Barbie Centaur Costume ~ Free Crochet Pattern

I was going to post the amigurumi Katniss pattern next, but I finished my latest WIP today and I was way too excited to wait. I’ll schedule Katniss’s post for later, maybe Thursday.

I think the title speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

You may be wondering what caused me to crochet such a strange thing, and the answer is I have no idea. It was this sudden, lightbulb-style idea, possibly influenced by all the Harry Potter I’ve been reading. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t find any patterns for a ‘free Barbie centaur crochet pattern.’ So this is my solution.

It was hard to figure out how to construct this one. Eventually I figured out a method: I started with a pair of pants, with the waist starting about halfway up the thighs, and crocheted a body to sew to the back of that. Then all that was needed were two legs and a tail.

There doesn’t seem to be a large market for Barbie centaurs…so if you’re looking for one, and you crochet, this is your lucky day! This is very inexpensive to make, and would make an interesting gift for somebody who really likes Greek mythology. (Maybe a good white elephant gift too!)

Materials

• Worsted weight yarn in main body color and hoof/tail/shirt color (white Red Heart Super Saver, and a miscellaneous red, elastic-feeling yarn for me, respectively)
• G (4.00 MM) hook
• Stuffing
• Dowel to put in the legs
• 2 pennies to put in the back hooves
• 2 buttons for the shirt
• Yarn needle

Notes

I use US crochet terms in all of my patterns. Here’s the chart that you’re used to by now showing US –> UK and the abbreviations.

This pattern is written in a slightly different format than my usual ones. I didn’t write ‘Rnd’ in front of the round number, and stitch counts are only given on some of the rounds. If it’s unclear at all, please let me know and I’d be happy to clarify.

Front Legs (make 2)

With red, make a magic ring, ch 1.

1 – 6 sc in magic ring

2 – 2sc in each st around

3 – through blps only: *sc 2, dec* around

4 – sc2tog twice. sc 5. (7)

5 – sc around

Change to white.

6-12 –  sc around

13 – sc 1, inc, sc 5

14 – sc 1, inc, sc 6

15 – sc around –9

16 – sc 2, inc, sc 6

17-18 – sc around –10

19 – sc 4, sc2tog, sc 4

20-21 – sc around  (9)

22 – sc 5, inc, sc 3

23 – sc around –10

24 – sc 7, inc, sc 2

25-26 – sc around

Fasten off, weave in ends.

Leg Joining

If we just sew the legs together, they’ll be too close and the Barbie won’t be able to stand up. We need to put a little space between them so it looks better.

Leaving a tail for sewing later, with white:

1: Ch 3, sc in 2nd ch from hk and in next ch (2)

2: Ch 1, turn, sc 2. Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing.

Put the front legs on your Barbie and find the stitches on the inside of the legs. We need two on each leg. Then sew the ends of the rows of the tiny rectangle onto it. You should be left with 18 stitches on each leg to work from.

Continue crocheting the legs together as follows…

Join to the back of the legs, or your short row will be off at the end. You’ll be joining the yarn to the middle of the rectangle. Sc 2 along the rectangle, sc in next 18 sts on the left leg. Sc 3 along the other side of the rectangle, sc 18 along the right leg. Sc 1 on the last stitch of the rectangle. Continue working in a spiral as follows.

2-8 – sc around

9 – *sc 2, dec* around, sc in last st

10 – *sc 1, dec* 2x, sl st in next st.

Short row starts here:

Turn, do not chain, sc in next 7 sts, Sl st in next st.

Make one more round as follows:

Chain 1, turn, sc in each st around, sl st to 1st sc to join. Fasten off and weave in all ends.

This picture might help with the joining. (I suggest weaving in your ends as you go so you aren’t confronted with a plethora of them like I was!)

~

Body

1: Ch 5*, sc in 2^nd ch from hk and in next 2 ch, 3sc in last ch, flip to work across opposite side of ch, sc in next 2 chs, 2sc in last ch. Start working in a spiral.

* If you use a Magic Ring as your first chain, you won’t have unsightly holes later!

2: (sc 1, inc) once, sc 2, (sc 1, inc) three times, sc 2, (sc 1, inc) twice

3: (sc 2, inc) once, sc 2, (sc 2, inc) three times, sc 2, (sc 2, inc) twice

4: (sc 3, inc) once, sc 2, (sc 3, inc) three times, sc 2, (sc 3, inc) twice

5-9 sc around

10: (sc 2, dec) around, sc in last st

11-18 sc around

19: (sc 2, inc) around, sc in last st

20-23 – sc around

Fasten off, leave long tail for sewing, sew to the back of the legs.

Back Legs (make 2)

The hooves of the back legs are made differently, because there’s no Barbie foot to shape it around. Also, because the back legs won’t have Barbie legs in them, they need a dowel and stuffing to make them stand-able. (If that’s a word.)

With red, make a magic ring, ch 1

1 – 6sc in a magic ring

2 – 2sc in each st around

3 – through back loops only: *sc 2, dec* around

4:  sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog, sc 3

At this point you need to put a penny in the hoof. I tried it without and it wouldn’t stay flat. You could use a rock or piece of cardboard if you want. I actually think this was the least expensive method, even though technically you’re stuffing the foot with money. 🙂

Next, follow the pattern for the Front Legs through Round 25 (leave off one at the end.) Fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing.

Put the dowel in the leg and measure where it pokes out. Then cut it off at that point. I put some stuffing around it so it wouldn’t sag. Next, sew both legs to the body.

Tail

Cut fourteen 12″ lengths of yarn (more if you want a thicker tail.) Then attach them like you would amigurumi hair. See below for a better explanation (click to enlarge pictures and view the captions.)

The Barbies needed a shirt for their photo shoot, preferably one that matched the hooves and tail, so I used the tiny bit of remaining yarn to whip up this cropped top thing.

Using 4 MM hook and hoof color yarn (or whatever yarn you like):

Ch 20. Hdc in 3rd ch from hk and in each ch across.

2-5: Ch 2, turn, hdc in each st across (18)

6: Ch 1, turn, sc in first 3 sts. Ch 2, sk next 3 sts, sc in next 6 sts. Ch 2, sk next 3 sts, sc in last 3 sts.

Turn to work down the side of the rows. Ch 3, sc 4 along the side. Ch 3, sc in the last row end.

Fasten off, weave in ends. Sew two buttons to the opposite side.

~

My sister was kind enough to a) lend me her camera and b) take some pictures outside with me, thank you again, dearest sister, if you’re reading this. 🙂 We ended up with a lot of pictures…this post is long enough as is, so I’ll just put them in a gallery down here and you can look through if you like.

Have a great day, I’ll see you soon with the Katniss pattern!