Robin

December 16, 2024

This Robin design was one of the very first things I crocheted, since I got into crocheting in the peak of my Batman phase as well. Dick Grayson is one of my favourite characters, although I love him more as Nightwing then Robin (I think Tim is probably my favourite Robin) – but what an iconic costume, am I right? So if you ever wanted to make one of your own boy wonders to go alongside our Batman pattern, check this free Robin crochet pattern out!

Because this is one of my earliest patterns, the photos are of a lower quality than my newer ones. Hopefully you can still tell what’s going on, and feel free to send me a question on the contact page if you get stuck!

What materials will you need?

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3.00 mm crochet hook
Yarn needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
Polyester fiberfill or some other stuffing material
Black yarn (Stylecraft Special DK – 1002 Black)
Beige yarn (Stylecraft Special DK – 1710 Stone)
Yellow yarn (Stylecraft Special DK – 1263 Citron)
Green yarn (Stylecraft Special DK – 1821 Grass Green)
Red yarn (Stylecraft Special DK – 1246 Lipstick)
White felt
Black felt
Yellow felt
Fabric glue

There are affiliate links in the brackets next to the colours for the yarn I used in this project, but any DK weight yarn will do!

Quick reference for beginners

Check out some of the below tutorials if you get stuck on any of the stitches or techniques

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

Free Robin crochet pattern

HEAD

row 1. (in Beige) MR 6sc (6)
row 2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4. [ sc, inc, sc ]x 6 (24)
row 5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6. [ sc 2, inc, sc 2 ]x 6 (36)
rows 7-12. sc 36 (36)
row 8. [ sc 2, dec, sc 2 ]x 6 (30)
row 9. [ dec, sc 3 ]x 6 (24)
row 10. [ sc, dec, sc ]x 6 (18)

Leave tail for sewing, finish off and stuff firmly. Stitch on the mouth using a few threads of black embroidery or cross-stitch thread. Yarn works as well but leaves the mouth a bit thick.

HAIR CAP

row 1. (in Black) MR 6sc (6)
row 2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4. [ sc, inc, sc ]x 6 (24)
row 5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
row 6. [ sc 2, inc, sc 2 ]x 6 (36)
rows 7-12. sc 36 (36)

Leave tail for sewing and finish off. We’ll attach it to the head and sew on the hair later.

ARM (make 2)

row 1. (in Green) MR 6sc (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 6-8. sc 8 (8)
rows 9-12. (in Beige) sc 8 (8)
rows 13-15. (in Green) sc 8 (8)

No need for stuffing, leave tail for sewing and finish off! The popcorn stitch is what makes the thumb in the arm. If you find it a bit tricky, feel free to replace it with a sc for simpler arms.

BOOTS (make 2)

row 1. (in Green) MR 6sc (6)
row 2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
row 3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
row 4. BLO sc 18 (18)
rows 5-7. sc 18 (18)
row 8. sc 2, dec 6, sc 4 (12)
(on the second leg, row 8 is:
row 8. sc 4, dec, sc 2 (12)
this gives a right and left boot)
row 9. sc 6 (we’ve only worked half the row and will turn)
row 10. ch 1, turn, sc 12
row 11. ch 1, turn, sc 6

Do a slip stitch in the next stitch to finish off and help even out the finished edge. Hide the tail of the yarn by weaving it into the boot stitches and cut the yarn.

LEG (make 2)

row 1. (in Beige) MR 5sc (5)
row 2. [ inc ]x 5 (10)
rows 3-12. sc 10 (10)
row 13. [ inc, sc 4 ]x 2 (12)

Finish off, the tail doesn’t need to be long as they’re not sewn onto anything.

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 on the other side. This is what it should look like after one round.

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

Finish off and stuff the rest of the body.

TIP Stuff the legs before beginning the decreases. Make sure that he’s not stuffed so firmly that he can’t balance on his own. To help with balancing, push the bottoms of the feet in so that they slightly curve inwards.

SHIRT BOTTOM

When creating the original chain, try to leave a bit of a tail as it will make attaching the shirt bottom to the doll a bit easier.

row 1. (in Red) ch 24 (24)
row 2. ch 1, turn, sc 24 (24)

Try to leave a tail when you finish the piece as well – being able to have two long tails to work with helps make it easier to be able to pick and choose which one works better for you when sewing on.

Putting it all together

Attach the shirt bottom to the stuffed doll (in these pictures I attached it as the last step, but I actually find it easier to do it before the chest and belt buckle detailing below). You want to sew it on in place, using the tails. I use a pin to help position beforehand.

Pin it in place to make sure it will fit, it’s okay if you need to stretch it a little. If it’s too short or long, just add or remove the number of stitches you begin with in the chain.

Take the pieces of yarn from the other side, weave them under the belt and then begin to secure it in place by embroidering it on.

Then just sew through every stitch to secure it to the body nice and neatly!

Stitch on the chest decoration. The R insignia is made of a black background, where I thread black through 4 stitches until it resembles a circle (1), then the yellow R is made of three lines, all beginning from the top left corner: one horizontal, from top left to top right; one vertical, from top left to bottom left, and one diagonal, from top left to bottom right (2). Stuff the rest of the body to give him a bit of a chest.

At this point it’s easier to attach the arms and the cape. It’s a bit more difficult to maneuver around the head.

When attaching the arms, I like to pin them in place first so that I can get an idea of positioning, and then attach them as a flattened piece.

For the cape, take a square-ish piece of yellow felt and trim it until it’s appropriate for your doll. The cape will match the shape pictures; the curved edges make it hang and fit around the shoulders better. Also with the yellow felt, cut out the shape of his belt buckle.

Then sew the cape on around the shoulders and back of the neck, I just use yellow yarn to do this. Also glue on the belt buckle!

Make the mask using black felt and white felt. I cut the outline of the mask, then cut holes in it for the white to show through. I find small curved scissors like nail scissors help a lot.

Unfortunately I don’t have photos of this process, but here’s in the finished doll – hopefully you can see the felt shapes from this photo.

Sewing the hair

I learnt this technique from Owlishly, so I don’t want to take any credit for it, or imagine that I can explain it better then her. Here’s the link to the tutorial: http://owlishly.typepad.com/owlishly/2007/08/amigurumi-hair.html

Use the tail of the wig cap to attach it to the head. It only needs to attach at a few places so no need to be overly thorough.

Robin is drawn with a variety of hairstyles so you can google and choose whichever one you like! I tend to part his hair on the right side and give him a short neat hairstyle. These photos are pretty dark and hard to see – check out the Sailor Mercury pattern for a pretty similar hair style in a much lighter colour!

Stitch on the mouth. I use 2-3 strands of black thread as I find yarn to be too thick. It can be easier to figure mouth placement with the mask or eyes and hair in place already. Just make sure to do the mouth before sewing the head to the body.

Glue on the mask. 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! Ta-da!

Other patterns in this series

Check out the DC Comics collection for a bunch of the other superhero patterns! If you make these, I’d love to see what you create! Tag @53stitches on Instagram or Tumblr.

Other patterns in the series

You can complete your dynamic duo with our Batman pattern! There are some other DC patterns on the blog – such as Wonder Woman, Superman, Nightwing with more to come! If you can’t wait, you can purchase some of those over on my Ravelry store!

If you make your own and you share on Instagram or Tumblr, don’t forget to tag @53stitches so I can check it out ☺️