Circular vests or shrugs are perfect garments to make and wear throughout the year. They look a little fancier than garments worked as rectangles or squares, but are still pretty easy to make.
Read on to learn how to make a crochet circle vest or shrug, and get 20 free crochet patterns for these fun items!
What is a Circle Vest or Shrug?
A circle vest is just a vest that is worked from the center of the back out in rounds. They often include a mandala or lacy motif on the back, but not always.
Holes are left for the arms, which can be left open to make a vest, or you can stitch on sleeves to make a shrug or cardigan. The edge of the circle makes a sort of collar on the front of the vest.
This kind of pattern is a lot of fun to stitch, and you can easily customize a circle vest because you can just keep adding rounds if you need a bigger diameter to your circle.
Materials for Making a Circle Vest
You don’t need a lot of supplies to get started making circle vests, but one thing you’ll want to consider before you get started is the yarn.
Many circle vests are worked in multicolored, self-striping yarns like Lion Brand Mandala or Caron Cakes, because the color changes emphasize the pattern and make it look more dramatic without any extra work on your part.
Of course you can work any of these patterns in a solid color yarn, or make your own color changes with yarn from your stash, but it’s worth looking at the suggested yarn for the pattern you want to make and considering how different it would look if you didn’t use the same colorful yarn.
In addition to yarn, you’ll need a crochet hook in the size recommended in the pattern, or whatever you need to get gauge. These vests generally will fit a range of sizes, but if you want yours to fit as expected, make sure you have the same number of stitches per inch as the designer, or adjust your hook size until you do.
You’ll also want to have the following supplies handy:
- Tapestry needle or yarn needle
- Tape measure
- Scissors
- Stitch markers
If you read through a pattern for a circle vest you want to make and don’t understand all of the instructions, check out our Crochet Fundamentals class. This collection of video tutorials will help you to better read, understand, and follow patterns so you can crochet with confidence.
Circular Vest Patterns
These vests with circular motifs are fun to stitch and to wear. They bring a boho vibe to every day and make great gifts since they don’t have to fit perfectly.
Whirl Mandala Cardigan Pattern
Designer: Lila Bjorn’s Crochet World
Yarn weight: (1) Super fine
Suggested yarn: Scheepjes Whirl
This mandala vest is designed simply with armhole slits and gradient-colored yarn and mostly using double crochet stitches. This would be a great first circle vest pattern to try, and the pattern includes lots of photos to keep you on track. If your gauge is the same as the designer this can be a one-skein project, too.
Lollipop Adult Size Crochet Vest Pattern
Designer: Crystalized Designs
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Red Heart With Love
The designer originally made this pattern for kids, but it was such a big hit she redesigned it in six sizes for adults. It’s rated easy and worked in three colors, with the yarn carried along to make the repeating stripes.
Flair Circle Vest
Designer: Teresa Chorzepa for Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn weight: (3) DK
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Mandala
This easy circle vest pattern calls for two coordinated colorways of a multicolored yarn to add depth, but you can use two of the same colors if you’d rather. The pattern is fully written but also includes a chart for the first five rounds to make it easier to see what it should look like.
Starburst Mandala Circular Vest Pattern
Designer: The Lavender Chair
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
This intermediate crochet pattern was released as a crochet along, but you can find the complete free pattern in parts linked in the post below. It has options for teens to women’s size large, and you can make it with or without sleeves.
Lotus Mandala Circular Vest Pattern
Designer: Moral Fiber Blog
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton
This beautiful crochet lotus mandala circular vest pattern uses eight colors of yarn, but you can use as many or as few as you like. It has a beautiful boho look full of shells, scallops, and mesh stitches.
Circle Crochet Vest Pattern
Designer: Hooked on Homemade Happiness
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Caron Cakes
This kid-sized vest starts with a pretty flower motif in the middle. The pattern uses single crochet, double crochet, and chain stitches, so it’s a great one for beginner stitchers to try.
Spring Sun Mandala Vest Crochet
Designer: YARNutopia and More
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Ombre
You’ll get a chance to use a lot of different stitches in this crochet mandala vest project, including single, half double, and double crochet, post stitches, and V stitches. If you need extra help a video tutorial is included, and both the video and the pattern give tips for adjusting the size if needed.
Pineapple Lace Circular Vest Pattern
Designer: The Lavender Chair
Yarn weight: (3) DK
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Mandala
The pretty lace center on this free crochet pattern looks a little like pineapples. It might look complicated but this pattern only uses basic stitches like single crochet, half double crochet, and double crochet. It’s rated for intermediate stitchers.
Mandala Vest Crochet Pattern
Designer: Hooked on Homemade Happiness
Yarn weight: (3) DK
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Mandala
This gorgeous mandala vest pattern will fit a range of sizes, as the designer says the same vest fit both her and her 10-year-old. This pretty pattern is rated intermediate and includes V stitches and bobbles for lots of texture.
Midnight Star Mandala Vest Crochet Pattern
Designer: The Lavender Chair
Yarn weight: Worsted
Suggested yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Ombre
Floral motifs give such a pretty look to circular vest, and this one is no exception. The pattern is presented as a stitchalong and has lots of instructional photos, so even though it’s rated intermediate you should be able to follow along if you have a few projects under your belt.
Crocus Mandala Vest
Designer: Elen Gormley for Premier Yarns
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Premier Yarns Garden
This pretty mandala vest pattern comes in three sizes and is for intermediate stitchers. It uses a couple of different kinds of cluster stitches, as well as other basic stitches, to make this colorful design.
Flower Power Vest
Designer: Lene Unmack Larsen, via Ravelry
Yarn weight: (1) Super fine
Suggested yarn: YarnArt Rosegarden
This pretty boho vest puts a different twist on the circular vest with mandala motifs. It starts as the other patterns do, but instead of working slots for the arms into the circle, she stitched a little back and straps to the top for easy wearing.
Vanna’s Choice Circle Vest
Designer: Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
This pretty jewel-toned circle vest is rated for advanced stitches, and comes in three sizes, though it would be pretty easy to adjust. As shown it uses five colors of yarn and lots of clusters and double crochet stitches.
Dreamcatcher Mandala Circular Vest
Designer: The Lavender Chair
Yarn weight: (3) DK
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Mandala
This gorgeous mandala circle vest crochet pattern comes in three sizes and is rated for intermediate stitchers. Once you have the mandala part done, though, it’s smooth stitching with lots of easy, basic stitches.
Crochet Patterns for Circular Shrugs and Cardigans
What makes a pattern a shrug instead of a vest? Usually in the case of circle shrugs, the circle is made large enough that it can be folded and finished to have sleeves that are part of the main piece. Here we’ve also collected some projects with circle backs but that include sleeves stitched after the circle part is done.
You could always leave the sleeves off and these would become circular vests as well. Or take any of the vest patterns above and add sleeves if you’d rather make a cardigan.
Bring Me the Sun Shrug Vest Pattern
Designer: By Katerina
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted
This easy pinwheel style circular shrug starts as a circle, which is then turned into a square and finally a rectangle to make the sleeves. It’s an unconventional construction but it looks great. The pattern comes in four sizes.
Summer Sunset Pattern
Designer: DROPS Design
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: DROPS Paris
This gorgeous circle cardigan is a bit of a cheat, too, because while the back is a circle, the right and left fronts are stitched on separately. The effect is still circular, and it’s so pretty it was definitely worth sharing
Falls Festival Pattern
Designer: DROPS Design
Yarn weight: (4) Worsted
Suggested yarn: DROPS Alaska
This pretty circular cardigan can be worked with one strand of worsted weight yarn or two strands of lighter yarn held together. It’s worked as one big circle with the sleeves added after the circle is done. This free crochet pattern includes a chart if you prefer to work that way.
Moonlight Mist Circular Vest Pattern
Designer: DROPS Design
Yarn weight: (1) Super fine
Suggested yarn: DROPS Alpaca
The lacy stitches used in this pattern make it perfect for cool summer evenings on the beach, but the alpaca yarn used in the original would keep you cozy throughout the year. The pattern comes in three sizes.
Pinwheel Sweater
Designer: The Laughing Willow
Yarn weight: (2) Sport
Suggested yarn: Red Heart It’s a Wrap Rainbow
This pretty circle cardigan crochet pattern was inspired by a similarly designed knit sweater. It’s really easy to make in double crochet, and the free pattern has tips for how to make it just your size.
Are You a New Crocheter Who Needs Help with Understanding Patterns?
If you don’t know your hdc from your dc, aren’t sure how best to hold your yarn and hook, or just need advice on how to make your finished projects look more like the ones in the photos you see online, our Crochet Fundamentals course is for you.
These videos are meant to help you build skills and confidence quickly, and it also includes free patterns you can practice those new techniques on.
Learn How to Crochet Anything with Another Basic Shape
Now that you’ve gotten comfortable making projects with circles, let’s explore the magic that can happen just by crocheting rectangles.
Our Crochet Anything with Rectangles workshop includes 24 patterns to turn rectangles into anything from bags to garments. You’ll never look at a rectangle the same way again!
