Every October I fall in love with the same unlikely creature: the crochet bat. Not the spooky silhouette in a horror film, but the round-bellied, big-eared, slightly dopey kind that only exists in yarn — the kind with embroidered fangs and rosy cheeks that makes trick-or-treaters say "aww" instead of "eek". A little bat works as a plushie, a keychain, a nursery mobile friend, or a whole garland swooping across the mantel, and most of them use so little yarn that your scrap basket will barely notice.
So here are twenty of my favourite bat designs for you, and every single one is a real, written pattern that costs nothing to follow. There are twenty-minute no-sew plushies, a watermelon bat (yes, really), flat appliqué bats for hats and bags, a bat square for blankets, and two garlands for your Halloween decorating. I have noted sizes, yarns and the honest details for each one as we go — including where a designer also sells an optional printable PDF, so there are no surprises. Pick your favourite, and let's get batty.
1. Batilda, the Twenty-Minute No-Sew Bat
If sewing on tiny wings fills you with dread, Ashley Parker's Batilda is your bat. She is worked from the top of the head down in super bulky Bernat Blanket yarn with an 8 mm hook, and everything clever happens inside the rounds: bobble stitches pop out as ears, and the wings are crocheted straight into the body with a row of chains, so there is genuinely no sewing at all. She comes out about five inches tall, and Ashley says she makes one in twenty to twenty-five minutes — perfect for a last-minute Halloween gift or a little colony for the treat table. The full written pattern, plus a video walkthrough, is free on The Loopy Lamb blog; she also sells a printable PDF that adds a mini worsted-weight version and extra wing photos, if you like your patterns on paper.
Pattern: Batilda the No-Sew Bat by Ashley Parker at The Loopy Lamb — Get the free pattern
2. A Pocket Pet Bat in Purple or Grey
Joey Diehl's Bat Pocket Pet is the first of his Halloween Pocket Pets series, and it is a proper little character: a plump purple bat with a paler belly patch of colour, embroidered blush lines and two tiny stitched fangs. The pattern is rated intermediate, mostly for the careful face embroidery and the shaped ears, and it is worked in worsted yarn with a 5 mm hook to about five and three-quarter inches tall. Joey gives you two colourways — lavender and lilac purples, or charcoal and dusty greys — and the wings get their pretty membrane lines with embroidery or surface slip stitch. The complete pattern is free on the Virkadia page; an ad-free PDF is sold in his Etsy shop if you prefer one, but everything you need is right there on the page.
Pattern: Bat Pocket Pet by Joey Diehl at Virkadia — Get the free pattern
3. Sir Batwington, the Gallant Little Bat
Some bats are spooky, and some have knighthoods. Jade's Sir Batwington is a five-inch gentleman in light grey with dark grey ears and wings, worked in worsted yarn with a 2.75 mm hook for those neat, tight stitches. The construction is classic amigurumi — head, two little legs joined into the body, wings started with a foundation half double crochet — and Jade rates it easy for anyone familiar with basic doll-making and sewing pieces together. My favourite detail is the stitched lines sewn onto each wing to mark out its three points, which makes the simple wing shape look properly bat-like. The full written pattern is free on the Sweet Softies blog; just know that the step-by-step photo references live in her paid PDF, so blog readers follow the words alone.
Pattern: Sir Batwington the Bat by Jade at Sweet Softies — Get the free pattern
4. The Friendly Vampire Bat
The Friendly Red Fox's vampire bat is all about that face: big safety eyes with embroidered lashes, and two little white fangs stitched underneath. He stands about six inches tall in grey worsted yarn with a 3.75 mm hook, and the body is cleverly built from two separate legs that join and flow straight up into the head in one continuous piece. The wings are my favourite construction trick here — each one starts as a plain double crochet circle, folded in half and sealed with a scalloped edge of chains and trebles that creates those lovely wing ridges. One honest note from the designer: she offers the pattern for personal use, and asks for a credit and a link back if you sell finished bats. The complete pattern is free on her site.
Pattern: Friendly Vampire Bat by The Friendly Red Fox — Get the free pattern
5. A Squishy Chenille Bat in Under Two Hours
Silvia's plush bat is the one to make when the craft fair is this weekend. Worked in super bulky chenille yarn, he comes together in under two hours, with a chubby one-piece head and body, oversized folded-circle wings and tall pointed ears. Finished size is about four inches tall with a seven-and-a-half-inch wingspan in plush yarn — or follow her tip and use worsted yarn with a small hook for a two-inch miniature. The purple sample with darker inner ears is adorable, but she is right that pastels work beautifully too, especially pink for a nursery-friendly bat. The full written pattern is free on the Crochet by Silvia blog, and if you want it as a tidy printable, an ad-free PDF version is available in her Etsy shop.
Pattern: Plush Bat by Crochet by Silvia — Get the free pattern
6. The Midnight Bat With Pink Ears
For a bat with real amigurumi polish, Puqqu's Midnight Bat is a beauty: inky black yarn, oversized two-layer ears with soft pink inners, and a little pink muzzle with embroidered nostrils and a smile. He is an intermediate make — there are arms, legs, shaped wings with chain-loop scallops and a fair bit of assembly — and he finishes around six to eight inches tall in DK yarn. The pink details against the black are what make him: this is a Halloween bat a child would happily cuddle all year round. Puqqu suggests adding tiny fangs for October or a little bow for everyday, and I think a whole row of them hanging upside down from a branch would make the sweetest window display. The complete pattern is free on the Puqqu page.
Pattern: Midnight Bat by Puqqu — Get the free pattern
7. Benny, the Tiny Bat With Rosy Cheeks
Benny is a palm-sized sweetheart: a round black body, flat half-circle wings with three neat points each, pink triangle inner ears, spiral pink cheeks and two tiny embroidered fangs under a curved smile. At about three and a half to four inches tall in DK or light worsted yarn with a 2.5 mm hook, he is sized for shelves, desks and party tables — or add a hanging loop and he becomes an ornament. The Decor Diary is refreshingly careful with this one: they explain that the instructions were rebuilt and stitch-count-checked round by round to match the finished bat, and the counts really do add up beautifully as you work. Everything is free on the page, and there is a helpful section of fixes if your wings come out uneven (make them as a pair, row by row — it works).
Pattern: Benny the Tiny Bat Buddy by The Decor Diary — Get the free pattern
8. The No-Sew Bat With Built-In Everything
Clara's no-sew bat takes the seamless idea furthest of all: the pointed ears are chain points worked into a head round, the scalloped wings grow out of front loops while the body continues in the back loops behind them, the paws are mini bobbles, and even the base is cinched shut with the crochet hook — no needle ever comes out of the sewing box. In super bulky chenille with a 5 mm hook he is about four inches tall and takes roughly half an hour, and she includes a size table if you want a two-inch keychain version in worsted or a jumbo cuddle bat in blanket yarn. One honest note straight from the page: Clara says her step images are illustrations rather than photographs, but the written round-by-round pattern is complete and free.
Pattern: No-Sew Crochet Bat by Clara Makes — Get the free pattern
9. The Little Bat With Tie-On Wings
Here is a design detail I have never seen before: this little charcoal bat's wings are not sewn on at all — they tie around his neck with long purple chains finished in a bow, so the wings come off whenever you want a plain little bat instead. The wings themselves are worked flat in back-loop-only rows, which gives them a ribbed, membrane-like texture, and the arms are joined into the body as you crochet rather than stitched on afterwards. He finishes about twelve centimetres tall in YarnArt Jeans with a 2 mm hook, with an embroidered pink nose and the sweetest squinting-eye detail. It is a beginner-to-intermediate pattern, free in full on the Amigurumi Crafty page, and the wing trick alone makes it worth trying.
Pattern: Little Bat Amigurumi by Amigurumi Crafty — Get the free pattern
10. A Mini Bat for Keys and Backpacks
Designed by @tas.likemama and shared on Amigurumi Space, this mini bat is small enough to live on a keyring. The head and body are one piece in YarnArt Jeans with a 2.5 mm hook, the four tiny paws are two-round wonders, and the wings are worked with split yarn on a 2 mm hook so they stay delicate, then folded and finished with a scalloped shell edge. The ears are a single clever round of single, double and treble crochet that lands in a perfect point. A touch of pink pencil or blush on the cheeks and inner ears finishes the face — the designer asks only that you credit her when you share your finished bat. Quick, scrap-friendly and completely free on the page.
Pattern: Mini Bat by @tas.likemama at Amigurumi Space — Get the free pattern
11. Happy Bat or Grumpy Bat — You Choose
This beginner-friendly bat comes with a personality switch. The Crochet Lovers Club pattern is built from six simple pieces in fine 4-ply acrylic with a 5 mm hook — head, body, stepped wings, little ears and two loop feet — and the feet are the genius part, because you can slip them over a branch or dowel so your bat hangs upside down like a real one. Then you pick his mood: a curved felt smile for a friendly bat, or a downturned mouth with angled fangs for a grumpy hanging bat who has seen things. The club prints the pattern in full on the page and is transparent that it tidied up the row numbering from the original screenshot pattern so the stitch counts run correctly; they also remind sellers to check the original designer's terms before selling finished bats.
Pattern: Crochet Bat Amigurumi by Crochet Lovers Club — Get the free pattern
12. The Watermelon Bat
Is it a fruit? Is it a mammal? It is both, and it is wonderful. Crochr's watermelon bat has a chubby coral-pink body sprinkled with embroidered black seeds, ears tipped in forest green, and wide flat wings striped like a slice of watermelon — coral flesh, pale green, medium green and a deep green rind edge, with surface slip-stitch vein lines. He measures about five and a half inches tall with an eight-and-a-half-inch wingspan in DK yarn, and the pattern is a full, carefully checkpointed walk-through. It is rated intermediate and it is not a quickie — the designer estimates ten to fourteen hours — but as a summer-meets-Halloween statement plushie, nothing else on this list comes close. The complete pattern is free on the Crochr page.
Pattern: Watermelon Bat by Crochr — Get the free pattern
13. Batty Batty Bats, Worked Flat and Sandwiched
Brenna Eaves of Little Raven Fiber Arts designed these bats for a Furls Crochet-along, and the construction is unlike any other here: front and back are worked completely flat in rows — the back carries the wide scalloped wings, the front carries the ears — then the two pieces are whip-stitched together with stuffing sandwiched between them. The result is a flatter, huggable bat with a wingspan of about nine and a half inches, little loop feet, an appliqué nose and optional stitched teeth. Brenna suggests colour pairs like black and purple or grey with a fluffy yarn chest, which looks adorable. Both parts of the pattern are published together on the one Furls page, free to follow, and a finished colony of these makes a wonderful Halloween cushion herd.
Pattern: Batty Batty Bats by Brenna Eaves of Little Raven Fiber Arts at Furls Crochet — Get the free pattern
14. A Bat Appliqué in Two Sizes
Elena's bat appliqué at GoldenLucyCrafts is a Halloween classic for good reason: a round double-crochet head with chain-loop ears, and a single shaped wing piece worked in four rows of decreases and picot-like points, sewn together in minutes. She gives you two sizes from the same pattern — a small bat about three and a half inches wide in light-weight yarn, and a large one about six inches — so the same motif can star on a baby onesie or sprawl across a tote bag. Finish with googly eyes for instant silliness, or embroider the eyes for a softer look. The pattern is free on her page with a video tutorial as well; a print-friendly PDF is sold in her Etsy shop for those who collect patterns on paper.
Pattern: Bat Appliqué by GoldenLucyCrafts — Get the free pattern
15. The Bat Square for Blankets and Bags
Take that same clever bat and give it a stage: GoldenLucyCrafts' bat square sets a black bat appliqué on a bold canary-yellow block with a black spike-stitch border, finishing at about eight and a half inches square. The square itself is a straightforward eight rounds of double crochet, and the bat on top uses a simplified two-row wing with picot points, so confident beginners can absolutely manage the intermediate rating. Join a stack of them into a Halloween blanket, sew one onto a cushion front, or make two and stitch up a trick-or-treat bag with real presence. The full pattern is free on the page, with the usual optional paid PDF in her Etsy and Ravelry shops if you want the ad-free version.
Pattern: Bat Square Block by GoldenLucyCrafts — Get the free pattern
16. A Picot-Edged Bat Appliqué
Easy Breezy Crochet's appliqué bat is built from an unexpected starting point — a disc of sixteen treble crochet becomes the round little body, then a cluster of doubles and picots forms the head and ears in the same space. The wings are worked one at a time in single crochet rows with picot tips, and there are even two tiny picot claws at the bottom, which I find ridiculously charming for something that takes minutes. In DK yarn with a 3.5 mm hook each bat is about three and three-quarter inches across, ideal for hats, bags, blankets and cards. The complete pattern, in both written-out and abbreviated form, is free on her page, and she shows the same bats strung into a garland if you fancy making a flock.
Pattern: Bat Appliqué by Easy Breezy Crochet — Get the free pattern
17. A Flat Bat Appliqué for Hats and Bags
Joanna's bat appliqué is worked in simple flat rows: a shaped body with the head built in (including an optional puffed 3D head variation if you want a little dimension), two separately worked wings with pretty chain-space "fingers", and tiny triangle ears. In worsted yarn it lands at four to five inches across, which is the sweet spot for centring on a beanie, a pair of fingerless gloves or a trick-or-treat tote, and it uses only thirty to fifty yards of yarn — pure scrap territory. She includes garland stringing instructions too, if your bats multiply. The step-by-step pattern is free on the Joanna's Crochet page, with friendly troubleshooting notes for uneven wings (count mid-row, frog bravely, recount — we have all been there).
Pattern: Bat Appliqué by Joanna’s Crochet — Get the free pattern
18. Bat Bunting for the Mantel
Janine at Craft Fix goes pure silhouette: three shaped rows of black DK yarn become a dramatic spread-winged bat about six and a half inches wide, with a little head and pointed ears worked into the top centre and an optional point at the bottom that she cheerfully admits gives "Batman logo vibes". Each bat takes around forty-five minutes, and the page shows exactly how to join a row of them into bunting with crocheted joins and hanging loops — five bats made a mantel garland that looks like it cost real money. Stiffener is optional and she explains when to use it (after joining, if at all). One clear condition from Janine: the pattern is for personal, non-commercial use only, so this colony is for your own home and gifts.
Pattern: Bat Bunting by Janine at Craft Fix — Get the free pattern
19. A Garland of Rainbow Bats
Joey Diehl's second entry in this list is the party one: flat bat motifs worked in just two rounds, each about three and a quarter by five and a quarter inches, with picot ear points and six pretty scallops along the bottom edge. His sample strings six bats — two orange, two green, two purple — onto a black chain cord, and the pattern includes the joining row plus instructions to lengthen or shorten the garland to fit your wall, mantel or doorway. Because each motif is two rounds, this is a genuinely one-evening decoration, and children old enough to crochet chains can help with the string. The pattern is free on the Virkadia page, with an ad-free PDF in his Etsy shop as the optional extra.
Pattern: Bat Halloween Garland by Joey Diehl at Virkadia — Get the free pattern
20. The Full Halloween Garland: Bats, Ghosts and a Sleepy Moon
We finish with the whole scene. Jan Bay's Halloween garland strings seven motifs along a black slip-stitched cord: two black bats, two ribbed stuffed pumpkins, two smiling ghosts clutching tiny pumpkins, and one sleepy stuffed crescent moon in the middle. The bats use her own free bat appliqué pattern for the head and body, and the garland page adds a special wider-wing variation — seventeen rows of shaping plus a pointed edge — written out in full, so the bats spread wider than the ghosts just as they should. In the spirit of honesty Jan tells you herself that the extra-wide wings are a fresh variation rather than a long-tested one, and that the display photograph is a styled illustration — so crochet one bat first, check the wingspan against a ghost, and adjust with confidence. The complete garland pattern is free on her site.
Pattern: Halloween Garland by Jan Bay at Unique Baby Gear Ideas — Get the free pattern
Conclusion
And that is twenty bats, my friend — no-sew speedsters and slow, splendid amigurumi, flat appliqué bats for every hat and bag you own, a bat square, bat bunting and two garlands ready to swoop across your mantel. If you are brand new to amigurumi, start with Batilda or Clara's seamless bat and enjoy the quick win; if you want a project to savour, the watermelon bat or the full Halloween garland will keep your hook happily busy for days. My favourite stash tip: bats forgive almost any colour, so raid the leftover basket — the purple, plum and charcoal oddments you never know what to do with are a bat colony waiting to happen.
Now tell me — are you team plushie bat or team garland, and which of these twenty is going on your hook first? I read every comment, and I cannot wait to see your makes!
