Bunny Crochet Amigurumi Pattern by Little Bear Crochets

Hello! I’m J.A. Poolvos from Little Bear Crochets and I’ve prepared a free pattern for you. It’s a perfect project to busy yourself with during the upcoming Easter weekend!

Using the recommended yarn and hook, this bunny will turn out to be 20 cm (7.8 inches) tall. However, you can use any other type of yarn and matching hook size to make him bigger or smaller.

You will be crocheting in continuous rounds, which is the regular way to crochet amigurumi toys. If you’re not familiar with amigurumi, check out my previous blog post on how to start with amigurumi.

 

The abbreviations used are:

mc = magic circle / magic ring

sc = single stitch

inc = increase

dec = decrease

( … ) = repeat what is between the brackets

[ … ] = total amount of stitches in that round

fo = finish off (with a slip stitch)

 

You will need:

30 grams of Diva Natural 100% Cotton in Cream

10 grams of Diva Natural 100% Cotton in Pastel Green

One pair of safety eyes of 6 mm

Stuffing

A single black thread

A single pink thread

Size 3.0 mm Clover crochet hook

Tapestry needle

Embroidery needle

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Head

Use white yarn.

Row 1: 6 in a m.c. [6]

Row 2: (inc) x 6 [12]

Row 3: (sc, inc) x 6 [18]

Row 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 [24]

Row 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 [30]

Rows 6-11: sc around [30]

Put the eyes between row X and X with X stitches between them.

Row 12: (3 sc, dec) x 6 [24]

Row 13: (2 sc, dec) x 6 [18]

Start stuffing and keep stuffing while you crochet along.

Row 14: (sc, dec) x 6 [12]

Row 15: (dec) x 6 [6]

Fo and work away your thread.

 

Ear (make 2)

Use white yarn.

Row 1: 6 in a m.c. [6]

Row 2: (inc) x 6 [12]

Row 3: (sc, inc) x 6 [18]

Rows 4-5. sc around [18]

Row 6: (4 sc, dec) x 3 [15]

Row 7: sc around [15]

Row 8: (3 sc, dec) x 3 [12]

Row 9: sc around [12]

Row 10: (2 sc, dec) x 3 [9]

Row 11: sc around [9]

Fo and keep a long thread for sewing. Don’t stuff.

 

Take your tapestry needle and sew the two ears on top of the head. Make sure the ears are facing towards the front of the head, where the eyes are! When you’re done, take your embroidery needle and black thread. Embroider a bunny’s nose in the middle of the face, a little below the eyes. Use the step-by-step embroidery drawing and the picture below as a reference.

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Leg (make 2)

Use white yarn.

Row 1: 6 in a m.c. [6]

Row 2: (inc) x 6 [12]

Rows 3-14. sc around [12]

Switch colors to blue yarn.

Rows 15-17. sc around [12]

Fo your first leg.

Don’t fo the second leg!

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Take both your legs. You will continue crocheting around, starting from your endpoint at the second leg, but instead of crocheting another round on your second leg, continue crocheting around your first leg. Once you’ve done all 12 sc, continue once again on your second leg and make 24 sc around there. This way you will mend the two legs together and make one new large round of 28 sc. This will count as round 1 of the body.

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Body

Row 1: follow the instructions above [24]

Rows 2-3: sc around [24]

Row 4: (dec, 10 sc) x 2 [22]

Switch colors to white yarn.

Start stuffing the legs and stuff the body as you crochet along.

Row 5: sc around [22]

Row 6: 5 sc, dec, 9 sc, dec, 4 sc [20]

Row 7: sc around [20]

Row 8: (dec, 8 sc) x 2 [18]

Row 9: sc around [18]

Row 10: 5 sc, dec, 7 sc, dec, 2 sc [16]

Row 11: sc around [16]

Row 12: (dec, 6 sc) x 2 [14]

Row 13: sc around [14]

Row 14: 4 sc, dec, 6 sc, dec [12]

Fo and leave a long thread for sewing.

 

Arm (make 2)

Use white yarn.

Stuff while crocheting along.

Row 1: 6 in m.c. [6]

Rows 2-13: sc around [12]

Row 14: fold the top flat and sew the two sides together with 2 sc.

Fo and leave a long thread for sewing.

 

Tail

Use white yarn.

Row 1: 5 in a m.c. [5]

Row 2: sc around [5]

Fo and leave a long thread for sewing.

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Now sew all the parts together. First sew the body and head together by using the thread of the body and your tapestry needle. Next sew the two arms to the sides of the body. Lastly, sew the tiny tail on the bunny’s back, in the middle of the lower half of the torso.

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

The last thing to do is to embroider the bunny’s belt. Take your pink thread and your embroidery needle. You enter the pants from the front, between the center crochet stitches. Now embroider around the top line of the pants. You will go over 1 crochet stitch, then under the next crochet stitch. Repeat this all around until you are at the front again. Exit through the entry hole. Tie a bow with the remainder of your thread.

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

Free amigurumi bunny pattern by Little Bear Crochets

 

You’re done! I hope you enjoyed working through this pattern. I wish you a lovely week.

 

J.A. Poolvos from Little Bear Crochets has been crocheting for many years, and designing amigurumi since 2015. You can find their patterns at www.littlebearcrochets.com and follow daily updates on their Instagram here.

 

Previous blog posts by J.A. Poolvos:

How to start with amigurumi

How to personalize an amigurumi pattern

How to embroider on amigurumi

How to Embroider on Amigurumi

You’re almost done with your amigurumi, but there is one task left: you decide to embroider some of the details of your toy. Oh no! At the beginning of my crafting life, I always dreaded stitching the little amigurumi faces, especially the mouths. Over the years, while working on my pattern shop (www.littlebearcrochets.com) I’ve picked up on some handy tips and tricks that helped me along. I will share these with you today.

 

Material

All you’ll need for your embroidery adventure is a needle and some thread. I personally prefer an embroidery needle (with a sharp point) over a tapestry needle (with a blunt point) for this. It makes it easier to enter and exit the plushie wherever you want. Now onto the thread. You could easily use any type that you wish, but I recommend not using something that unravels easily. For really small amigurumi, I use one to three strands of special embroidery thread. For regular amigurumi toys, I find it easiest to use a good quality cotton thread of fingering or sport thickness (4-5 ply), depending on the size of the plushie.

 

How to Embroider on Amigurumi by Little Bear Crochets

 

Before or after?

When should you embroider your details? Before you start stuffing or much later, once everything else is already done? If you are making your plushie for young children, I’d advice on the first. When you embroider before stuffing, you can make the most secure knots and be absolutely sure that, no matter how much pulling or fingering it may endure, the stitches will never come loose. However, if you are having trouble with embroidery and you are not planning on giving your amigurumi to the young ones in your life, I’d recommend embroidering only after you’ve finished crocheting and stuffing your toy. When the plush is already stuffed, it’s considerably easier to make your stitches in the right places and to make them match up.

 

Starting and ending?

If you have decided to embroider before stuffing, simply make a big knot at the end of your thread and begin on the inside of your amigurumi, so the knot stays on the inside and keeps the thread from being pulled out. You will finish your embroidery with another big, tight knot on the inside. If you start embroidering after you’ve finished your amigurumi, start with a long thread on your needle, but don’t make a knot at the end! Enter the amigurumi about eight stitches (or as far as the length of your needle permits) from the spot where you’ll be embroidering a detail. Push your needle through the amigurumi from the entry point to the embroidery-spot, and leave a semi-long thread hanging from the point of entry. When you’re done embroidering the details, after the last stitch, exit the amigurumi again at the entry point. Now you have two threads hanging from the same point. Tie them together into a tiny knot, cut away the excess yarn and push the tiny knot into the amigurumi with the back side (the blunt side) of your needle. Gone! No-one will ever see a thing.

 

How to Embroider on Amigurumi by Little Bear Crochets

 

What now?

Now you know how to start and end, that’s all good and well, but what do you actually do in between those two steps?! I’m happy you asked!

I like to use some basic rules for the order of my embroidery stitches. I start with the most important outlines, the ones that will form some sort of frame that will guide me of where to put my next stitches. Then I fill up the space created by the outlines. Afterwards, I work away uneven lines by putting some last stitches over them to hide them.

When I embroider something that hasn’t got a frame or space to fill up per se, I follow a different order. I start out with a single stitch in the middle. Then I slowly expand from that center to both sides so I can mirror my stitches with less difficulty. I know this all sounds kind of abstract but bear with me. Below you will see some step by step drawings that will clear up these descriptions.

 

The most common shapes: step-by-step

Here are some step-by-step diagrams for the most common shapes in amigurumi, applying the tips that I have explained above. They are not absolute rules of order, but just a look into how I personally create the basic embroidery on my amigurumis. There are a million more ways to create shapes, so be sure to try around to see which works best for you.

 

Snout with nose and mouth

Here we begin with the outline of the upside down triangle, to estimate its size. Then we fill in the triangle, and finish the uneven lines at the top with the top line. Then we can proceed to the smile.

 

How to Embroider on Amigurumi by Little Bear Crochets

 

Multi-purpose basic snout

Here we make a couple of vertical lines, and then a couple of horizontal lines. Done already! This one is the easiest and can be used for rabbit amigurumi, for example.

 

How to Embroider on Amigurumi by Little Bear Crochets

 

Several eyes

You can make such a wide variety of eyes! You can create even more diversity by combining different types of eyes, like a regular eye and a sleepy eye to make your amigurumi wink. To make circular shapes, try to use very small stitches. This takes more time, but a lot of tiny stitches with a slightly different angle look more circular than simply four straight, long lines.

 

How to Embroider on Amigurumi by Little Bear Crochets

 

Good luck!

That’s all! Don’t postpone any longer and try some of these embroidery techniques on that amigurumi project that you have been avoiding. Will you mess up? Probably, every skill takes a lot of practice. Don’t let your fear of ruining all your toys stop you. At first, you will create a bear with an awkward mouth that’s way too big or small, but 20 toys later you will look back on that bear and appreciate that you can visually see how much your practice has helped you. That will give the awkwardly embroidered bear its own charm!

 

 

J.A. Poolvos from Little Bear Crochets has been crocheting for many years, and designing amigurumi since 2015. You can find their patterns at www.littlebearcrochets.com and follow daily updates on their Instagram.

 

Previous blog posts by J.A. Poolvos:

How to start with amigurumi

How to personalize an amigurumi pattern

How to personalize an amigurumi pattern

If you love amigurumi, I can probably guess this: you have a folder on your computer or on your desk, stuffed to the brim with more patterns than you could ever make in your life! Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, I’m guilty of this myself as well. Despite having such a variety of patterns to choose from, sometimes you just don’t know what to make or how to make use of all these patterns you already own.

Hopefully this blog post can give you some ideas. I aim to show you how you can get the most out of every pattern by personalizing them, so every pattern will feel like a perfect fit for you. This way you can work with every pattern multiple times in many different ways and never get bored of them.

These rabbits were made by valea80 and elu_tejidos_con_amor on Instagram. Pattern by Little Bear Crochets.

 

Size

One of the easiest things to adjust to your liking is the size of the amigurumi doll. There are two ways to do this. If you want to change the general size of the plushie, try and adjust the type of yarn you’re using and the size of the hook that goes along with it. Although most crochet patterns come with a recommended yarn brand, almost all amigurumi patterns can be made with any type or thickness of yarn. Small patterns can be made bigger by using a yarn of worsted or bulky weight. Large patterns can be turned into hand-sized toys if you swap the yarn for some fingering weight alternative.

The second way to tailor the size, is to add or skip rounds while you’re in the process of crocheting. This is a great way to alter only certain parts of a pattern, but it is a little more advanced. Be sure to not skip any rounds that are essential for the structure of the amigurumi doll. Generally, these rounds can be spotted by watching for special techniques like increases, decreases or other advanced stitches. It’s easiest to add or remove rounds in which the guideline says to ‘sc around’. Be aware of a potential repeating design though! If a pattern has a certain sequence of ‘sc around’ rounds alternated with structure-essential rounds, pick up on the algorithm and make certain the ratio stays intact to prevent drastic changes in the doll (unless that’s what you’re going for, of course!). After trying it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it.

These giraffes were made by mariabocci and createdbyhilda on Instagram. Pattern by Little Bear Crochets.

 

Color & Effects

Another easy aspect to play around with is the color of your amigurumi. Like mentioned earlier, you can use almost any yarn in your projects. Besides simply changing the color of the doll, look around for what kinds of effects you can emulate. Changing a horse’s colors to black and white can suddenly turn it into a zebra. Switching colors around the chest area and the upper arms, can make any naked animal look like it has put on a sweater. Sometimes switching up colors and yarn types can even make plushies from ordinary patterns look like the famous comic book characters you love so much. There are also fuzzy yarns that will make your amigurumi animal look like it has actual fur, if you want to go for a more realistic look. The mixing possibilities are never-ending.

These bears were made by cotuitbayknitter and beehsweet on Instagram. Pattern by Little Bear Crochets.

 

Accessories

If you don’t mind crocheting a little extra, you could even add accessories to your amigurumi friend. Some ideas are bow ties, hats, skirts, bags or even eye patches if you prefer your plushies to pursue a career in pirating. Many of these types of additions can easily be improvised if you have been crocheting for a long time. If you’re not that handy with yarn yet, you can turn to Google or other patterns you already own to spot some nice little decorations for your toy.

These rabbits were made by varblas and grevvysvirkning on Instagram. Pattern by Little Bear Crochets.

 

The makeup of the body

You can really go all out with how you organize the body of your plush. You could add some wings to your amigurumi, from tiny angel wings to gigantic draconian ones. If you wish to invent a new alien race, simply play around with the amount of limbs or eyes. Do you like the head of one pattern, but the body of a doll from a different pattern? Simply combine them! As long as you watch the general size of all patterns you’re fusing, you will be fine.

This is also a great opportunity to make a custom doll for someone with a visible disability. People who have to use mobility aids or people who look different from the average able-bodied people are usually not represented, especially not in toys. It could mean a lot to a child who might deviate from the norms to see a plushie that looks like him or her!

These bears were made by mommivabrik and lisejshaya on Instagram. Pattern by Little Bear Crochets.

 

Let’s go!

I hope by now you will feel at least a little inspired to fine-tune a pattern to your liking for your next crochet project. Don’t feel insecure about your skills or the potential outcome, there’s no need! There are no restrictions or expectations, so go for it!

If you have made something wonderful out of a pattern, be sure to show us. Comment below and tell us about it! Be sure to give credits where they are due, and don’t forget to show the pattern’s designer your own project as well. As a designer myself (you can find my patterns at www.littlebearcrochets.com), I can honestly say that it is a lot of fun to see everyone’s personal spin on a pattern!

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How to start with amigurumi

You’ve probably seen cute, small, handmade toys popping up in your social media feeds every now and then. These awesome little guys are called amigurumi dolls. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of creating tiny plushies through crocheting in continuous rounds. In some definitions it also includes small (or large) dolls made by knitting and even other yarn crafts. To be honest, there are no official restrictions, you can be as creative as you are. Even though amigurumi dolls originate from Asia, their cute faces have taken the world by storm. Their popularity has grown since we entered the 21st century, and their fame doesn’t seem to wither any time soon.

By now you’re probably aching to start your own amigurumi project. So how do you get started? Not all of us have crochet classes at our disposal, and googling tutorials, tips and tricks can sometimes seem overwhelming. This blog post will focus on crocheting, and will try to teach you how you can teach yourself. Teaching you to crochet would take more than just some words on a screen, but I aim to give you the basic tools necessary to explore the world of amigurumi and to feel more at home in this craft. So get comfortable and let’s go over the essentials!

 

How to start with amigurumi

 

Patterns

The first thing that you will need is a pattern. As you might have seen on close-up pictures, a crocheted doll exists of hundreds, if not thousands, of individual stitches. The quantity and type of these stitches determines the shapes that the finished toy will have. When you’re just starting out, it’s hard to estimate how many stitches will make what kind of model. This is where a pattern enters the picture.

Because amigurumi dolls are crocheted in continuous rounds, a typical pattern describes the amount and the type of stitches that you have to make each round. They often guide you along the process and show a lot of step-by-step pictures. Patterns range from beginner’s level to intermediate to very hard. The harder the pattern, the more techniques are usually used. To be on the safe side, be sure to check the pattern’s description to see if it’s suitable for your level of skills.

There are numerous online places where you can find patterns, both for free and for a price. Many of these are made by indie designers, who have gotten into designing patterns after having crocheted amigurumi for several years. Some ideal places to look for patterns online are:

  • Hobium’s blog: Hobium publishes a small, free crochet pattern every now and then on their blog, so it’s an excellent place to try out some basic patterns for free.
  • Ravelry: Ravelry is a gigantic database of almost all existing patterns. You can search their database with keywords for patterns that you like, and immediately get all information about where the pattern is available and what materials you’ll need to make them. There are also hundreds of groups and forums full of people willing to help you on your way.
  • Etsy: Etsy is a platform where people can open their own online store. There are many indie crochet pattern designers who did exactly that. To browse around, simply search for ‘crochet amigurumi pattern’ and you’re set to flip through more than 17 thousand patterns, in a variety of languages. I, myself, am a designer too and you can find my personal store (with all of the animals from the pictures in this blog post), Little Bear Crochets.
  • Amigurumipatterns: Amigurumipatterns.net is a great website that has a large collection of both free and paid for patterns. Several times a year they release a book with a collection of patterns from many different designers, so there’s never a lack of choice.

 

How to start with amigurumi

 

Materials

Closets stuffed with hundreds of brightly colored yarns might be a joy to look at, but you don’t necessarily need a whole lot to start your very first amigurumi. The bare minimums that you will have to stock up on are:

  1. Yarn: there are many types of yarn you could use for your projects. It is possible to pick any yarn you want for your amigurumi, but for now I’d advise you to use the yarn that the pattern recommends you to use. With yarn, it’s important to look at the type of material and the thickness. If your pattern of choice doesn’t suggest a particular yarn, starting with a cotton yarn of average thickness (sport, DK or worsted) is usually pretty accessible. Be sure to read the yarn’s label to learn more about its properties and its length.
  2. Crochet hook: to hook your yarn, you will need a hook. The size that you will need will depend on the yarn that you’ve picked. The label of your yarn contains information about what hook sizes are appropriate to use. Sizes vary from less than 1 mm to more than 10 mm, but for amigurumi, you will usually use hooks in the 2 – 5 mm range.
  3. Stuffing: you crochet the doll’s exterior, but you will still need an interior. That interior will be stuffing, which you gradually stuff inside the shapes that you are crocheting. Stuffing can be made out of a variety of materials, but the most popular one is polyester stuffing. It’s easy to use and you can find it in most crafting stores. It looks a bit like a big bag of fluffy clouds!
  4. Sewing needle: with amigurumi, you often crochet all body parts separately and then sew all the pieces together at the end. You can use a regular sewing needle, but it doesn’t need to have a sharp point to function. Any old embroidery needle with a soft tip will do the trick.
  5. Safety eyes (optional): you could use these to give your plushie a realistic face, but it’s not necessary. If you’d like to do without, or if you want to give your doll to a small child afterwards, you can simply embroider the eyes with some thread.

 

How to start with amigurumi

 

Basic crochet stitches

Now that you have your pattern and your supplies, it is time to start making the doll. For this, you will follow the guidance of the pattern you picked earlier, which will tell you what type of stitches you need to make in what order. For beginner’s amigurumi, there is only a handful of stitches that you need to know. They are commonly referred to by their abbreviations. I will go over the basics below. You can click the links to go to an online tutorial of how to do the stitch:

  • Magic ring/circle: this is a small combination of stitches that will start off almost all shapes that you will ever make.
  • Sc: this stands for ‘single crochet’ or ‘basic single stitch’. It is the most regular stitch that you will perform the most. If a pattern says ‘10sc’ it means that you must do the single stitch 10 times.
  • Inc: this stands for ‘single crochet increase’. To increase, you make 2 single crochets, but the trick is to do them in 1 stitch of the previous row, increasing the total stitch count of the current row.
  • Dec: this stands for ‘(invisible) decrease’. With this stitch you reduce two stitches of the previous row into one stitch, decreasing the total stitch count of the current row.
  • Ss: this stands for ‘slip stitch’. It’s a stitch that is regularly used to ‘fo’ or ‘finish off’ an amigurumi shape that you’ve just crocheted. This is why you’ll often use this stitch at the end of your work.

How to start with amigurumi

Where from here?

All that’s left to do is to practice, practice, and practice! It’s a cliché, but practice makes perfect. Crocheting amigurumi is a skill that, like any other skill, needs to be trained with lots of patience before you can reap all the benefits. Fortunately, it is a wonderful and fun activity. Above all, it is extremely rewarding to finish your very own doll. All that’s left for me to say is: good luck!

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