My newest amigurumi, just finished yesterday was full of features and techniques I had yet to tackle. So today I would like to discuss how give our amigurumi features :)
Here she is! my lovely fuchsia lady bug.
Safety eyes with simple crocheted chains attached above the eyes in order to give her eyelids; yarn straight stitched for mouth; yarn knotted at both ends to secure antennae.
Embroidery thread straight stitched down the middle for wings; felt sown on with embroidery thread, and a simple chain-stitched heart- also with embroidery thread. (sewing done with tapestry needle instead of my usual plastic yarn needle)
Here is a clearer image of the chain stitched heart. I wanted her to look like she had a sweet tattoo :)
As you can see, I have incorporated a little embroidery, a little felt, some yarn, and also safety eyes.
Throughout my process of learning and improving on my craft of making amigurumi, I have sought to make the features more interesting, more kid friendly, and more cute! The techniques of using embroidery floss, tapestry needles, safety eyes, and felt were all new to me this time around. Up until now I've only ever tried using yarn or simple sewing thread to embroider/stitch on facial features and other details.
So now that I've tried all these techniques, what do I recommend? Anything and everything! It's all great. As long as you feel comfortable and happy using them!
A word on safety eyes:
Though they are pretty darn secure, safety eyes used in amigurumi can still pose a choking hazard to kids under the age of 3.
If you would like to try them, check out your local craft store! I found mine next to the googly eyes :)
You can purchase them in different sizes. Mine are 9mm.
They come with a front part (the black screw like thingy) that goes through your crocheted object from the front to the back, and a back (the circular, clear plastic thingy) that secures itself onto the post of the front part from the back of the crocheted object. It is important that if you want to use these that you plan ahead! You cannot attach safety eyes once the object is stuffed and closed up. You must do it before!
Well folks, before I leave you, I thought I'd look over some of the lovely faces I have made with these simple techniques throughout this blog:
Happy crocheting!
5 comments:
What an adorable ladybug! I love it! I can see you love amis as much as I do too!
I'm very impressed with your faces.
I usually spend so long working on getting the faces right, at least right to me. I guess that's why I love amigurumi so much...everyone makes these guys a little different and stamps their own personality on to it.
I LOVE your amigurumi fridays and how you talk about learning new techniques.
What are you working on now?
Christina- Thanks! I truly do love ami's!
Sukigirl-
Thank you so much for the kind words :) I just finished my third sleepy sheep (see newest post) and am thinking of starting a new pattern I haven't tried before. Any good ones you know of?
That's a tough one since there are so many out there plus it's such a personal choice.
One of these days I'm going to make this monkey.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crocheted-monkey
There are 276 of them on Ravelry and they all look different so it would be fun to personalize.
Plus 642 more have queued him!
Ooh! that's a great one! I've already added it to my queue, thanks!
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