Magic Spell Book Free Crochet Pattern
First published 7 May 2024
Welcome to my Magic Spell Book Free Crochet Pattern!
In this pattern:
What role-playing or fantasy game is complete without a Magic Spell Book?
The spell book consists of two long brown rectangles stitches on top of each other, with embroidery (using surface crochet) on the outer cover, and four embroidered white rectangles stitched together in the same way to create two pages. By attaching a small crocheted button and strap, you can keep the (rather plump!) book closed.
My 5-year-old son helped me to choose what spells to include! There are two pages in this book, so I used each side of the pages to design 4 spells – a fireball, lightning bolt, shield spell, and entangling vines. You may want to change the spells to your own designs, and just make the covers and pages following the pattern. Designing the spells is a lot of fun, so I encourage you to get creative!
I hope you enjoy making my crochet Magic Spell Book!
You can find the 16-page, ad-free, beautifully formatted PDF digital download in my Etsy Store. I appreciate your support!
Please tag me in your finished creations @quicksavecrochet, share your creations on Ravelry, and email me if you have any questions or issues with the pattern.
The legal bit: This design is my creation and intellectual property. You may do what you want with your finished creations, giving credit to me as the designer, but please do not recreate, distribute, or sell this pattern. I have endeavoured to test this pattern but cannot guarantee that it is entirely free of typos, errors or inaccuracies. The final product is not guaranteed, and no liability is accepted for variation between this pattern and your own finished project. Note that the product made from this pattern is not intended to be used as a toy, and the button used in this pattern may present a choking risk. No liability is accepted for any injuries or damages that may occur.
Materials and Tools
Yarn: I used Hobbii’s Rainbow Cotton 8/8 (100% cotton DK weight yarn with 75m/50g skeins) because of the conveniently-sized little skeins for these kinds of projects, and because of all the lovely colours available.
You may want to use different colours if you decide to change the spells or the pattern on the front cover.
Dark Brown (08) – 20g (30m)
Natural White (02) – 13g (19.5m)
Brown (07) – 1g (1.5m) for stitching the cover and for the button
Less than 1g (1.5m) of each of the following:
Magic Swirl: Purple (39), Wisteria (94)
Fireball: Christmas Red (86), Burnt Orange (66), Sunny Yellow (55)
Lightning Bolt: Cobalt Blue (96), Light Turquoise (34)
Shield: Grey (15), Anthracite Grey (10)
Entangling Vines: Dark Green (22), Green (84)
Hook: 3mm/Size D crochet hook (or hook required for your stitches to be tight enough)
Tapestry needle (ideally with a curved tip)
Stitch markers
Final size
Approximately 5.5cm (2in) wide, 5.5cm (2in) tall and 4cm (1.5in) thick.
Abbreviations
This pattern is written in US terms.
BLO – Back loop only
ch – chain
FLO – front loop only
hdc – half double crochet
MR – magic ring
sc – single crochet
sk – skip
sl st – slip stitch
st(s) – stitch(es)
(…) x – work the steps within the brackets x number of times
(x sts) – total of number of stitches you should have at the end of this round
Technical notes and tips
Beginner-friendly – I have tried to include as many process photos as possible so that you should be able to follow on as a confident beginner with knowledge of basic stitches (and willingness to watch some YouTube videos!). Feel free to email me if something is not working for you, and I’ll be happy to help!
Yarn-under vs yarn-over crochet – In making my Magic Spell Book, I used the “yarn-under” method of crochet, which is often used in amigurumi and gives a tighter weave, reducing the spaces between your stitches (in this case, preventing you from seeing through one side of the page to the other side). I encourage you to also use the yarn-under technique – there are plenty of great YouTube tutorials available.
Gauge/tension – Your gauge is not important for this pattern, but make sure there are no spaces between your stitches – you might need to use a smaller hook to achieve this.
Surface crochet – I had limited experience using surface crochet before designing this pattern, which is essentially making a series of slip stitches through the work, pulling a loop of yarn after piercing through the work with your hook. It was slightly challenging getting the hang of it, especially trying to make corners or pointed shapes (tip – you need to overshoot where you want your corner to actually be), but is very satisfying when it looks good! I don’t cut the yarn between changing colours, because it doesn’t matter if it looks messy at the back, and means that you can unpick it all and start again without wasting any yarn.
Alternatively, you may find it easier to use a tapestry needle to just weave a pattern into your pages for the spells (I did this for the leaves of the vines spell) – whatever works for you! Using either method, you will want to hide the other side of the work, which is why this pattern involves layering the pages (and covers) on top of each other and stitching them together.
Inner book cover
Using Dark Brown (08)
Ch 11
Row 1: sc into 2nd ch from hook and sc along to the last ch (10 sts)
Rows 2 – 10: ch 1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Row 11: ch 1, turn. Sc into the FLO of each st to the end of the row (10 sts). This will help to curve the cover to form the spine of the book.
Rows 12 – 14: ch 1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Row 15: ch 1, turn. Sc into the FLO of each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Rows 16 – 25: ch1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
At this point you should have something like this - the inner cover with no edging. You will now proceed with edging along the long edge (the top of the image)
Edging: This is only done on 3 of the 4 sides for the inner cover.
1st long edge: Ch 1. Sc 25 sts evenly along the long edge of the cover, which should take you to the corner (this number is not critical – if you have slightly more or slightly fewer stitches, it doesn’t matter, as long as it looks nice and even!)
Short edge: Sc, ch1, sc into the 1st st of the short edge. Sc into the next 8 sts. Sc, ch 1, sc into the last st of the short edge.
2nd long edge: Sc approximately 24 sts evenly along the other long edge of the cover. Sl st to the last st and fasten off.
The number of stitches along the long edges is not important, but make sure they are nice even.
First (long) edge completed, and a sc, ch1, sc into the 1st st of the short edge to make a corner.
The short edge: after the corner (sc, ch1, sc) you should have 8 sc, and 1 st left to place the next corner.
This is how your inner cover should look once you have completed the edging on the 3 sides
Outer book cover
This is very similar to the inner book cover, except there are 2 more rows in the spine of the book (between the rows where you crochet in FLO).
Using Dark Brown (08)
Ch 11
Row 1: sc into 2nd ch from hook and sc along to the last ch (10 sts)
Rows 2 – 10: ch 1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Row 11: ch 1, turn. Sc into the FLO of each st to the end of the row (10 sts). This will help to curve the cover to form the spine of the book.
Rows 12 – 16: ch 1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Row 17: ch 1, turn. Sc into the FLO of each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Rows 18 – 27: ch1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Edging: This is done on all 4 of the sides for the outer cover.
1st long edge: Ch 1. Sc approximately 27 sts evenly along the long edge of the cover, which should take you to the corner (this number is not critical – if you have slightly more or slightly fewer stitches, it doesn’t matter, as long as it looks nice and even).
1st short edge: Sc, ch1, sc into the 1st st of the short edge. Sc into the next 8 sts. Sc, ch 1, sc into the last st of the short edge.
2nd long edge: Sc approximately 27 sts evenly along the other long edge of the cover.
2nd short edge: Sc, ch1, sc into the 1st st of the other short edge. Sc into the next 8 sts. Sc, ch 1, sc into the last st of the short edge Sl st to the last st and fasten off.
The outer cover should be a bit longer than the inner cover, but the same width.
When layered on top of one another and closed, the outer cover should slightly overlap the inner cover, like this (when the pages are in, they should line up)
Once you have got the structure of the book, you can design your pattern for the front of the outer cover. Make sure to fold the book closed like in the above picture, so you have a good idea of the size of the front (or back) cover. I did a magic swirl with 2 shades of purple, starting in centre in the darker purple and proceeding clockwise with an enlarging spiral of slip stitches (a.k.a. surface crochet) until I reached near the edge. I then did the same again with a lighter shade of purple, running close to the darker purple line. You can do whatever pattern you like! Once you’re done with your pattern, you may want to tie some ends together in a knot (I did this to prevent it unravelling!) and then cut your ends. It doesn’t have to look pretty!
This is my design for the front cover. Surface crochet makes the fabric feel tight and might make it bulge a bit (here it’s bulging towards the back) – this should go back to normal once you stitch the covers together.
The back of your work may not look very pretty, with knots and loose ends - this will be covered up by the inner cover when you assemble the book.
Button
Using Brown (07)
Make a magic ring
Round 1: Make 6 sc into the MR, sl to the 1st st, and fasten off.
Attach this button near the edge of the outer cover, as shown in the picture. Weave the ends to the back and attach it securely with your tapestry needle – it needs to be nice and tight but the loop of the strap needs to be able to go around it.
Firmly attach the button to the outer cover. Again don't worry about the ends on the other side - they will get covered up by the inner cover.
Strap
Using Dark Brown (08)
Ch 4
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 2 sts (3 sts)
Rows 2 – 10: ch 1, turn. Sc across (3 sts)
Row 11: Turn. Ch 5. Sl st to the last st of the row (at this point, before fastening off, check if the hole you have created is big enough to fasten the button through it – if it is too tight, you may need to add a ch or 2 before the sl st (e.g. to make it a ch 6 or ch 7). Likewise, if it is too loose, you can reduce the number of chains before the sl st.) Fasten of, leaving a bit of tail. Attach the strap to the outer cover, near the edge, using the tail, and then weave in the end.
Pages
Using Natural White (02)
Ch 11
Row 1: sc into 2nd ch from hook and sc along to the last ch (10 sts)
Row 2 – 9: ch 1, turn. Sc into each st to the end of the row (10 sts)
Fasten off, leaving another long tail (one of the long tails will be used to attach the page to another layered on top of it, and the other long tail will be used to attach the composite pages to the spine).
You should have 4 of these.
It is now time to embroider the spells onto the pages of the book. Make sure for each spell you have the rows running from the top of the page to the bottom of the page (like in the pictures below, not like the picture above). This will be important when we want to sew the pages together, because the edges of each page will be the same kind of stitch.
Fire spell – I started with Christmas Red (86), in surface crochet, to make an initial flame shape and then fill in the centre in a spiral pattern. I then surrounded this with Burnt Orange (66), trying to emphasise the flame shape. Finally going around that in Sunny Yellow (55), trying to accentuate the points of the flame as much as possible, which can be accomplished by doing a slip stitch past the point you’d like the point to be and then doing a sharp about-turn and doing another slip stitch.
Back of the fire spell.
Lightning Bolt spell – I started with Light Turquoise (34) to make an outline, and then used Cobalt Blue (96) to follow along the inside of the outline, and then “filling in” the gaps.
Back of the lightning bolt spell.
Shield spell: I used Grey (15) to make the shield outline, then fill it in with a spiral, finally ending in the middle. Over this (pushing the hook through the layers of the grey surface crochet and through the page, and then pulling the Anthracite Grey (10) yarn back through these layers) I created the cross shape. I didn’t bother to cut the yarn between the two arms of the cross, as it's not necessary.
Back of the shield spell.
Entangling Vines spell: For this one, I started with Dark Green (22) with a wiggly vine shape using surface crochet. I then used my tapestry needle and Green (84) to embroider the leaves. I made each leaf with a double layer of yarn (i.e. went over the same area twice) to give them extra body. Again, I didn’t cut my yarn between any of this and tied some knots at the end to make sure nothing comes unravelled, before cutting the yarn
Back of the vines spell.
Assembly
Layer the pages on top of each other, making sure they are orientated correctly (i.e. facing in the correct directions). Using your tapestry needle and one of the long white tails of one of the pages, sew the pages together. I used a variation of the whip stitch, but you can use any method. The main thing to make sure is that you do it evenly and try to match up the stitches (your pages should have the same number of stitches, so this should be relatively simple).
I used a variation of the whip stitch to join the pages together, starting with the left or right sides of the page, which should be either your starting row or your ending row, with the ends of the rows at the tops and bottoms of the page. Usually the whip stitch goes through both the loops of the stitch (look for a YouTube video if you are not sure how to do the whip stitch), but I just used the loops closest to each other (i.e. the top loop of the V for the bottom page, and the bottom loop of the V for the top page), which gives a more rounded edge. I inserted the needle from the bottom each time.
Use a modified whip stitch to attach the loops closest together, all the way along.
You should be able to make 10 nice even whip stitches, and arrive at the corner.
Proceed to the next edge (the bottom/top of the page depending on your direction) and try to recognise the pattern, and choose the same part of the stitch to go through each time (I used the turning chains, which is every second row).
Your edge may look slightly different, but as long as it's even and regular, that's okay.
You should now have 2 pages with a spell on each side of each page.
You will now attach these pages to the inner cover (the smaller one, without the magic swirl).
Locate the middle of the cover. The book should tend to fold inwards around the middle point. You should see 2 ridges, shown here on either side of the tapestry needle. You are going to attach a page to each of these ridges
The book folds inwards - you should see the 2 ridges. Using a whip stitch again, attach your first page to the first of the ridges.
Attach the first page to the first ridge.
Attach the second page to the second ridge.
I tied a knot with my tails to make sure nothing came unravelled. You will be weaving these tails into the space inside the pages (between the 2 layers you attached together).
Weave in the tails of white yarn – the easiest is weave them into the space inside the pages, and bring them out on the other side, and cut the yarn short, poking the end back into the space inside the pages. Now, you are almost done! The last step is to attach the inner cover to the outer cover, shown in the following pictures.
Layer the inner cover (with pages attached) to the outer cover (with button and strap attached and facing outwards)
Use your tapestry needle with your lighter brown colour (the same colour as the button) and simply sew the front and back covers together. Do not sew the spine together – this helps the book open and close easily.
Weave in your ends, and that’s it – you’re done!
I hope you’ve enjoyed making my Magic Spell Book! Please tag me in your final creations @quicksavecrochet, add your questions and comments below, or contact me using the contact form or pop me an email at quicksavecrochet@gmail.com.