This is the one I made for my dd which I use Caron Simply Soft and form the original cat pattern. She did all the embroidery for the face. I didn't do much better when I tried.
This is was also made from the orignal cat pattern. I made this one for my son which I used Red Heart. I think this turned out much better because you can't see the stuffing.
Purple Puppy is the first one I made using the new and improved pattern.
Pink Rabbit - in progress:
I might make this rabbit w/o the animals eyes.
The following are the animals made by my testers. They all did a fabulous job. I love their creativity!
Gray Kitty
Kitty Kat
Lavendar Rabbit
See more pics of the finished dolls here.
It’s a cat, it’s a dog, bear or rabbit. Oh My!
Updated Sept 2006
By Fiberstar – Samantha M. Stopple
Copyright 2006 - For your personal use or charity work only please do not make to sell for your profit unless you contact me first. Thanks
Materials:
3-4oz of Worsted weight yarn in color(s) of your choice. Red Heart is a good choice.
F hooks or hook that gets you a dense crocheted fabric (some were able to use a G hook)
Embroidery floss for eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
Embroidery needle or sewing needle a sharp one is best
Pins
Larger eyed needed to sew body parts together
Poly Fiber Fill
Stitch marker (yarn scarps work great for this!)
Felt (optional)
Animals/doll eyes (optional)
Finished doll size using ww yarn is approximately 9.5 inches long not including ears.
See finished dolls here.
Notes:
DO NOT join rounds unless otherwise noted. Use a scrap of yarn or stitch marker to mark the beginning of each round.
Leave a 10” tail for all body parts. You will use this when you sew the animal together.
You don’t need to weave in your beginning ends just stuff them into the body parts.
A great place to find tips to make animals is here
Fill with stuffing so it’s full enough that you get a fairly firm shape but not too full that you are over stretching the fabric.
Gauge:
When making animals or amigurumi, I like a dense crocheted fabric so gauge is not necessarily important. Go for as dense a fabric you can without going to a hook size that makes crocheting difficult. I am including my gauge so you have a place to start when choosing your hook size.
5sc in 1”
5rows in 1”
Try for something close to this gauge or a crocheted fabric that seems solid/dense.
Start doing the head, complete 6-7 rows then check your guage. If it seem off go to a smaller or larger hook.
Stitches/Skills: slip stitch, sc, sc dec, and magic adjustable ring (magic ring)
Magic adjustable ring instructions can be found here
Head:
Note: Magic ring is the same as the magic adjustable ring and will be referred to as such throughout
R1: Magic ring, Ch1, 8sc in the ring, pull ring closed (8sc)
Note: Mark the beginning of each round before you start this will help you know the beginning/end of each new round
R2: (2sc in each sc) repeat around (16sc)
R3: (1sc in the nxt sc, 2sc in the nxt sc) repeat around (24 sc)
R4: (1 sc in the nxt 2sc, 2sc in the nxt sc) repeat around (32sc)
R5-13: 1sc in each sc around (32sc)
R14: (1 sc in nxt 2sc, 1 sc dec) repeat around (24sc)
Note:
If you are going to use doll/animals eyes you will need to attach them now. If you are using embroidery floss you can wait until after the animal is assembled. Place the eyes about 1” a part on the 6th or 7th row
R15: sc dec around (12sc)
Add stuffing
R16: (1sc in nxt 2sc, 1sc dec) around (9sc), slip st into the next stitch
Fasten off leaving a 10-12” tail
Add more stuffing if needed
Body:
R1: Magic ring, ch1, 8sc in the ring, pull ring closed (8sc)
Note: Mark the beginning of each round before you start this will help you know the beginning/end of each new round
R2: (2sc in each sc) repeat around (16sc)
R3: (1sc in the nxt sc, 2sc in the nxt sc) repeat around (24 sc)
R4: (1 sc in the nxt 3sc, 2sc in the nxt sc) repeat around (30sc)
R5 –16: 1 sc in each sc around (30sc)
R17: (1sc, 1 sc dec) repeat around (20sc)
R18: sc dec around (10sc)
Add stuffing
R19: (1 sc in next 3sc, 1 sc dec) repeat around, slip st into the next stitch (8sc)
Fasten off leaving a 10” tail
Add more stuffing if needed
Arms and Legs (make 2):
R1: Magic ring, ch1, 6sc in ring, pull ring closed (6sc)
Note: Mark the beginning of each round before you start this will help you know the beginning/end of each new round
R2: 2sc in each sc around (12sc)
R3: (1sc in 5sc, 2c nxt sc) twice (14sc)
R4-6: sc in each sc around (14sc)
R7: (1 sc in 5sc, 1 sc dec) twice (12 sc)
R8-16: 1 sc in each sc around, slip st in the next stitch (12sc)
Fasten off leaving a 10” tail
Fill with stuffing
Legs (make 2):
Note: Mark the beginning of each round before you start this will help you know the beginning/end of each new round
Repeat Arm pattern R1-R7
R8-16: sc in each sc around
Fasten off leaving a 10” tail
Fill with stuffing
Ears (make 2):
Note: ears are not filled with stuffing
Cat Ears:
R1: Magic ring, ch1, 6sc in ring (6sc)
Note: Mark the beginning of each round before you start this will help you know the beginning/end of each new round
R2: (2sc in the nxt sc, 1 sc in nxt) 3 times (9sc)
R3: 2sc in the first sc, sc in the nxt 3sc, 2 sc in nxt sc, sc in the nxt 4sc (11sc)
R4: 2sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt 4sc, 2 sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt 5sc (13sc)
R5: 2sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt 5sc, 2 sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt 6 sc (15sc)
R6: sc around, slip st in the nxt st (15sc)
Fasten off and leave a 10” tail.
Rabbit Ears:
R1-4: repeat as for cat ears
R5-10: sc in sc around
Stop here if you are making upright rabbit ears
R11-15: sc around if you would like floppy/folded ears, slip st in the next st.
Fasten off and leave a 10” tail
Bear/Dog Ears:
R1: Magic ring, ch1, 6sc in ring, pull ring closed (6sc)
R2: 2sc in each sc around (12sc)
R3: (1sc in the nxt 5sc, 2c in the nxt sc) twice (14sc)
R4: (1sc in the nxt 6sc, 2 sc in the nxt sc) twice (16sc)
R5-6: sc around (16sc), slip st in the nxt st
Fasten off and leave a 10” tail
Muzzle (make one) (optional because you can use felt)
A muzzle helps give the look of a dog or bear
You can add a little stuffing under it as well.
R1: Magic ring, ch1, 5sc in ring, pull ring closed (5sc)
R2: 2sc in each sc around, (10 sc)
R3: (2sc in nxt sc, 1sc) repeat 5 times (15 sc) slip st in the nxt st
Fasten off and leave a 10” tail
If you use a felt muzzle make a circle of felt with a diameter of 1-1/2 Inches now or when you are ready to embroider the face.
[Week 4 –tail, assemble doll and add facial features]
Tail (make one):
Cat/Dog:
R1: magic ring, ch1, 5sc in ring
R2: 2sc in the first sc, sc in the nxt 4sc (6sc)
R3-10(more or less to your liking): sc around
Slip st in the nxt sc fasten off and leave 10” tail
Dog/puppy: example use 10 rounds
Cat: Grey Cat example used 13 rounds
Bear:
R1-2 same as cat/dog tail
R3-5: sc around
Slip st in the nxt sc fasten off and leave 10” tail
Rabbit:
Simple tail:
R1: magic ring, ch1, 5sc in ring, pulled closed
R2: 2 sc in the first sc, sc in the nxt 2 sc. 2sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt sc (7sc)
R3: 2sc in the first sc, sc in the nxt 2sc, 2sc in the nxt sc, sc in the nxt 3 sc (9sc)
R4: 1 sc dec, sc in the nxt 2 sc, 1sc dec, sc in the nxt 3sc (7sc), slipstitch in the nxt stitch, fasten off and leave a 10” tail
Bushy tail (like making a pom-pom):
Cut a piece of cardboard down to piece cardboard or card stock 2’x2’ then fold it in half.
Cut a piece of string (a similar color to your yarn) approximately 10 inches long. Lay that along the inside of the fold.
Then wrap the yarn around the folded cardboard/stock at least 30 or more times. (Do not wrap too tightly or you will end up with a grossly uneven pompom). The more you wrap the bushier the tail will be.
When you have reached what you think is sufficient. Take the string inside the fold of the cardboard and move it up towards the opening. Pulling very tightly tie two knots. Cut through all of the wrapped yarn along the fold. You may need to trim the tail now to round it out a bit.
Other ways to make a pom-pom/bushy tail: here and here
Assembling the doll:
There really is no right or wrong way to put the animals together. Hopefully I will help you find a few ways to do it and you can improvise from here.
Note: all ends sewing tails get pulled though the body and then cut off
See the website here if you have any questions about assembling the animals.
See pictures of the finished animals here for help when putting the body together.
Attach head to body using whipstitch. You can add a bit more stuffing here before you close up if needed. . You can use either the tail from the head or the tail from the body to attach the body and head together. Stuff the tail inside the head or body. Sometimes I go around twice to make sure it’s on secularly.
Arms:
Fold arms closed then attach to body about I place it about 2-3 rows down from the neck (or where it look best to you) then whipstitch around.
Legs:
Pin legs to body as shown in picture(s) in a standing or sitting position and whipstitch in place. I do not fold the legs closed before I sew them to the body I keep them open. You can fold the legs before you sew them on. It does makes it easier for the animal /doll to sit.
Ears:
Pin in place to see the best placement then whipstitch to the head.
When attaching the ears I like to curve the ears a bit to make it look kind of natural. I make the curve more pronounced when sewing the rabbit ears to the head. (Almost folding it at the base of the ear lengthwise.)
If you are folding the rabbit ears down then fold it so it looks good to you then sew it in place. (See Lavender Rabbit picture)
Adding ears for the dog you might sew them so they hang down and it will look less like a bear. (See Purple Puppy picture)
Muzzle: sew in place with a whipstitch where it looks best or see pictures for placement.
Tail:
Bear: fold the tail then whipstitch around
Cat/dog/rabbit: whipstitch w/o folding
Making the face:
See finished animals here for ideas and also look here for more ideas.
TIPS: I use a fairly fine embroidery needle or even a sewing needle and 2-3 strands of floss. A sharp needle makes it easier to work through the yarn and get better detail. Embroder as suggested below or to your preferences. Be creative!
Cat/Rabbit:
Embroider eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers, and claws (optional) as shown on cat/rabbit.
Dog/Bear:
If you are not using a crocheted muzzle sew on a felt muzzle with a diameter of 1.5 inches using either a whipstitch or running stitch with embroidery floss.
Embroider eyes, nose, mouth, and claws (optional)
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