trombone for little animals

This crocheted trombone is designed to be to scale for all of the animals in my little animals collection, which can be found here. By following the link you can find a large range of animals, as well as a pattern for the dungrarees (use the one on the bi-visibility-day bunny pattern rather than for the elephant)

Difficulty:

Medium

This pattern doesn't involve a great deal of complex crochet but it is quite fiddly to try to make up


You will need:

• A 2mm crochet hook (use this for the trombone)
• A 2.5mm hook (use this for the case)
• craft wire (approx. 0.5mm diameter)
• 4ply yarn in cream and a goldeny brown colour
• Dk yarn in grey and black
• 2 small snap fasteners
• Corrugated cardboard
• A sewing needle and black thread
• A darning needle
• scissors
• Wire cutters and pliers (optional)

For the main body:
curl a length of wire into a circle around 2.5 cm in diameter.
Attach a 4 lengths of wire at equal intervals around the edge if this circle, making sure that one of these lengths is still attached to the reel of wire (since you will need a fair length of it).
Twist the ends of the shorter lengths together around the longer length a little way away from the circle, as shown below. The shorter lengths should reach the longer length about 2.5cm away from the wire circle, and wrap around it a few times after that.



With golden 4ply yarn make a magic loop with 4sc
Round 1: (sc in the first st, make 2sc in the next st) twice (6sc)
Round 2: (sc in the first 2sts, make 2sc in the next st) twice (8sc)
Round 3: (sc in the first 3sts, make 2sc in the next st) twice (10sc)
Round 4: (sc in the first 4sts, make 2sc in the next st) twice (12sc)
Round 5: (sc in the first 2sts, make 2sc in the next st) 4 times (16sc)
Round 6: (sc in the first 3sts, make 2sc in the next st) 4 times (20sc)
Round 7: (sc in the first 3sts, make 2sc in the next st) 5 times (25sc)
Round 8: (sc in the first 3sts, sc2tog) 5 times (20sc)

pull this section around the wire circle you made, then continue crocheting with this wire structure in place.



Round 9: (sc in the first 2sts, sc2tog) 5 times (15sc)
Round 10: (sc in the first st, sc2tog) 5 times (10sc)
Round 11: sc in each st
Round 12: (sc in the first 3sts, sc2tog) twice (8sc)
Round 13: sc in each st
Round 14: (sc in the first 2sts, sc2tog) twice (6sc)
Round 15: sc in each st
Round 16: (sc in the first st, sc2tog) twice (4sc)
Rounds 17 - 18: (2 rounds) sc in each st
Fasten off.


You will then need to curve the longer piece of wire into the correct shape. If should end up looking sort of like an S, as shown below.



It should measure around 7.5cm from the end of the bell section to the middle of the first curve.


The next straight section should measure around 10cm long before another curve int eh opposite direction.


The final straight section should measure around 7cm long





Next make an i-cord 36cm long (a video tutorial on how to crochet an i-cord can be found here), then thread this onto the long curved section of wire on the end of the trombone. This is fiddly and will take some time. You may want to trim some of the wires around the crocheted section you've already made so that you can slide the i-cord all the way up to the bell section. Sew this seam together to keep the i-cord in place.  Pull the other end of the wire slightly out of the i-cord and fold it over, then use the loose end of the i-cord to sew the wire in place.

it might look like the needle here is going through a section of the trombone but this is not the case. This image is just to show you the folding over of the wire to keep the i-cord in position.

After this make 5 more smaller i-cords, three around 1.5cm in length and two around 1cm in length.
Through each of these thread a section of wire around 5cm in length. These will need to be attached at various places around the trombone to hold it in place. To attach them thread each end of the wire through a stitch in opposite sides of the long curved section of the trombone (you should see what I mean when you look at the 1st image below). Fold both edges over and then use a section of yarn to sew over the top of these wire sections to hide them and allowed the crocheted section to be held securely in place.

use this as a reference for the positioning of each of the smaller i-cords

For the mouthpiece:
With cream 4ply yarn make a magic loop with 4sc
Round 1: (sc in the first st, make 2sc in the next st) twice (6sc)
Round 2: sc in each st
Fasten off

Sew this mouthpiece to the end of the longer i-cord.



For the case:
For the side pieces (make 4 in black and 4 in grey):
With dk yarn ch8
Row 1: sc in the 2nd st from hook, then sc in each of the next 6 chain sts. ch1, turn (7sc)
Rows 2 - penultimate row: sc in each st. ch1, turn
Final row: sc in each st
Continue crocheting rows until your rectangle measures around 13cm in length,or until it is slightly longer than the trombone section.
Fasten off

Trace around the case section and cut out 4 sections of cardboard of this size. Sandwich each of these sections between one black and one grey piece of cardboard, and sew around the outside edge of these pieces to secure them in place.


For the end pieces (make 2 in black and 2 in grey):
With dk yarn ch8
Row 1: sc in the 2nd st from hook, then sc in each of the next 6 chain sts. ch1, turn (7sc)
Rows 2 - 7: (6 rounds) sc in each st. ch1, turn
Final row: sc in each st

As you did before, trace around one of these sections onto cardboard and cut out 2 of these cardboard sections. Sandwich them between one back and one grey place, and sew around each of the edges to secure.

Next you need to assemble your box.
Sew the end pieces to the ends of one of your side pieces, and then sew 2 more side pieces to this base, one on each side. Make sure the grey side is on the inside. Sew up the side seams of your box, then sew one of the long edges of your final side piece to one of the long top edges of the box to make a lid. 

For the fastenings: 

with black dk yarn ch3

Row 1: sc in the 2nd st from hook, then sc in the next st. ch1, turn

Rows 2 - 4: (3 rows) sc in each st. ch1, turn

Row 5: sc in each st

Sew these to the edges of the lid of the case, then attach snap fasteners to each of them so that the lid can be fastened in  place.

For the shoulder straps:

with black dk yarn ch3

Row 1: sc in the 2nd st from hook, then sc in the next st. ch1, turn

Rows 2 - 11: (10 rows) sc in each st. ch1, turn

Row : sc in each st

Sew these to the back side of the box (the side opposite the lid)  in the middle to make straps.

And that's all! I hope you have enjoyed this pattern - if you have any questions please feel free to contact me, either by leaving a comment below or via my Ravelry or Instagram pages. I'm thinking I might make a collection of different instruments for these animals, please let me know if you'd be interested in that, or if there are any particular instruments you'd like me to make first.

You are very welcome to sell finished products but  please do not re-post this pattern or claim it as your own. Thank you!