This crochet Christmas pudding turns a brown circle, a little ivory icing, and a sprig of holly into a flat festive applique. The separate icing piece sits over the top of the disk, leaving a rounded brown pudding beneath it.
Use the motif on a fabric gift bag, a handmade card, or a decorative garland. An optional yarn loop lets you hang it as an ornament. Because the icing, leaves, and berry overlap, this design is intended for decoration rather than as a level surface for a cup.
The instructions below are an original interpretation inspired by the reference photograph. They use a joined circular base, a turned semicircle, and four small fans for the icing drips. Finished size and yarn use depend on your yarn, hook, and tension; no measured sample or physical testing is claimed.
Crochet Christmas Pudding: Construction and Materials
Make the brown disk first and use it to check the curve of the ivory icing before sewing. Both pieces use the same yarn weight and hook. The disk grows by 12 double crochets per round; the semicircle grows by six double crochets per row. A row of single crochet across the straight edge provides the foundation for the drips.
- Smooth yarn in brown, ivory, dark green, and red. Cotton gives clear stitch definition; choose a yarn suitable for the item receiving the applique.
- A hook appropriate for the yarn, plus a smaller hook if your leaf picots are loose.
- Tapestry needle, scissors, removable stitch markers, and pins or clips for positioning the pieces.
- Optional: matching sewing thread for attaching the applique to fabric.
No fixed gauge is required for this decorative motif. Use the same yarn thickness for the brown and ivory pieces so their curves remain comparable. Avoid mixing a bulky icing yarn with a thin base yarn: the upper layer can overwhelm the circle.
US Crochet Abbreviations
- MR = magic ring
- ch = chain
- sl st = slip stitch
- sc = single crochet
- hdc = half double crochet
- dc = double crochet
- inc = 2 stitches of the specified type in one stitch
- st / sts = stitch / stitches
- RS = right side
Brackets show a sequence to repeat. Instructions in parentheses are worked into the same stitch. For standard terminology, see the Craft Yarn Council crochet abbreviation guide.
How to count and turn
All starting chains are excluded from stitch counts. For the brown disk and red berry, join to the first working stitch, not to the starting chain, and do not turn. For icing Rows 1–4, turn only when directed and do not join. Mark the first working stitch if it is difficult to distinguish from the starting chains.
Crochet Christmas Pudding Pattern
1. Brown pudding disk
Round 1: With brown, make an MR, ch 2, work 12 dc into the ring. Pull the ring closed and sl st to the first dc. 12 dc.
Round 2: Ch 2, work 2 dc in every stitch around; sl st to the first dc. 24 dc.
Round 3: Ch 2, [dc in the next st, 2 dc in the next st] 12 times; sl st to the first dc. 36 dc.
Round 4: Ch 2, [dc in each of the next 2 sts, 2 dc in the next st] 12 times; sl st to the first dc. 48 dc. Fasten off and weave in the ends on the wrong side.
The increases add 12 stitches at every step: 12, 24, 36, 48. Do not add stitches into a joining slip stitch. Lay the disk down before continuing; if it cups or ripples, check the count and relax any unusually tight starting chains.
2. Ivory icing semicircle
Row 1: With ivory, make an MR, ch 2, work 6 dc into the ring. Close the ring, but do not join the row into a circle. Turn. 6 dc.
Row 2: Ch 2, work 2 dc in each st. Turn. 12 dc.
Row 3: Ch 2, [dc in the next st, 2 dc in the next st] 6 times. Turn. 18 dc.
Row 4: Ch 2, [dc in each of the next 2 sts, 2 dc in the next st] 6 times. 24 dc. Do not fasten off.
Row 5 — straight-edge foundation: Rotate the semicircle so you can work across its straight diameter, starting at the end of Row 4. Ch 1. Work 2 sc into each of the four row ends down to the MR center (8 sc), 1 sc into the center of the MR, then 2 sc into each of the four row ends up the other side (8 sc). 17 sc. Work around the row-end posts rather than splitting a strand. Do not work into the 24 stitches on the curved edge.
The middle stitch of Row 5 is stitch 9. Mark stitches 2, 6, 10, and 14 for the four drips, counting from the end at which you will begin Row 6.
3. Four icing drips
Row 6: Turn, ch 1. Work one sl st in every odd-numbered stitch of Row 5: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17. Between those anchors, work the following into the even-numbered stitches:
- St 2: 3 hdc.
- St 4: 1 sc.
- St 6: (hdc, dc, hdc).
- St 8: 1 sc.
- St 10: (hdc, 2 dc, hdc).
- St 12: 1 sc.
- St 14: 3 hdc.
- St 16: 1 sc.
Fasten off after the sl st in stitch 17, leaving a sewing tail. Row 6 uses all 17 foundation stitches once and produces 10 hdc, 3 dc, 4 sc, and 9 sl sts. The four fans form shallow, rounded drips; the single crochets between them keep the lower edge connected.
4. Holly leaves — make two
Foundation: With dark green, ch 7. Keep the foundation loose enough to work into both sides.
Round 1: Starting in the second ch from the hook, work sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc into the next five chains. Work 3 sc into the last chain. Rotate the work and crochet along the unused underside loops of the foundation: sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc into the remaining five chains. Sl st to the first sc. Fasten off. 13 sts: 7 sc, 4 hdc, and 2 dc.
Round 2: Join green with a sl st to the first sc of Round 1 and ch 1. Sc in each of the 13 stitches. After stitches 2, 4, 7, 10, and 12, add a picot: ch 2, sl st in the second chain from the hook. Continue to the next leaf stitch after each picot. Sl st to the first sc and fasten off, leaving a sewing tail. 13 sc and 5 picots.
The picot chains and their closing slip stitches do not add to the 13-stitch perimeter. The three single crochets in the final foundation chain turn the tip; do not repeat that increase in Round 2.
5. Red berry
Round 1: With red, make an MR, ch 1, work 6 sc into the ring. Close the ring and sl st to the first sc. 6 sc.
Round 2: Ch 1, work 2 sc in each st; sl st to the first sc. 12 sc. Fasten off with a sewing tail. Leave the berry flat; no stuffing is needed.
Assembly and Finishing
- Lay the brown disk RS up. Place the icing on the upper half, with its curved edge following the disk edge and the four fans pointing down across the brown section. Adjust the position before sewing.
- With ivory yarn, sew the icing around its outer curve and lower edge using small stitches. Catch the brown fabric without pulling so tightly that it buckles. Secure each drip near its tip while keeping the sewing stitches inconspicuous.
- Place the two leaves at the top with their bases overlapping and tips angled outward. Sew their bases firmly to the upper pudding edge; add a discreet stitch farther up each leaf if you want it to stay flat.
- Place the red berry over the leaf bases and sew around its edge. Weave in all tails on the back.
- If needed, lightly dampen and shape the applique according to the yarn label. Keep the drips rounded and allow everything to dry flat.
Optional hanging loop: Ch 16 with a coordinating yarn, fasten off, and sew both ends to the back of the brown disk at the top. Secure the ends into the disk itself, rather than relying on the leaves to support the ornament.
To attach the crochet Christmas pudding to fabric, pin it in place and sew around the brown outline with matching thread. Check the care instructions of both the yarn and the base fabric before laundering. For decorations accessible to young children, use sewn yarn details and keep hanging loops out of reach.
Troubleshooting Your Crochet Christmas Pudding
The icing is folding instead of lying flat
Check that Rows 1–4 contain 6, 12, 18, and 24 dc and that you turned without joining. A join at the end of Row 1 creates a small circle instead of a semicircle. Also check that Row 5 contains 17 sc placed across the diameter, with one center stitch between the two groups of eight.
The drips look crowded
Each fan goes into one base stitch. Do not place its stitches across neighboring stitches. Use a marker in every odd-numbered foundation stitch to identify the nine slip-stitch anchors, and keep those slip stitches loose enough that they do not draw the edge into a tight cord.
The leaves twist or lose their points
A tight starting chain can bend the leaf lengthwise. Make a fresh loose chain and check that Round 1 has exactly 13 stitches. Work the five picots after the specified stitches in Round 2; do not crochet additional single crochets into the picot chains. Shape the points gently during finishing.
The applique puckers after sewing
Unpick the tight section and resew with the pieces lying on a flat surface. Leave a little ease in each sewing stitch. The ivory layer should rest against the brown disk without shrinking its width; sewing more tightly will not correct a mismatched curve.
More Festive Crochet Ideas
For another holly detail, try the holly crochet coaster. The Christmas bauble coaster offers a round holiday motif with a different finish, while the crochet heart bell adds a small three-dimensional ornament to a coordinated display.
Pins and Crochet Christmas Pudding Diagrams
The complete symbol sheet shows the disk, icing, both leaves, berry, and optional hanger. The two detail guides focus on the icing edge and holly assembly. These charts follow the written stitch counts; they are construction guides for this original interpretation, not a claim of physical testing or an exact transcription of the reference photograph.
