Paper Crane Pattern

 

Free Pattern:
Us 5.5 mm or 5.00 mm crochet hook
Size 4 medium worsted weight yarn

This is done in only two parts that are easy and then really easily sewn together. Thie requires no stuffing.

Wings and Body:

magic circle or chain 4 and slip stitch into the first chain.

Row 1: work 6 single crochets into the circle. (6)

Row 2-9: Increase only the first stitch of every round and work regular single crochets around. (14)

Row 10-18: Work a single crochet all the way around. (14)

19-26: Decrease only the first two stitches (combining them together) and then work the rest of the stitches as regular single crochets. (6)

Row 27: Work a single crochet into every stitch. Fasten off and sew the whole closed. 

Head and Tail:

Magic ring or chain 4 and slip stitch into the first chain. 

Row 1: Work 6 single crochets into the circle.

Row 2-21: Work a single crochet into each stitch.

Row 22: Single crochet 3, chain 1, and turn.

Row 23-24: Work 3 single crochets chain 1 and turn.

Row 25: Single crochet into the 3 stitches as well as the 3 stitches from the original circle. Making a turn in the neck.

Row 26-27: Work a single crochet into every stitch (6). After the last row fastens off and sew the hole closed.

Combining the two parts:

Place your head and tailpieces on top of the wings and body. You are going to bend the body to the shape you want. You can include a bump in the center and have the head and tail up like mine. Once you have the shape you want hold it together with the bottom of the body, keeping the wings still out. At this point, it should look like a crane, make sure it looks how you want. Then simply take a needle with the same color and go back and forth through both sides of the body as well as the piece you sandwiched inside. Keep going till it holds its shape, I had to go through the head and tail a few times to get it how I wanted it. I brought the two ends of the yarn back together, tied a not, and then sewed them back to the other side of the body, then snipped off the ends on the other side securing the ends inside the crane. For the other ends, I just weaved them into the inside of the piece. 

There is so much I could say about this pattern. I am absolutely in love with this and so insanely proud of myself. I have a paper crane tattoo, I have folded hundreds of paper cranes. It has a huge place in my heart and a really important meaning to me. I can not wait to make many more of these. There are only fewer than five patterns online, and I spent hours upon hours looking for inspiration of a pattern I could just use because I had no idea where to start at first, then I finally just had faith in myself and made this, I did have one pattern for inspiration though they did everything flat and in four pieces and out of all the patterns I did find they all required 4 or more pieces to sew together and one of the main reasons I hate making stuffed animals or something like that is because of sewing all the pieces together, I have done it before but it is not my preferred method, though you do sew this one it is very simple and only in two pieces. 

I am including all the photos I took of this paper crane so you can see it from all directions in all its beauty and perfection.

I could probably talk about this pattern all day. It is one of my proudest creations for many reasons. Such as it doesn't require stuffing. I absolutely hate stuffing, not necessarily polyfill just the fact that you need something extra to complete the project. I like projects you just need a hook and yarn for. Obviously, I have other tools such as scissors and measuring tape, and stitch markers, but there are ways around each of these and they are just tools, one buy and that's it for the most part. But if you know anything about crocheting yarn can be super expensive so adding stuffing on top makes it inaccessible to people with low money, the first time I ever got polyfill was when my friend gave it to me for free because she did want it. That's the only reason. I have made stuffies before but have made them where you can use yarn scraps to where they aren't too big nor has to balance in any sort of way. Another reason is that I just love paper cranes and have a tattoo of them and these little guys are just so darn cute. I do plan on one day making 1,000 of these in honor of the Japanese tradition of folding 1,000 paper crans for a wish. When my dad died this connected with me, the thought of working for a wish, and I had thought for a moment if I actually did it maybe my dad would come back.