Any time you need to make your amigurumi bigger, you’ll use single crochet increase. It’s super easy! You just stitch twice in one stitch.
Here’s how.
Sometimes you’ll see this written in instructions as “inc” and you decide where to put the increases, but our patterns usually spell it out. If we want you to crochet increase, we’ll say “sc twice in next st.” We like to make things clear and easy. 🙂
Want to practice how to crochet increase (and decrease)? Pick up a super easy pattern.
Jay the Bird is one of the easiest – great for beginners.
Want something just as simple, but a little smaller? This bird and bunny are adorable!
They’re a lot smaller (so you won’t get in as much practice on those crochet increases) but you’ll finish faster!
You only need a few things to crochet amigurumi – a hook (to crochet), some stitch markers (to mark your place), and a tapestry needle (to weave in the ends and attach arms and legs).
Besides yarn – that’s really it! It’s a lovely craft – and easy to carry your projects everywhere.
This set of hooks includes the three most common sizes for working with medium weight yarn. I think this kind with the fat “neck” makes it extra easy to control the tension of your stitches.
You’ll need a handful of stitch markers. I use these to mark the end of a row, to mark where eyes and noses go, to hold pieces in place while I whipstitch them together, and more. They’re super useful!
Grab the biggest tapestry needles you can find. Yes – you may have a large embroidery needle that you could maybe, with a lot of effort and swearing, work a piece of yarn into. Do yourself a favor and just get the enormous needles. They’re super cheap and you’ll be glad you spent the money every time you need to thread some yarn.
Total for all these tools?
Should be less than $20.
Add in a pattern and a skein of yarn and maybe a packet of eyes, you could be making your first amigurumi for less than $30.
Give it a try! And happy stitching! 🙂
Here are handy links to all the posts about crochet tools and supplies.
Whew! That’s quite a mouthful! But it’s actually a really easy technique that lets you get two bumps with some space between them, like the awesome googly eyes on this frog.
This is necessary if the attachment runs across several rows of stitching, but if the attachment is running WITH a row of stitching, you can attach limbs while you crochet the body – all in one nifty step! You’ll see this described in patterns as sc-attach, or single crochet attach.
You can attach arms and legs with crochet if:
The body is crocheted bottom-up (that is, starting at the bottom and ending at the top)
The arm or leg will be attached flat
For folks who don’t like sewing, the main advantage to crocheting on the limbs is, well, you’re attaching the piece by crocheting. No need to pull out your tapestry needle!
The attachment is also quite secure, since it’s built into the fabric of the softie. And it looks really nice!
There are disadvantages, though.
The main disadvantage is that it takes a little planning, since any parts need to be finished in order to attach them. Another potential drawback is that if you don’t like your positioning, you’ll have to rip out rows of crochet to fix it.
How to Attach Arms and Legs with Single Crochet
To start, work to where the arm needs to be attached (as indicated by your pattern). Now, flatten the arm, and stick your crochet hook through both layers of the arm.
Notice that you have 3 loops on the hook: the starting loop, then the two from the arm (one from each layer). Now, insert your hook into the next stitch on the body:
I know… it’s a lot of loops!
Now, to do your single crochet, treat the three newest loops as if they’re one. So, wrap your yarn around the hook, and pull through 3 loops. Now, wrap the yarn around the hook again, and pull through the remaining two!
That’s one stitch! Continue (as instructed in the pattern) until the entire arm is attached.
See? Look how neat that looks!
Here’s a video to give you an additional view of the process if you like.
See how easy that is? Go forth and attach all your arms and legs with single crochet!
Here are handy links to all the posts about attaching parts. . .
I almost always use scrappy bindings in my quilts and I get a lot of questions about how I get those diagonal seams.
I show the diagonal seam in my video How to Bind a Quilt – but I never actually showed how to do it.
Until now.
See how easy that is?
I use this method any time I’m joining strips together. For me that’s usually binding a quilt, but it can also be for bias strips on bags, clothing, and any other application.
Want to learn how to make adorable crocheted stuffed animals with an easy online workshop – totally free?
Sign up for Let’s Make Amigurumi here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, and how to make an easy amigurumi from start to finish using simple crochet stitches.
It’s a fun, inexpensive, and totally portable craft. You can do it!
Crochet these fun hearts!
What’s better than hearts for Valentine’s Day? This pattern contains instructions for 3 sizes of stuffed hearts! The small measures 2.5 inches tall, the medium is 5 inches tall, and the large is a whopping 7 inches tall!!
These hearts are adorable plush decorations on their own… but the medium size is specially designed to turn any FreshStitches amigurumi into a Valentine’s Day amigurumi!
Here you can see the same Owen the Monkey with the three different size hearts. 🙂
I just haven’t sewn on enough different sewing machines to recommend one. Plus – a machine that’s perfect for me might not be perfect for you. It all depends on what you like to sew!
What I CAN do is tell you what I sew on and why it’s perfect for me. 🙂
My current machine is a Bernina 710.
Before that I had a Pfaff Lifestyle (no longer made) that I really liked, but I went shopping for a new brand when we moved to the mountains and I was suddenly 3 hours from the nearest place that would service Pfaffs. So – number one – make sure whatever brand you buy is one you can easily get serviced. You should take your machine in once a year for a deep clean and you don’t want to have to drive for hours. 🙂
So – back to my Bernina.
I LOVE HER!
Here’s why. . .
I mostly sew quilts – and mostly applique – so these features knock my socks off:
I can set my machine to stop with the needle down and it automatically raises the presser foot halfway so I can pivot my work. This is my favorite feature!
My machine ties knots for me at the beginning and end of my stitching. And at the end of my stitching it also pulls the threads to the back and clips them. Magic!
I can adjust the amount of pressure on my presser foot – which is handy when I’m quilting really wavy lines without basting the layers first. This is also nice when I’m sewing softies and sometimes need to sew through 6 layers of cuddle fleece. 🙂
I love the built-in walking foot. I basically keep it engaged all the time.
It has a supersized bobbin which is great for quilting. Not as much running out of bobbin thread in the middle of a long line of stitching! (The next level up has an alarm that lets you know when you’re about to run out of thread – but I wasn’t willing to pay extra for that.)
It’s got a lot of general features that I really love too – not specific to quilting:
It’s quiet (for a sewing machine) and doesn’t shake the table too much.
It’s easy to change the needle and the feet.
It has a nice big slide-on table (not shown in the photo).
I don’t sew much clothing, but the free arm is great for sewing softie heads. (Most people use it for hemming pants and sleeves.)
It’s got a good strong light.
The controls are easy to use. (Though – honestly – it has a LOT of features that I never use.)
It handles any fabric I throw at it with no problems.
It does NOT have the built-in Bernina Stitch Regulator. I’ve tried it and think it’s pretty awesome, but I don’t do free motion quilting so I didn’t want to spring for that expense. I might try free motion in the future, though, so I made sure to get a model I could add that to at a later date.
My advice if you’re shopping for a machine is to test sew – a LOT. Do not be afraid to take up the people’s time at the sewing machine store! It’s a big investment and you should make sure you’re getting something that will work for you.
Bring in swatches of any specialty fabrics you like to sew with and make sure the machine you’re considering can handle them. I’ve heard several reports of Brother machines simply not feeding cuddle fleece through. We think maybe their feed dogs are less grippy than other brands? I LOVE using cuddle fleece for quilt backs so that would be a deal breaker for me – but it might not matter at all to you.
My last bit of advice is to ask other sewists. Nobody can recommend one machine above all others, but we can all tell you what we like and don’t like about what we use. The Shiny Happy People group is a great resource and I’ve seen many helpful discussions of different machines there. Hop in and ask about a machine you’re considering!
