Every December I make the same happy promise to myself: this is the year I finally cook a proper Christmas pudding, the rich, dark, brandy-soaked kind that steams for hours and lands on the table to a round of applause. And every December, the pudding I actually finish is a crochet christmas pudding — small, squishy, calorie-free and considerably more forgiving when I leave it half-done on the sofa for a week. There is just something about that rounded brown dome, the drippy white icing and the little red-and-green holly sprig that turns a scrap of leftover yarn into pure festive cheer.
So I have gathered twenty of my favourite pudding designs for you here, and every single one is genuinely free. There are tree ornaments and plump amigurumi puddings, a potholder for the Christmas kitchen, a motif for blankets, appliqués for cards, covers that hide a chocolate orange, and even a pudding hat for the smallest guest at the table. Most of them use only oddments of brown, white, red and green yarn, so your stash is probably already a pudding waiting to happen. Pick your favourite, put the kettle on, and let us make the sweetest decorations of the season.
1. The Original Amigurumi Pudding, Sauce and All
We are starting with the pattern that defined the genre: June Gilbank's little amigurumi Christmas pudding at PlanetJune, charming crocheters since 2007. It is a neat stuffed dome with white sauce worked over the top and a classic holly sprig, sized to hang on the tree, sit on the mantelpiece or preside over the Christmas table. Here is the honest bit: June offers this pattern as donationware, which means the complete pattern is printed free on the page for everyone, and if you would like the tidy printable PDF you simply send a donation of your choice as a thank-you and it lands in your PlanetJune account. No donation, no problem — the full instructions are right there either way. Written in US terms with UK translations noted, it works up in an evening.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding by June Gilbank at PlanetJune — Get the free pattern
2. A Tiny Appliqué Pudding for Cards and Gift Wrap
For the smallest pudding on the list, Jess at Jess Crafting gives us a flat little appliqué that began life as day twelve of her Advent calendar series. Worked in DK yarn it makes a sweet motif for cards, stockings and gift tags, and if you switch to lace-weight yarn and her tiny 2.00 mm hook it shrinks down small enough for jewellery and keyrings. The brown base and white icing are crocheted, and then — my favourite honest detail — the holly leaves and berry are not crocheted at all, but worked as neat little French knots in green and red yarn, which gives the tiniest appliqué a lovely embroidered finish. Jess includes a video tutorial alongside the written pattern if you like to watch before you stitch. One thing to respect: the pattern is for personal use only, although she is happy for you to sell the finished appliqués themselves. A whole garland of these strung along the mantel would be adorable.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Applique by Jess Crafting — Get the free pattern
3. The Three-Inch Tree Ornament
Laura Jaworski, who designs as Bug & Burry Pond, has a whole pudding family on her site, and her Christmas Pudding Ornament is the classic of the group. It stands about three inches tall in worsted-weight yarn with a 4.0 mm hook, worked in a smooth spiral so there is no join line marching up the back. Laura rates it easy and suitable for all crocheters, and her pattern pages are famously gentle to follow, with thoughtful notes on the magic circle, working in a spiral and counting your stitches. The result is a plump little dome with icing, leaves and a cherry, ready to hang by a loop or sit in a bowl of baubles. Because it uses so little yarn, it is the perfect way to finish the last of a brown skein.
Pattern: The Christmas Pudding Ornament by Laura Jaworski — Get the free pattern
4. One Mini Pudding, Two Ways to Make It
Staying with Laura Jaworski for a moment, because her Mini Christmas Pudding does something I wish more designers did: it gives you two complete ways to build the same pudding. Version one is worked from the top down, version two from the bottom up, so you simply pick whichever direction your brain prefers and follow that set of rounds. Along the way she explains her picot stitch and her invisible finish technique in plain, friendly detail, which makes this a lovely confidence-builder if finishing neatly is something you have been wanting to master. The mini size makes it ideal for tucking into Christmas crackers, hanging in clusters, or stitching onto a wreath. It is completely free on her site, like all of her patterns. Two patterns for the price of none — that is my kind of festive maths.
Pattern: The Mini Christmas Pudding by Laura Jaworski — Get the free pattern
5. A Gnome Wearing a Pudding Hat
Now for the pudding that made me laugh out loud: Laura Jaworski's Christmas Pudding Gnome. To be perfectly honest about what you are making, this is a sweet little gnome whose tall hat is a Christmas pudding — cream icing, dark brown dome, a cherry and holly leaves sitting right on top of his head. The pudding section is worked in the round and sewn together with the rest of the gnome, and Laura's usual clear notes on picots and invisible finishes keep everything tidy. It is a brilliant mash-up of two beloved Christmas crochet trends, and it looks wonderful standing guard over a gift pile or peeking out of a stocking. If your family collects gnomes, this is the festive edition they did not know they needed. Free, as always, on her website.
Pattern: The Christmas Pudding Gnome by Laura Jaworski — Get the free pattern
6. A Pudding Potholder for the Christmas Kitchen
Sara at Raffamusa Designs brings the pudding into the kitchen with her Christmas Pudding Potholder, part of her much-loved series of round Christmas potholders. It is worked double-thick, so it is genuinely useful for ferrying hot dishes to the table, while the brown round, dripping white icing and holly top make it pure decoration the rest of the day. Sara suggests teaming it with her matching Peppermint, Reindeer and Gingerbread potholders for a gift set any cook would love. The full written pattern is free on her blog. In the interest of honesty: if you prefer printing, the ad-free PDF bundles this pattern with the Peppermint Potholder and is sold in her Ravelry, LoveCrafts and Etsy shops — but the blog version costs nothing at all.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Potholder by Raffamusa Designs — Get the free pattern
7. The One-Piece Pudding With the Icing Worked In
Petra at Cuddly Stitches Craft designed her Christmas Pudding Decoration for beginners, and the clever part is the construction: the icing and the pudding are crocheted as one single piece, with a simple colour change and a back-loop round marking the line where the white sauce ends and the brown begins. No separate cap to sew on, no wobbly stitching around the edge — it just grows, neat as you like. The construction is quietly clever, too: the pattern starts with the white icing at the top and changes to brown partway down, so your pudding builds from the sauce downwards, which I find weirdly satisfying. In sport-weight yarn it finishes around six centimetres tall, just right for the tree, and Petra shows you where to tuck in a hanging loop if you want one. The written pattern is free on her page; an ad-free printable PDF is available to buy from her Etsy and Ravelry shops if you like a paper copy, but it is entirely optional.
Pattern: Crochet Christmas Pudding Decoration by Petra at Cuddly Stitches Craft — Get the free pattern
8. A Plump Pudding With Drippy Icing
If you like your puddings generously sized, the Puqqu design is the plumpest classic on this list, finishing about twelve to fifteen centimetres tall in worsted cotton with a 3.5 mm hook. The body is a smooth, well-shaped dome, and the separate icing cap is where the fun lives: little chain-loop drips worked around the edge, some short and some longer, so the sauce looks like it is genuinely melting down the sides. Three plump berries and a pair of holly leaves finish the top. Puqqu rates it beginner to intermediate, with the abbreviations explained up front, and even suggests a strand of glitter yarn in the icing for snowy sparkle. The complete pattern is free on the page, ready when you are.
Pattern: Amigurumi Christmas Pudding by Puqqu — Get the free pattern
9. The Flat Pudding Bauble in UK Terms
Crafty Cruella's Christmas Pudding Tree Decoration takes a different route to the tree: instead of a stuffed ball, you crochet two flat halves, sew them together with just a whisper of stuffing inside, and add a hanging loop. The result is a light, plump-looking bauble that hangs beautifully without dragging the branch down — a real consideration, as anyone who has rescued a sagging fir knows. The pattern is written in UK terms, so do read the stitch key before you start if US terms are your default; it is a gentle pattern and the conversion is painless. She works hers in DK acrylic, which keeps the cost of a whole batch wonderfully low. Free on her blog, where it has been quietly delighting makers for years.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Tree Decoration by Crafty Cruella — Get the free pattern
10. A Pocket-Sized Pudding With a Felt Holly Sprig
Delinlea's little pudding, made as day eighteen of her crafting Advent series, is the characterful one: a small round body in Stylecraft Special DK with 6 mm safety eyes and an embroidered smile that gives him a proper face. Now the honest detail, because it changes your shopping list: his holly leaves are not crocheted — they are cut from green felt, and his berries are three tiny red pompoms, glued in place. Some crocheters will call that cheating; I call it a five-minute finish with a really cute result, and it is a great option if tiny leaf crochet makes your eyes cross. The crocheted part itself is simple continuous rounds with a scalloped icing edge, all free on her blog in US terms. He is small enough to be a stocking filler, a desk companion or a very jolly keyring. Just do not try to eat him, as the designer herself warns.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Amigurumi by Delinlea — Get the free pattern
11. The Big Cuddly Pudding Pillow
Sometimes a mini pudding simply will not do, and that is where the Christmas Pudding Kawaii Cuddler from 3am Grace Designs comes in: a big, squishable pudding pillow, about eleven inches wide and nine inches tall, worked as two flat panels crocheted together around the edges and stuffed as you go. The face is pure kawaii — big 18 mm safety eyes, round cheeks and a smile added with puff paint or embroidery floss — so it reads as a character cushion as much as a decoration. It needs only a 5.5 mm hook and basic stitches, because the shaping is done with simple increases and decreases in rows. The full pattern is free on the page, where it first appeared in the 2020 Holiday Stashdown CAL; the designers also sell an ad-free printable PDF if you want one, and they are happy for you to sell finished cuddlers.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Crochet Pattern Kawaii Cuddler® by 3am Grace Designs — Get the free pattern
12. The Pudding That Doubles as a Chocolate Orange Cover
Kimberly Arenas at The Caffeinated Snail has written the most practical two-for-one pattern on this list. Follow her instructions all the way and you get a plump little amigurumi Christmas pudding, complete in itself. But tucked into the same post is her variation: stop after the first decrease round, work the icing, and the pudding becomes a cover that slips neatly over a chocolate orange, turning a stocking-staple sweet into a table decoration and a gift in one. I love a pattern that respects my December schedule, and this one lets you batch-make covers for every teacher and neighbour on your list without starting a new pattern each time. The complete pattern, variation included, is free on her post.
Pattern: Crochet Christmas Pudding Pattern by Kimberly Arenas at The Caffeinated Snail — Get the free pattern
13. Perry the Pudding, Served on His Own Plate
Meet Perry. Hannah Cooper's pudding character first appeared in the pages of Let's Get Crafting's LGC Knitting & Crochet magazine, and the full pattern is available as a free PDF through Top Crochet Patterns. Perry stands about eleven centimetres tall on his own little crocheted plate — yes, you crochet the plate too — with safety eyes and an embroidered smile that give him enormous personality for such a small pudding. He is worked in DK yarn with a 5 mm hook, so he grows quickly and uses only scraps. Of all the puddings here, he is the one I would put at the centre of the Christmas table, where he can supervise the real dessert course with a very serious little face. Because he comes as a proper magazine PDF, the layout is polished and printer-friendly. Free pudding, free plate, endless charm.
Pattern: Perry the Pudding by Hannah Cooper — Get the free pattern
14. A Photo-Guided Pudding for Confident Beginners
If you learn best by seeing every step, the StringyDingDing pudding is your pattern. The parts — body, icing, leaves, berries — are each crocheted separately and then assembled, and the free blog post walks you through the whole build with step-by-step photographs, so you always know what your work should look like before you sew a single seam. It uses worsted or aran weight yarn, with 8 mm safety eyes if you want the cute face, or embroidered eyes for a very small child. The complete pattern is free on the page; the designer also offers a paid PDF version if you prefer an offline copy, but nothing about the free version is held back.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Amigurumi by StringyDingDing — Get the free pattern
15. A Chocolate Orange Cover in True Pudding Style
Holly Fisher, designing as Pulpo and Peach Designs, gives the humble chocolate orange its full Christmas costume with this dedicated cover pattern. It is a neat little dome in brown with white icing and holly on top, shaped to hug the chocolate orange inside so your gift looks like a miniature pudding sitting in the stocking or on the table. It is wonderfully economical, too — less than 25 grams of each colour — so it is a genuine stash-buster you can make in multiples. The pattern is a free download on Ravelry, which does mean you will need a free Ravelry account to download the PDF; there is no cost beyond that quick sign-up. If you give a chocolate orange to anyone in December, dressing it as a pudding first should honestly be the law. Quick to make, cute to give, and the cover comes back out next year.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Chocolate Orange Cover by Holly Fisher at Pulpo and Peach Designs — Get the free pattern
16. A Mosaic Pudding Motif for Blankets and Cushions
Here is the one flatwork design in the collection, and it is a beauty: Elimee Designs' Christmas Pudding motif worked in overlay mosaic crochet, where the picture builds row by row in two colours. The motif was created for the Juniper & Oakes Christmas in July Mosaic Blanket CAL, so you can work a single pudding square for a cushion, or march a whole row of puddings across a festive blanket. Now the honest part, because this one is a hybrid: the blog post gives you the complete written version of the motif, rows one to twenty-seven written out row by row, entirely free — while the stitch chart and the tidy standalone PDF are part of the paid pattern. If you are happy following written mosaic instructions, you need nothing else.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Mosaic Motif by Elimee Designs — Get the free pattern
17. A Sweet Little Pudding Ornament in Cotton DK
Lauren Espy of A Menagerie of Stitches designed this dinky pudding for Simply Yarn, where it shares one free pattern page with two more amigurumi Christmas ornaments, so you actually get a little matching set for your tree. The pudding finishes about eight centimetres square in Paintbox Yarns Cotton DK, which gives it that crisp stitch definition that makes tiny amigurumi look so polished. Please note it is written in UK terms, so a UK double crochet is doing the work an American single crochet would do — worth knowing before your pudding grows to twice the planned size. Cotton makes it a sturdy ornament that will survive being packed away year after year. Small, sweet and stash-friendly — exactly what a December pattern should be.
Pattern: Amigurumi Christmas Pudding by Lauren Espy at Simply Yarn — Get the free pattern
18. A Pudding Hat for Baby's First Christmas
One wearable pudding sneaks onto the list, and it is for the smallest guest: Lisa Auch's Christmas Pudding Baby Hat. The clever bit is the sizing — the same simple all-double-crochet beanie is written for newborn, nought-to-three months and three-to-six months, and you change size simply by changing your hook between 4.00, 4.50 and 5.00 mm. The top of the hat is worked in white as the icing, the body in brown, and Lisa includes her holly leaf pattern with its pretty picot points, little berries and optional spiral curls to finish the top. It uses only about 25 grams of DK yarn and there is no magic ring to wrestle with, which makes it a genuinely kind first hat pattern. Lisa is happy for finished hats to be sold with credit to her as designer, as long as they are handmade rather than factory produced. For first-Christmas photos, nothing on this list beats it.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Baby Hat by Lisa Auch at LisaAuch Crochet — Get the free pattern
19. A Pudding Bauble You Crochet Around the Ball
Natalie Galvin came up with her Christmas Pudding Bauble while organising a Christmas yarn bomb and needing baubles she could make quickly — and it shows, in the best way. Instead of stuffing, you crochet the pudding directly around a three-inch polystyrene ball, which gives you a perfectly round, firm bauble with zero shaping anxiety; Natalie notes you can stuff it instead if you prefer a softer finish. The pattern is written in US terms, is not gauge-specific, and finishes about three inches tall. It is a free download on Ravelry, so a free Ravelry account is all you need to grab the PDF. Because the ball inside keeps the shape, these baubles survive storage, children and enthusiastic cats better than most.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Bauble by Natalie Galvin — Get the free pattern
20. The Tiny Pudding Cover for Treats and Bath Bombs
We are finishing with the fastest make of all: Amy's Christmas Pudding Cover, a five-to-eleven-yard wonder in DK yarn with a 3.5 mm hook. Amy, of Amy's Crochet Cave, designed it to slip over a chocolate orange, and then discovered it fits a bath bomb just as well — so one tiny pattern covers the two most gifted objects of the season. It is written in US terms, works up in well under an hour, and the pattern is free on her website, which the Ravelry listing links straight to. At under eleven yards a cover, you could make one for every person you have ever met and still have yarn left. What a way to end a pudding party.
Pattern: Christmas Pudding Cover by Amy’s Crochet Cave — Get the free pattern
Conclusion
And that is twenty puddings, my friend — stuffed and flat, worn and hung, sat on plates and slipped over chocolate oranges, every single one of them free and every single one unmistakably a Christmas pudding. If you are short on time, the appliqué, the mosaic motif and Amy's little cover will carry your handmade Christmas almost single-handedly; if you want one keepsake make, Perry on his plate or the big Kawaii Cuddler are the puddings that will still be making people smile in ten years' time. Raid the brown yarn, save your white scraps for icing, and remember that no real pudding was ever harmed in the making of these.
Now tell me — which pudding is going on your hook first, and are you team tree ornament or team chocolate orange cover? I read every comment, and I cannot wait to see your makes!
