Low Sew Brontosaurus Pattern

This is the first pattern I've ever written and I have a free PDF version for sale but if you don't mind reading a blog post and dealing with a few ads here and there then you've come to the right place.

A little about this pattern and how it came to fruition, I was at a therapy session and we were discussing some of the new crafting projects I'd started working on when she asked me to make her a teddy bear (too easy) and a dinosaur. One thing about me, I love dinos, and any time I get to make one is heaven in my crochet chair. So I got the color scheme she wanted and the type of reptilian king she desired and got to work. It wasn't hard to break down the different shapes I needed to make to bring this guy to life, but the head, I couldn't get it right. It must've taken me, like, 8 dinosaurs before I got it looking decent and then the eyes were another issue. They were either too close together in the back or too far apart and made him look derpy. Eventually, I got the spacing of his eyes and the decreasing of his cranium right.

Before beginning this project know that the weight of yarn and hook size MATTERS! If you use jumbo yarn and a 15mm hook you will end up with a plushie of about 35in tall!! I used bulky and super bulky yarn, at times double stranding medium weight yarn, and at most a 10mm hook having my largest plushie stand around 23in tall and 21in long. These don't take too long to make, roughly about 2-3 hours, working diligently.

Some materials you'll need are

• 8mm hook

• bulky(5)/super bulky(6) yarn

• stuffing

• darning needle

• stitch marker

• scissors

• 16mm safety eyes

• lighter (for melting the backs of the safety eyes)

Some abbreviations you'll see

• MR/MC - magic ring/magic circle

• SC - single crochet

• ST - stitch

• SM - stitch marker

• CH - chain

• INC - increase (2 in the same stitch)

• DEC - decrease (I prefer an invisible decrease but do as you wish)

• SS/SLST - slip stitch

• F/O - fasten off

• (x)*__ - repeat inside parentheses _ number of times

• [x] - number of stitches at the end of each round

This pattern is worked continuously in the round, there is no chaining or turning. There are a few parts where things may get a little confusing but I will try my best to talk you through it in this pattern.

Let's begin with the legs. You'll make 4 and then we will connect them all to the body.

Begin with 5sc in a MR. If you struggle with the mr, I encourage you to do the alternate ch2 and continue from there. [5]

Inc in each st around [10]

Sc around for 4 rounds, then do a ss and f/o [10]

Now we're going to make the tail. You can skip this for the end but I highly recommend doing it now.

Begin with 4sc in mr [4]

Inc, 2sc, inc [6]

Inc, 4sc, inc [8]

Sc around for 5 rounds [8]

(sc, inc)*2, 4sc [10]

Sc around for 3 rounds [10]

(2sc, inc)*2, 4sc [12]

Sc around and finish with a ss before f/o leave a long tail for sewing to the body.

Begin making the body with 8sc in mr [8]

Inc in each st around [16]

Sc, inc around [24]

Now we are gonna attach the legs to the body we've started. 2sc through the inside of leg #1 and into the body, 4sc into the body, 2sc through leg #2 and into the body, 4sc into the body, 2sc into the inside of leg #3 and the body, 4sc into the body, 2sc into leg #4 and into the body. 4sc [24]

Sc around all 4 legs [56]

Sc around for 2 rounds [56]

(8sc, dec)*4, 3sc, dec [40]

Sc around for 2 rounds [40]

(4sc, dec)*6, 4sc [34]

Sc around for 1 round [34]

(2sc, dec)*8, 2sc [26]

8sc, counting 4sts from the sm, insert hook from the opposite side and continue [12]

What we've just done is create space and distinction between where the body is and where the neck/head will be. We will continue on the neck and head and the body is now completed and won't get closed till the head is finished.

Sc around for 8 rounds [12]

6inc, 6sc [18]

(sc, inc)*6, 6sc [24]

(2sc, inc)*6, 6sc [30]

Sc around for 2 rounds [30]

(4sc, dec)*4, 3sc, dec * [24] Place eyes on this round. Eyes are going to be toward the back of the head, 12 st apart counting around the back of the head.

(3sc, dec)*4, 4sc [20]

(sc, dec)*6, 2sc [14]

(dec)*7 [7]

F/O and leave an extra long tail. Going around the front loop of each stitch, pull tight and then do a small "fasten off" knot and weave the remaining down the neck to sew up the back of the body. Using the same method above, go through each of the front loops and pull tight (not too tight! You don't want to break your yarn) it may still be an open hole (that's what we want) if you haven't been stuffing as you go now is a perfect time to start stuffing till firm. Be sure to stuff firmly enough that the head and neck stand on their own and that the feet/legs are firm enough that they don't sink under the weight. Now, going in a star-shaped pattern, work your needle through and under till the hole in his back is closed.

Now to sew on the tail. Directly on his bum (about round 11 [bottom] to round 14 [top]) I use knitting needles to hold it in place to make sure my sewing is even and not trailing off. Place so that the tail end of your yarn is on the right side of him looking from his back, sew around till you get to the left side of his tail and start stuffing. Finish off with another simple knot and stuff the remaining into the body.

I hope you have an easy time with this pattern and enjoy your cute new plushie afterward! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have trouble understanding something in the pattern! I created this pattern over the course of 3 days. I set out a tester call and got no responses (sad panda) but it's okay because I tested it out myself (32 times to be exact). I am so proud and so excited about releasing this pattern from my own brain and I encourage anyone to make this, post photos of it, share, and most importantly credit me ❤️ I worked extremely hard on this and would hate for someone, anyone to try and take credit for something they didn't come up with.