Crochet a cat face – free pattern

Make a cute embroidered cat face with this free crochet pattern. It’s part of my Halloween bunting crochet motifs series. You can also crochet a pumpkin face, make some ghosts and create quick & easy crochet spider webs.

Cats are not just for Halloween of course! This pattern makes a cute hanging decoration for any occasion or you can use it as an appliqué embellishment in another crochet or craft project.

Materials & Notes

• 4 ply or sport weight yarn for the cat’s face. I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Glamour in Onyx black which has a subtle glittery effect.
• 3.5mm (size E) crochet hook – I love Addi swing hooks
• Small amounts of 4 ply yarn to embroider the face features. I used Drops Baby Merino:
  • Pink for the ears & nose (shade 7 pink)
  • Green & black for the eyes (shade 9 lime) & the same black yarn as the main piece.
  • White for the whiskers (shade 2 off white)
  • Light grey for the mouth
• Embroidery needle
• Optional: fabric stiffener. I used Dylon spray starch.

Finished size: 12.5cm wide by 9.5cm tall approx.

Thicker yarn guidance

You can use dk or light worsted/aran yarn to crochet the cat face if you prefer. A 4 or 4.5mm hook might work better with aran/worsted yarn. If you want your cat face to match the finished measurements, follow the modifications step after round 8 & skip the final 2 rounds. Alternatively, you can follow the full pattern with thicker yarn to make a larger cat face.

Abbreviations

NB this pattern uses US crochet terms. The equivalent UK crochet stitches are listed after each term.

• R – round
• st – stitch(es)
• yoh – yarn over hook
• ch – chain
• sl st – slip stitch
• sc – single crochet stitch (UK: double crochet)
• sc2tog – single crochet 2 stitches together to decrease by 1 (UK: dc2tog)
• hdc – half double crochet stitch (UK: half treble crochet)

Embroider the cat face features

There is a fair amount of stitching for the cat’s face. I have detailed one approach below but there is no right & wrong here. It may take a few attempts to get your cat looking purr-fect. Just remember that all cats are cute in their own way. 🙂

Here’s a close up picture of the face to use for reference along with the detailed instructions below:

Ears

With your ear colour yarn, e.g. pink, bring your embroidery needle up near the top of the ear point, below the slip stitches or about 1cm down. Make a long straight vertical stitch bringing your needle down near the bottom centre of the ear (1.5cm approx). Bring your needle back up at the top starting point & add 2 further diagonal stitches on each side. So you have 5 long stitches coming out from the starting point. Then fill in each triangle with more vertical stitches.

Eyes

Using your main eye colour yarn, e.g. green, bring your needle up 3cm down from the top of the head approx & close to the start of the right inner ear vertically. Make a small vertical stitch. Continue making straight stitches to the right of this. Gradually increase the length of the first few & then make 1.5cm long stitches approx for 1-1.5cm wide. Then decrease for the outer eye corner. You should have an oval shape about 2-2.5cm wide.

Next outline your eye using 4 long stitches with the same eye colour. Bring your needle up at the outer corner, down at the top centre, up at the inner corner & back down at the top centre again. Repeat for the bottom of the eye. You now have an outlined diamond/oval eye shape.

Finally, take your pupil colour yarn, e.g. black, & bring your needle up at the top centre of the eye (where your outline stitches meet). Make approx 4 long vertical stitches down to the bottom centre of your eye to make the pupil. You can also take your needle and wrap it around these stitches at the top & bottom to gather them together and make your pupil look pointy at the ends and wider and curved elsewhere.

Repeat for the left eye.

Nose

With your nose colour yarn, e.g. pink, bring your needle up slightly below the eyes, slightly left of centre (roughly .75 cm). Make a 1.5cm approx horizontal stitch. Add several further horizontal stitches below this gradually decreasing in size, to make a soft upside down triangle shape about 1cm deep for the nose. Finally add 2 diagonal stitches down the sides meeting at the bottom to outline the nose.

Mouth

With your mouth colour yarn, e.g. grey, bring your needle up at the bottom of the nose. Make a 1.5cm long vertical stitch. Then bring your needle up about half an inch to the right. Take your needle back down gently at the centre point, with your thumb pulling the yarn down to curve it into a smile shape.

To hold this in place, bring your needle up where you want your bottom midpoint to be and put your needle through a play or 2 of your yarn to split it and bring your needle back down very close to the same point. Now you should have the right “smile” side of your mouth held in place without seeing the midpoint holding stitch.

Bring your needle back up at the bottom of the vertical mouth stitch & take it back down gently about half an inch to the left, pulling the yarn down to make the left half smile & repeat as above to hold it in place.

Whiskers

With your whiskers colour yarn, e.g. white, bring your needle up a bit to the right of the nose (.5 cm approx) and make a long upward slanted stitch to near the far right edge. This is the 1st whisker. Bring your needle up about 2 cm below along the same round and take it back down at the starting point to complete the 2nd whisker.

Finishing (optional)

If your cat face does not lie flat, you can wet block it or spray it with light stiffener & leave it to dry. I used Dylon spray starch.

I hope you enjoy making your crochet cat face. If you have any feedback or questions please comment below.

Why not try some of my other free crochet Halloween decoration patterns?

This free pattern is for personal, non-commercial use only. It may not be copied, sold, translated or distributed in any way, nor any finished items made using it sold, without permission.