How to Make these Crochet Tissue Box Covers

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It’s that time of year – sniffles, runny noses, sneezing, coughing, aches and pains…..there’s the cold, the flu and a variety of viruses that are circulating around. Illness circulated through my family 1.5 times in January. Going through several boxes of tissues got me thinking. Here’s how to make some crochet tissue box covers.

A couple of years ago, my mother was clearing out her yarn stash – I got yarn from the 70s. Let me tell you – acrylic yarn from the 70s was not very nice stuff. At least this stuff wasn’t – it was coarse feeling and very scratchy. I needed to figure out what to do with it, so I made a bunch of tissue box covers for my kid’s classroom teachers. I used the pattern for the Lego Tissue box cover from the Ahooka blog as a base. You can find that pattern here. For my kids’ teachers, I added Owl Face appliques to them. One particular teacher specifically requested a Doraemon one and I made a Hello Kitty one for my own classroom. You can tell which teachers in my kids’ school taught my children as they all have a tissue box cover!

I decided to revisit that pattern and write up a quick and easy pattern, as well as a couple of themed ones. I used worsted weight (category 4) yarn as I tend to have lots of that in the house all the time and it is readily available. I also used a 5mm hook for this project.

The tissue boxes that I use are big Scotties ones, which are sold in 10 packs at Costco. Tissue is something that I buy in bulk at Costco and I like that these big boxes last a while. They measure 9x4x4. This pattern can easily be modified to fit any other size tissue box.

The Ahooka version uses a sc top but I wanted to make an HDC top as it works up a bit quicker and it is consistent with the sizes. The base looks nice on its own. You can add stripes asI did with the owl ones (I wanted to break up the black a bit, and I had these small amounts of other colours that I wanted to use up).

The base also works well as a backdrop to any type of applique. You saw the owls, Doraemon and Hello Kitty versions. This time I added Captain America’s shield to one.  The shield pattern is actually a coaster, but I used a smaller hook (2.5mm) to make it smaller so that it would fit on the side of the tissue box. This pattern is also by Ahooka and can be found here.

I also thought a Star Wars themed one would be pretty cool and came up with a BB-8 version as well as an R2-D2 version.

For an inexpensive, easy-to-read, downloadable PDF version of this pattern, visit My Shop, my Etsy shop here or my Ravelry store here. The PDF includes the base pattern, the BB-8 version, the R2-D2 version, as well as information on how to modify the size of the base pattern.

Crochet Tissue Box Base Pattern

Using a category 4 weight yarn and a 5mm hook:

The top is worked back and forth.

Row 1 – FHDC 28, alternately, you can ch 29, HDC in the 2nd chain from the hook and HDC across (28); ch 1, turn

Rows 2-5 – HDC across, ch 1, turn (28)

Row 6 – HDC 7, ch 14, skip 14, HDC 7, ch 1, turn (28)

Row 7 – HDC 7, HDC 14 around the chain, HDC 7, ch 1, turn (28)

Rows 8-10 – HDC across, ch 1, turn (28)

Row 11 – HDC across. I like to put a stitch marker in here as you will now be working in rounds. When working with a solid colour, it is not necessary to join each round. If working in contrasting colours, like stripes, joining rounds is optional – you may see the colour changes in the corner. It is a matter of personal preference.

Rounds 12 – 23 – HDC around. Ideally, you should have 78 all around, but it can be hard to get exactly 11 on the sides. Sometimes I end up with more – you can’t tell so don’t worry about it. I think it would more important to make sure that the stitches on the sides are evenly spaced. If you get 10 or 12, don’t worry about it.

I use a stitch marker to show me when I have completed a round. This makes the end easier – you know which corner to stop (affiliate link).

BB8 Version

For this version, I used Impeccable yarn in White, Black and Orange Crush, as well as Vanna Yarn in Silver Grey.

Follow the base pattern for the top, Rows 1-10 in white.

Surface crochet a grey border around the opening. Surface crochet a second line (next to the first) so that it is a thicker line. Here is a video tutorial I made on surface crochet.

Round 12 – orange

Rounds 13-19 – white

Round 20 (adjust this to fit your stitch count; I would keep the white parts consistent with 2 stitches, the orange parts can be adjusted, plus or minus 1 to make it fit; be sure to keep a long stretch of white in the front part).  Carry the yarn with you as you go around and HDC the following –
5 orange, 2 white, 3 orange, 2 white, 4 orange, 14 white, 3 orange, 2 white, 3 orange, 2 white, 5 orange, 2 white, 3 orange, 2 white, 5 orange, 2 white, 4 orange, 2 white, 5 orange, 2 white, 4 orange, 2 white

Round 21 – HDC the same colour pattern (orange on orange and white on white)

Round 22 – grey

Round 23 – white

Large Lens

This is worked in rounds. Join at the end of each round using a sl st.

Round 1 – using black yarn, 8HDC in MR (8)

Round 2 – 2HDC (16)

Round 3 – *2HDC, HDC* repeat * to * all around (24)

Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew onto base.

Small Lens

This is worked in rounds. Join at the end of each round using a sl st.

Round 1 – using black yarn, 8sc in MR (8)

Round 2 – using white yarn, 2sc in each stitch (16)

Round 3 – using grey yarn, slip stitch into the front loop of each white sc

Cut yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew onto the base.

Assembly and Finishing

Sew the 2 lenses onto the base and weave in all ends.

R2-D2 Version

For this version, I used Impeccable in Royal (blue), White and Black as well as Vanna’s Choice in Silver Grey.

Follow the base pattern for the top, Rows 1-10 in royal.

Rows 11-13 – For these rows I carried the royal around with me. For the white, you can also carry the yarn, or cut 12 inch lengths for each stripe – this is what I did and found it easier (see photo for details).
HDC around using the following pattern:
1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 6 blue, 1 white, 6 blue, 1 white, 6 blue, 1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 6 blue, 1 white, 5 blue, 1 white, 6 blue, 1 white, 6 blue (78)
Basically I was trying to get the white stripes to line up with the corners – feel free to adjust the blue to either 5 or 6 HDCs to make it fit the way you want.
Continue for a total of 3 rows – HDC’ing blue on blue and white on white to create the stripes.

Rows 14- 20 – HDC around in white

Rows 21-22 – change to royal and HDC around

Small Lens

This is worked in rounds. Join at the end of each round using a sl st.

Round 1 – using black yarn, 8sc in MR (8)

Round 2 – 2sc in each stitch (16)

Break yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew on.

Blue Square (base for lens)

Row 1 – using royal yarn, FHDC 7; alternately, chain 8 and HDC in to the second chain from the hook and all the way across for a total of 7 HDC; ch 1, turn

Rows 2-4 – HDC across, ch 1, turn

Row 5 – HDC across

Break yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew on.

Grey Lens

Round 1 – using Silver Grey, 5sc in MR

Break yarn leaving a long enough tail to sew on.

Assembly and Finishing

Sew black lens onto the blue square. Sew the blue square on to the front of the base.

Sew grey lens on, next to the blue square.

Weave in all ends.

How to Modify the Size of the Base Pattern

Have the tissue box handy, in front of you so that you can check sizing.

For the top, FHDC or chain the length of the tissue box. Use that as your starting length & continue with the HDC rows. Continue with the rows until you reach halfway across to the opening.

For the opening – HDC across until you get to the opening. Ch the desired length of the opening – do a rough estimate. Count the number of HDCs you did at the beginning of the row and make sure you have that at the end of the row so that the opening is centred, horizontally. You may need to modify the ch length so that it equals your starting number in your FHDC.

Continue with the top – HDC the same number of rows that you did prior to the row with the opening (don’t count the opening row). This will ensure that it is centred vertically.

For the sides, keep putting the cover onto the tissue box, every few rounds,  to see how long you need to make it. Be sure to finish in the correct corner – see above for my notes on using the stitch marker. Alternately, you could just count the rounds on each side but the stitch marker makes it easier.

This pattern is an original pattern by West Coast Mom, of Too Much Love.  Please do not claim this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern, you may link to this pattern but please do not reprint it on your site. You may keep a copy for your own personal use but please DO NOT sell the pattern or distribute it.

You may sell products made from this pattern but please clearly credit the design to me, West Coast Mom, of Too Much Love, and provide a link to my blog www.toomuchlove.ca    Permission is NOT granted for mass production or factory manufacturing of any kind.  Thank you for being respectful and for your understanding.

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