc (insert, yarn over, pull through), but stop at this point.

Do the second yarn over in the colour you’re changing to. In this case, with the red yarn.

Pull the red yarn through both loops on the hook to complete the last sc of row 3.

Now complete 1 sc as usual, and fort he second sc of row 4, stop at the same point you did for the blue (with two red loops on your hook). This time, yarn over with the white yarn and pull through both loops.

Repeat this method each time. Complete the second sc of each colour in the next colour. This ensures your rows will be straight.

This is what the finished product will look like! Be sure to pull your yarn tightly when you change colours. I like to knot mine at the back. It’s more time consuming, but it gives a neater finish.

MASK

Make sure when you finish off and start rows again that you are leaving enough of a tail to be able to neatly hide when it’s finished. As an alternative to finishing off and starting again for rows 13-19, you could ch 1 and turn the work instead. This gives the bottom half of the mask a different texture.

See the pictures below for clarification around how to do rows 11-18.

row 1: (in Blue) MR 6 (6)
row 2: [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3: [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4: sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
row 5: [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6: sc 2, inc, [ sc 4, inc ]x 5, sc 2 (36)
rows 7-10: sc 36 (36)
Finish off by cutting the yarn, doing a ch 1, and pulling it through. All “finish off’s” for this mask should be done this way, except the last one.
row 11: skip 10, insert into 11th stitch, ch 1, sc 1 in same stitch, sc 26 (26)
row 12: ch 8, skip 4, sc 2, ch 8, skip 4, sc 26
row 13: sc 44, finish off (44)
rows 14-16: (pick up on other side) sc 26, finish off (26)
row 17: sc 12, dec 7, finish off (19)
row 18: dec 6 (6)

Finish off by doing a slip stitch in the next stitch. You will be halfway through the row.

End of **row 10**. Finish off by doing the last sc, then ch 1 but cut the yarn and pull it through because you want an edge, not a smooth finish.

**Row 11**. Skip 10 stitches, on the 11th stitch, insert your crochet hook.

**Row 11.** Yarn over and pull through. Ch 1, then insert your hook back into the 11th stitch and complete 1 sc.

**Row 12**. After reaching the end of row 11, ch 8.

**Row 12**. Skip 4, and insert your hook into the 5th stitch. sc 2.

**Row 12**. ch 8 again, insert hook into first stitch on the other side.

At the end of **row 13** finish off. The rest of the rows will be in line with this.

Beginning of **row 14**. The rest of the rows will be in line with this.

Cut two wing shapes out of white felt for the sides of the mask.

Glue the wings on the side of the helmet.

Neaten up the mask buy weaving the tails away out of sight, back into the piece.

Embroider an ‘A’ on the front of the mask with white yarn and you’re done!

SHEILD

The shield needs to be done in joined rounds, not continuous. This means is that at the end of each round, instead of continuing as usual, you’re going to slip stitch into the first stitch of the same round, then ch 1 and continue. See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJgoju_T53E

row 1: (in Blue) MR 6 (6)
row 2: [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3: [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4: (change to Red) sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
row 5: (change to White) [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6: (change to Red) sc 30 (30)

SHEILD STRAP

row 1: (in Blue) ch 8 (8)

Putting it all together

Attach the arms next. Try out pinning them in place first to get an idea of positioning, and then attach them as a flattened piece.

Cut two stars out of white felt. The larger one is for the shield and the size should fill the blue portion of the shield. The smaller one is for his chest. Attach the shield strap first, ensuring that the arm can fit through it. Finally, glue the stars on.

Attach the head. There should have been 18 stitches in the last round of the head and the body, so they match up evenly. Simple align the head properly, and whipstitch closed!

Finished!

Other patterns in the series

I hope you enjoyed making your Captain America crochet doll! Check out the Marvel and DC Comics collections for more patterns from this series and don’t forge to tag @53stitches on Instagram or Tumblr if you share your work online so I can check it out!

We’ve got more characters coming to these collections soon!