Crochet a Car Set with Me: Seatbelt Cover + Coasters

This week I’ve been working on a birthday present for my friend, Ashley, and I wanted to share it here. It’s not a full pattern, but it’s most of the steps in case anyone is interested in making something similar. She asked for a granny square seatbelt cover and sent me a reference picture.

 

I’m pretty sure the one in this picture is just screen printed on and not actually crocheted, but I figured I could make it work. She also gave me a color scheme— “pastel colors like purple, blue, orange, yellow, green etc :)” — so I started looking for yarn that would match that vibe. I needed thinner cotton yarn in soft pastel shades, and I ended up ordering Rainbow Cotton 8/4 yarn from Hobbii. 

Once I had my yarn, I started with a test square to make sure the size was just right. Satisfied with the results, I began the assembly line. I prefer making granny squares that way — do all of the round 1s, then all the round 2s, and so on. Not only is it faster that way, but it also helped me keep the color combos evenly mixed. 

Here’s the pattern I used:

Granny Square Pattern

Yarn: Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4

Hooks: 3.25mm for Round 1 (I tend to have tighter tension) and 2.75mm for Rounds 2 and 3.

Finished size: 1.25”

Note: Chain 1 does not count as a stitch.

Round 1: 8 sc in magic circle. Sl st to join.

Round 2: Ch 1, 2 hdc in each stitch around (16px). Sl st to join.

Round 3: Work into the spaces between each pair of hdc from Round 2. 

Ch 1, then start with 2 hdc in the first space. In the next space, work 2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc to form your first corner. Continue around the square by working 2 hdc into each side space and 2 hdc, ch1, 2 hdc into each corner. Only chain in the corners— there are no chains between side clusters. When you’ve gone all the way around, join with a sl st to the first hdc (24 hdc and 4 ch).

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I ended up making 36 granny squares total to make two long panels of 2 by 9 squares each. Once they were all done, I wove in all one million ends, soaked them, and blocked everything to get them nice, flat, and square.

After blocking, I sewed the squares together using the invisible seam and added a single crochet border around both panels to clean up the edges. Then I sewed one of the long side of the two panels together to create the cover shape. To close it, I sewed on 10 small metal snap— placed evenly at each seam between the granny squares and at both ends. You could also use buttons, Velcro, or do what I did with my seatbelt cover and just sew it directly to your car. Whatever works!

Car Coasters Pattern

Since I had plenty of yarn left, I decided to make matching car coasters, I couldn’t remember if she already had a set (she might) but I figured a matching pair would be cute either way.

I used the same 8/4 cotton yarn but held double to get closer to a weight 4 yarn and used a 4.5 mm hook. These were super quick and easy.

Note: Chain 3 does count as a stitch.

Start with a magic ring

Round 1: Ch 3, then work 11 dc into the ring (12 dc total including the ch 3). Invisible join into the top of the ch 3.

Round 2: Ch 3, dc in into the first space between the stitches. Then 2 dc into the next space, repeat to end. Invisible join (24 dc).

Round 3: Ch 3, 2 dc into the first space. Then 3 dc into the next space, repeat to end. Invisible join (36 dc).

These lay pretty flat on their own, so no blocking needed— unless you want to.

That’s everything! If you’re making your own version, I hope this was helpful. Here’s how mine turned out:

This whole little set came together better than I expected, and I’m really happy with how it turned out better than expected, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love making gifts for people, especially when it’s something I know they want and will actually use. It’s even better when they have a reference picture to guide me. This was a really fun project, and I hope she likes it!