Crocheting amigurumi toys can be an incredibly rewarding activity. The creation of an amigurumi consists of different steps, such as crocheting the actual parts, stuffing them, sewing them together and embroidering any final details. Even though we don’t like to admit it, usually one of these steps is at least slightly disliked by avid crocheters! To the people who still get a little nervous about stuffing, this blog post is for you. If you have any difficulty with any other parts, be sure to check out my other tutorial posts on the blog here.
Why pay attention to stuffing?
Giving shape to an amigurumi is done in two ways. The first way is through crocheting the different body parts, which is usually done by following a pattern. This gives you a set of parts that are already shaped a certain way. However, you can really improve and accentuate these shapes by stuffing well, or you can unfortunately undo much of the pattern’s hard work by stuffing the wrong parts or not stuffing enough. This post aims to give you some basics to guide you through your next stuffing project.
What to stuff with?
I always stuff my amigurumi animals with polyester stuffing. It’s usually white in color and really fluffy. Many (craft) stores sell large bags of polyester filling, specifically for stuffing pillows or toys. It’s fairly cheap and easy to work with. However, I’m aware that it isn’t the best stuff for the environment. Now that more and more companies are becoming more environmentally friendly, new stuffing types are starting to be released, such as certain plant fibers. Unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of experience with these materials yet. So keep in mind that the tips in this blog post are aimed at working with polyester stuffing.
What parts to stuff?
First it’s important to observe what parts of the amigurumi are going to need stuffing, so you don’t realize too late into your creation process that you need to stuff something. Usually a pattern will tell you, but it can’t hurt to be aware yourself as well. For example, if you look at the blue Tall Bear above, you can determine that the ears won’t be stuffed, because they will be folded. Another thing that you can notice is that the arms are more fully stuffed at the bottom part than near the shoulders. All other parts are stuffed to maximum capacity. Good to know beforehand!
When to start stuffing?
When you start to stuff, varies per item you crochet. Usually, you have two options: you stuff along with the item that you are crocheting every few rounds, or you stuff almost at or exactly at the end of your piece. I’ll demonstrate with the example of the Tall Bear. First take a look at the head of the bear above. It is one simple shape, so I will stuff once I’m about 85% - 90% done with the crocheting. I will still have a little hole left through which I put the stuffing with my hand or fingers. Then I crochet the leftover of the head and maybe stuff a tiny bit extra at the end.
This process changes for, for example, the arm. It’s really long and narrow, so if I wait until the end, it won’t be easy to get any stuffing in there. My process is usually to crochet about 20% of the rounds, then stuff until about 15% of the rounds. I crochet until about 40%, and I stuff until about 35%. The reason I don’t stuff exactly to the point of my current progress, is because it makes crocheting more difficult. Likely you’ll constantly poke the stuffing with your crochet hook, which can give an undesirable end result if you then pull stuffing into your stitches. Only once I’m at 100%, I stuff for 100% and finish off.
Sometimes you get confronted with a very big piece, like for example the body of the Tall Bear. In this case, I tend to start stuffing once I’m at 50% of my crochet work. If I wait until the end, it gets more difficult to push half of my arm in there to shape the tiny feet with my fingers with stuffing. However, if I start stuffing immediately, it makes the body heavier and this way makes the crocheting process more difficult. So usually, with big pieces, I will stuff for the first 25% of rounds when I’m at 50%. Then when I’m done with 75% of the piece, I’ll usually stuff until 50%. When I’m done, I finish the stuffing process.
When you start with crochet, it might not be obvious yet to see when it’s the best time to start stuffing. As long as you keep practicing, you’ll get a better eye for it. Mistakes will teach you and you’ll also finetune with your own preference, so keep going!
How much to stuff?
I think this is the most important part of your stuffing journey! When you stuff, where you stuff and how tightly you stuff can really make or break an amigurumi. It’s very important for its shape. Generally, I know of two different stuffing situations: either a part needs a specific amount of stuffing to reach a certain softness, or a part needs maximum stuffing. The first case is rare, the second case is the most common.
What is a scenario in which you might not want to maximum stuff? For example, look at the arms of the Tall Bear. Here you can see that the arm gets thinner the closer to the shoulder the arm gets. So, the arm is stuffed fully at the bottom, but slowly transforms into a lesser tightly stuffed arm at the top. This is to reach a certain effect and if you use a crochet pattern, they will always specify if you need to go light on the stuffing somewhere for a special effect!
In all other cases, you need to stuff to maximum capacity. How do you know that you have reached that? I have two easy tricks:
- Squeeze your toy. If you squeeze a toy and a dent forms that stays, it’s not stuffed enough. Don’t be greedy, keep stuffing! If you squeeze your toy in several different places and afterwards the toy goes back to its original form, you’ve done a good job stuffing!
- Smooth edges. Really inspect your amigurumi well from all angles. Is it evenly stuffed? If you haven’t stuffed all parts of an individual part evenly, you might notice light dents, or parts of your crochet work are more heavily strained and stretched than other parts. Really get your face in there and look, as well as feel with your fingertips for cavities under any specific surface. If you spot anything, add stuffing and try to shift the stuffing so all emptier parts get evenly filled.
Conclusion
With these basics in mind, I’m sure you can handle any crochet project. Good luck! Want to show me what you’ve made or how you’ve improved your stuffing action over the years? Be sure to tag me on social media so I can see! :)