Free Christmas Ornament Crochet Pattern: Gingerbread Smilies

Make these cute Gingerbread smiley Christmas ornaments for your Christmas tree, or as festive pin badges!

These cheery Gingerbread faces are super quick and easy to make, so they would make ideal classroom gifts too.

I have used Chunky weight acrylic yarn, but you can work this pattern in any yarn weight or type that you prefer.

The ﬁnished size would depend on your chosen yarn weight and hook sizes. My Gingerbread Smilies measure approximately 2.5″ in diameter.

Gauge is not too important, just try to keep a consistent tension. I have used a 6mm hook for the faces, and a 5mm hook for the bows. Use a suitable hook size for your yarn and 1 size smaller for the bows.

Gingerbread Christmas Tree Ornament Crochet Pattern

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All crochet patterns from Hooked On Patterns are written using US crochet terms.

This Christmas ornament crochet pattern is free to view online below. You also have the option to purchase the ad-free Gingerbread Smilies PDF download. This includes extra high-quality, step-by-step, photographs throughout. You will also receive a separate image-free printer-friendly option. Available to purchase for just £3.00

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What You’ll Need To Crochet Gingerbread Smilies

I have used Paintbox Yarns Simply Chunky acrylic yarn (US Bulky weight) in 4 colours: Soft Fudge (309), Paper White (300), Washed Teal (332), and Lipstick Pink (351).

You can work this pattern in any yarn weight or type that you prefer. You will need 4 colours – White, a fudge/biscuit colour, a blue/green colour, and a red/pink colour.

These only take a small amount of yarn to make – approximately 10yds of the main fudge/biscuit colour, and 2yds of the other colours.

I have used a 6mm hook for the faces, and a 5mm hook for the bows. Use a suitable hook size for your chosen yarn and 1 size smaller for the bows.

You will also need a yarn needle and scissors.

Depending on whether you want to make hanging decorations or pin badges, you will also need some thin ribbon (or you can use yarn) or brooch pin attachments.

Stitches & Terms Used For The Gingerbread faces:

(ch) Chain, (mr) Magic Ring, (sl st) Slip Stitch, (sc) Single Crochet, (inc) Increase -2sc in the same stitch, (hdc) Half Double Crochet, (dc) Double Crochet.

Invisible join: A neat technique used to ﬁnish off rounds – Cut yarn and pull the tail up through the last stitch. Use your yarn needle to thread the tail through the second stitch along and back into the middle of the last stitch and pull to form a faux stitch top over the ﬁrst stitch. You’ll ﬁnd that the real ﬁrst stitch will stick out a little. Thread the tail up through the back loop of the real ﬁrst stitch and weave the tail in to tack it down and secure the end.

Numbers within ( ) show the total number of stitches you should have after that row/round.

To help you read this pattern, the commas represent each stitch or the number of stitches after x.
For example, {sc, inc,} would mean sc into next st, increase (2sc) in following st. Or {sc x3, inc,} would mean sc into each of the next 3 stitches, increase in the following st.

Let’s get started!

Copyright: This Christmas ornament crochet pattern “Gingerbread Smilies” was written, designed, and copyright held by, Ling Ryan/Hooked On Patterns. You are not permitted to copy, share, edit, upload or redistribute this pattern in any way, this includes making video tutorials or translating into other languages. Personal use only. You may sell products you have personally crocheted from using this pattern. Please credit Ling Ryan or Hooked On Patterns as the designer if you do sell. By using this page/crochet pattern you are agreeing to all T&Cs.

Crochet Smiley Face Gingerbread Ornaments

We will be making 2 circles of 4 joined rounds. To make the joins less visible, we will ch1 and skip the ﬁrst stitch, then work the last stitch into the skipped stitch, crocheting over the beginning ch1, and join into the ﬁrst sc st made of the round.

Make 2 as follows:
Using Fudge yarn and a 6mm hook (or recommended size for yarn), start with a magic ring,

R1.

sc x6 into mr, pull closed, sl st into the ﬁrst sc to join (6)

R2.

ch1, sc in the ﬁrst st below, inc in each remaining st, sc into the ﬁrst stitch again, sl st into the ﬁrst sc to join (12)

R3.

ch1, skip the ﬁrst st, *inc, sc*, repeat between * a total of 5 times, inc, sc into the skipped ﬁrst stitch, sl st into the ﬁrst sc to join (18)

R4.

ch1, skip the ﬁrst st, sc, *inc, sc x2*, repeat between * a total of 5 times, inc, sc into the skipped ﬁrst stitch, fasten off with an invisible join (24)

~ More Christmas crochet patterns! ~

Christmas Ornament Crochet – Embroider the Face

On one of the circles, use your yarn needle to embroider the smiley face as follows:

Eyebrows:

Start by cutting a length of Teal yarn and weave the end back and forth into the back of the piece to secure.

Thread through to the front along R3. to the right of an increase stitch.

Make a stitch, 2 sc stitches long, towards the left on R3., come back through another 2 sc stitches along to make another stitch, again 2 sc stitch long.

Weave in the end to secure and trim off excess.

Mouth:

Cut a longer length of Pink yarn and weave into the back to secure.

We’ll start with the upper lip. Thread through to the front along R3., 2 sc stitches down from the ﬁrst eyebrow.

Thread back in towards the left, in the adjacent stitch of R2. and back out through the middle below R1., back in through R2. and out 2 sc stitches down from the second eyebrow.

Now go back along to ﬁll in the gaps of the top lip, ﬁnishing where we started.

Embroider the bottom lip along R3., make a stitch 2 sc stitches long, come back through 2 stitches along, make another stitch 2 sc stitches long, and come out through the other side of the top lip.

Stitch back along to ﬁll in the gaps, weave in the end to secure, and trim off excess.

Eyes:

Cut a length of White yarn and weave into the back to secure.

Thread through along R2. below the middle of an eyebrow. Going directly downwards, pierce through the middle of the R2. stitch below to make a small stitch, go over this stitch again to make a thicker mark.

Repeat this on the other side for the second eye. Weave in the end to secure and trim off excess.

Crochet Decorations Hanging Loop

Prepare your hanging loop:
Cut a length of ribbon or yarn (approx. 8” long), fold it in half and knot the ends together.

If you are making pin badges, just skip this and ignore the ribbon section in the next part.

Crochet Smilies – Joining the Circles

Place the plain circle behind the face aligning the stitches, wrong side to wrong side, and work through both pieces to join (keeping the face of your Gingerbread facing you).

Work this round loosely to allow slack for the curve.

Using White yarn, join at the bottom-most stitch with a sc, sc in each stitch of both layers until you reach the 2 top-most stitches.

We will now insert and crochet around the hanging loop to secure into position.

Place the knot of your hanging loop inside the 2 pieces and work through the centre of the hanging loop, sc in the next 2 sts, continue on the other side of the hanging loop and sc in each remaining st.

Fasten off with an invisible join to ﬁnish.

Free Gingerbread Ornament – Crochet Bow

Using Teal or Pink yarn and a 5mm hook (or 1 size smaller than before), start by chaining 8.

Working along the back bumps of the chain, starting from the 4th ch from hook, dc, hdc, sl st, hdc, dc, ch2 and sl st into the front loop of the last chain to ﬁnish.

Cut yarn leaving a long tail. Use your yarn needle to feed the tail though the back of stitches towards the middle, wrap the tail yarn around the centre of the bow 3 times and secure by threading through at the back.

Use the remaining tail end to attach the bow to the face in the desired position.

Gingerbread Smilies Crochet Pattern Complete, Congratulations!

Make some more and hang them on your Christmas tree, or around the home, as cheery festive decor!

To make pin badges, simply omit the hanging loop and sew on a brooch pin attachment to the back.

I hope you have enjoyed making this free Christmas ornament crochet pattern. You can find all of my other patterns here, including many more free patterns!

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