Don’t Make These Amigurumi Mistakes!
When you look back on your first crochet projects, I hope you have a feeling of pride and perhaps a few giggles. Inevitably, our first pieces are full of missed stitches or crooked attachments. But you don’t ONLY have to learn from your mistakes; you can learn from mine.
My goal with this post is to offer examples of my own amigurumi mistakes so that you don’t have to make them in the first place.
Conveniently (and hilariously), I managed to make the four biggest amigurumi mistakes in one sad stuffed animal created at the beginning of my amigurumi adventure.
So, without further adieu, meet Mr. Drippy.
The Plight of Mr. Drippy
My Drippy was made in the image of a character in a video game called Ni No Kuni that my family was playing together at the time. He is the king of the fairies and has a lantern — yes, a lantern — hanging from his nose.
Now, 7 years later, Mr. Drippy has disintegrated into this perfect example of what NOT to do when you make amigurumi.
Please, learn from my mistakes so your amigurumi will last and last.
Mr. Drippy was doomed from the moment I picked up my hook. The WRONG hook.
I made several mistakes on this project, but the hook size was, by far, the worst. So, ranked by “cringeworthiness,” here are the four big amigurumi mistakes you should avoid.
Top 4 Terrible Amigurumi Mistakes
1. The wrong size hook
When making amigurumi, you want your hook to be small and your stitches tight so that no stuffing can eek its way out between them. I thought I could make my large project go faster if I went up a hook size. But I wanted to keep using the same yarn I had chosen already… What could go wrong?
You guys, I made Mr. Drippy with an I (5.5 mm) hook. That’s too big for most hats, much less an amigurumi.
As a result of my giant hook choice, the stuffing has been slowly seeping out through the stitches. It pills up on the outside of him and comes out in clumps.
Drippy absolutely can’t be washed anymore or all of it would just slip through and clog up my washing machine.
And, as if to laugh myself home, I also chose to work in the back loops only. This technique adds great texture to pieces and looks really cool. But when paired with my too-large hook, it made for HUGE stretchy stitches that allowed Drippy to lose his shape as well as more stuffing. Poor guy!
Choose a hook that is SMALLER than the recommended size for the yarn you are using — as many as three sizes smaller if you tend to crochet loosely. When in doubt, make a swatch and hold it up to a light. Very little light should get through your stitches for amigurumi.
Using too big a hook is the worst mistake you can make with amigurumi. You can see how it wrought havoc on poor Mr. Drippy.
2. Not enough stuffing
With his innards leaking through the stitches, it seems crazy to say that Drippy should have had more stuffing. However, time has shown that the stress of all those cuddles has smooshed and manipulated his stuffing in the wrong ways.
His nose flops horribly. It was straight out and able to hold the weight of the lantern when I made him. But a lack of stuffing in the nose weakened that section, and now it droops.
Make sure you are firmly stuffing your amigurumi, especially at attachment points. When you are attaching parts with an open edge, always stuffing a bit more in at the joint before it is completely closed. When in doubt, an extra pinch in the attachment seams will help your amigurumi hold its shape for years to come.
3. Didn’t weave in ends
This picture makes me queasy. I was so naive! I thought I was just taking advantage of a nice amigurumi feature. Afterall, one of the perks is that the inside doesn’t show, so I just threaded my loose ends through the middle of my body, and viola! No need to weave in ends, right?
WRONG!
It didn’t take many play sessions to realize that those short ends were still loose. They were just flopping around on the wrong side of the work, waiting to be pulled free.
Poor Drippy is covered in stray attachment ends that are now too short to weave in. I tied them off, and now they sit as a terrible reminder to always weave in my ends!
Even on amigurumi, heck — ESPECIALLY on amigurumi — you need to weave your ends into the work through four stitches, back and forth over three rows. It’s the only way to avoid loose, nauseating ends working their way free.
Doing a thorough job of weaving in your ends prevents this amigurumi mistake, and your work will keep its professional look forever.
4. Weak attachments
Also in that image you can see that Drippy’s arm is held on by only three stitches, worked through only the front loops of the body. Oy.
Clearly, I didn’t realize when I made these attachments that this plushy would be repeatedly carried by his arms. Again, I just thought amigurumi were that simple. Just sew the arms to the body. Boom. Done.
But limbs like these, especially long ones, need more than that holding them together.
I have reattached Drippy’s arms no less than four times. That’s part of why the loose tail is so short — I keep using it to sew him back together.
Poor Drippy!
For the best attachment, parts need to be sewn through a WHOLE stitch and into each stitch on the loose part. And in the case of long limbs that are likely to be “handles,” double-stitching (stitching over it again) is absolutely necessary for your plushy to survive years of play.
While Mr. Drippy has suffered the wrath of an inexperienced amigurumi artist, your next plushy doesn’t have to see the same fate.
Yes, perfecting any art form takes time and small adjustments, but if you start with avoiding these four amigurumi mistakes, your work will maintain its quality even as time (and kids) test it.
What was the first amigurumi you ever made? Was it full or errors? Did you learn from others or learn from your mistakes?
I’d love to hear your story! Leave it in the comments or post it in the Hooked by Kati Community Facebook group!
Want more help with some of the most pesky challenges in amigurumi?
Check out these other tutorials.
How To Crochet Skinny Amigurumi Parts
5 Tips for Perfect Amigurumi Part Attachment
The Easy Peasy Joining Method for Round Parts
What Is Gauge and Why Is It Important?
Kati is the designer behind Hooked by Kati. With thousands of patterns sold around the world, Kati prides herself in creating innovative, easy-to-follow amigurumi patterns. She has designed for several publications, including Crochet!, Crochet World, Simply Crochet, and I Like Crochet. Kati finds her inspiration in science fiction, video games, and numerous visits to the zoo — all passions she shares with her husband and two boys.
Ok I’m looking for advice. Whenever i try to make something round (like an amigurumi head or nose) it ends up egg shaped. My stitch count is right, so are my hook and yarn sizes. I’m following the pattern but it just comes out shaped wrong. What am I doing wrong?
The first amigurumi I ever made was an Among Us character. I used a hook the was too big, his stuffing started to come out. I’m not sure exactly what happened but he also started to unweave between the legs. The legs and body are all one piece but my son brought him to me asking for a patch because there was a giant hole where there used to be a stitch or two. I learned from the hook size and none of my other amigurumi animals had holes, maybe it was all related.
I do the skinny pieces like you, the trouble I am having is skinny magic circles, especially 4 sc in magic circle, no problem there but to sc and inc in that first row I struggle, any suggestions? I am making your Vincent the Dragon
I would recommend skipping the magic circle, especially for tiny parts, and instead using the ch 2 method.
My one (and only) animaguruni was so over-stuffed that his legs stuck out from his poor little body so badly that he never could sit up properly. But I had already sewed him shut so I couldn’t find the stitches to pull out to take a little stuffing out. How do I know when enough is enough?
Before you stuff, stretch out your stuffing like pulling taffy. It adds air and helps you decide how much is really in there. Stuff until the piece is firm, but still squeezable. And if the stitches look stretched at all, that’s too much.
My first crochet that I stuffed was a Viking beard hat I made for a brother for Christmas when I’d been crocheting for about a year and knew almost nothing. I used part of a knit pattern for the beard and made up the hat myself, and I used stitches of different heights to get the horns to curve before stuffing them. I also used an obviously too-big hook and had not yet learned how to make invisible increases and decreases. Somehow the hat ended up back in my possession after my first child was born and I look at the horns that resemble stuffed mesh with the pride and affection of someone humoring a child insisting on wearing his shoes backwards.
My first project was a doll of Freida the artist from Mexico. I made it for my daughter the art teacher. Well I ended up with a very large head on the doll compared to her body. I used the yarn I had on hand which was a big mistake because the yarn for the head was a much larger type of yarn than the body. The poor head flopped all over the place. I ended up taking it off and put a small dowel in the body up to top of head and did some heavy duty stitching to keep it from flopping all over the place. Thank goodness she is only displaying it. I should have redone the whole head but the face, hair, flowers for hair was done. She loved it anyway and said it was just my “artistic” impression coming out.
Thank you for your tips, I have made everyone of these mistakes, but learned from them
Another trick is to use contrasting scrap yarn to “tie” the part in place, then sew using the project’s tail. I don’t recall reading about this, I just have always done this method, which works if you don’t have any pins handy.
My first was an octopus for a friend. I accidentally misread the instructions. For example, if it said Rnd. 1: 5 sc in second ch from hook (5), I would follow the instruction, then add an extra 5 sc because of the (5). **cringe** The octopus was supposed to be mini but ended up huge! I also did not pin the legs to the bottom before stitching them in, so they settled into an unnatural, uneven clump on the bottom. So many lessons learned.
Thank you Kathy, always pleasant to hear from you. There is always something to learn.
I wanted to move into I’m amigurumi and have been looking for starter tutorials. Well this doesn’t give a pattern, it certainly gives some very good advice, one that I’m saving for future reference. Thank you. For what it’s worth, Mr drippy looks pretty darn good considering all he had stacked against him from the beginning lol He’s still adorable
Great article..my first critter was a dino for my grandson — wrong yarn, wrong eyes, wrong sc technique. It is falling aprt
Apparently I’ve been doing everything wrong! Thanks for straightening me out!!