Teddy doudou free pattern

In France, every small child has its doudou. I've seen all sorts of doudou - anything from an old piece of blanket or pillowcase, to an elaborate multi-coloured velours soft-toy masterpiece.

A doudou is simply an easy French name for a comfort blanket. I had an idea to make a teddy comfort blanket, using my chubby teddy pattern for the head, and adding some little arms for baby to grab too. I made it out of lovely soft organic cotton, so safe for baby to suck and easy to wash by hand or machine. For extra safety, I lined the head before stuffing it, and embroidered the face with contrasting organic cotton yarn. 

Here's the pattern:

I used one ball of organic cotton in pink and less than half a ball in cream. Of course you can choose the colour you wish, but in the pattern I mention pink and cream so you can follow it more easily.

I used a 3mm hook for the head and the arms, and a 4mm hook for the blanket part.

Head (the same as my chubby teddy pattern, but I'm repeating it here to make things easier for you)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6-8 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 9 - [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 12 sts, [2 sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 12 sts (36 sts)

rnd 10 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 11 - sc in each of next 3 sts, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, [sc2tog] twice (36 sts)

rnd 12 - sc around (36 sts)

Change to cream yarn

rnd 13-15 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 16 - [1sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 17 - sc around (30 sts)

Now is a good time to embroider the eyes, nose and mouth with contrasting yarn or embroidery thread.

rnd 18 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 19 - sc around (24 sts)

rnd 20 - [1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 21 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] rep around (13 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 22 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (9 sts)

rnd 23 - [sc2tog] 4 times

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head to the blanket

Ears (make 2)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 4 - [sc2tog], rep to end (6 sts)

rnd 5 - [sc2 tog] twice

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the ears to the head.

Arms (make 2)

Start with cream yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [1 sc in next 2sts, 2 sc in next st] rep around (16 sts)

rnd 4-5 - sc around (16 sts)

now join in the pink yarn and work 6 more rows of sc.

rnd 12 - 1 sc in each of next 7sts, then squeeze the arm flat and working through both thicknesses, sc into the next 7 sts until the end: Fasten off.

Blanket

For the blanket itself you can use any square pattern you like. It would be nice with a granny square or a simple trebles square. I had some problems with the joining of each round, but I'm sure you'll do better. The square should measure around 26 cm. You can find nice square patterns here:

http://yarnberry.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/first-principles-the-humble-crochet-square/

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Crochet-a-Granny-Square/

http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-a-square/

Sewing together

Sew the ears to either side of the head, then sew the head to the middle of the blanket. Sew the arms on to the blanket, below and at either side of the head. Please follow the example of the top photo above for how to place the head and arms.

Have a lovely week!