Joining Amigurumi
When making amigurumi, you will often need to join an open-ended crocheted piece (e.g. the top of a leg or tail or a muzzle) to a closed crocheted piece (e.g. the body or head). Sewing these together neatly can be tricky and can make the difference between a cohesive finish and an untidy messy join. In this tutorial I will demonstrate the method I developed for sewing pieces together neatly, with an almost invisible join.
Both pieces are usually the same colour, but, for the purpose of this tutorial, I will be joining an open-ended brown piece (right) to a closed grey piece (left):
You will usually have a long yarn end left over from the open-ended piece to sew the two pieces together. For further clarity in the tutorial, I have substituted the brown yarn end (above) with pink yarn. Thread a yarn needle with the yarn end:
Hold the two pieces together in their final position, with the yarn end towards you. Note: I’m left-handed, so my stitches go from left to right and I hold my work with the open-ended piece on the right. If you’re right-handed, you will probably find it easier to mentally ‘flip’ all my images (left to right).
Begin the first stitch into the main piece, just outside the place where the two pieces touch:
Bring the needle back out of the main piece where it will be covered by the second piece, then through both loops of the next stitch of the open-ended piece (going from inside to outside):
Draw the yarn all the way through so there is no slack, but do not pull it overly tight. Your first stitch is complete. If you are using the same colour yarn for both pieces and the sewing, the stitch will blend into the crocheted stitches and will not be obvious, unlike in this picture:
Repeat the same process with the next stitch: insert the needle into the main piece just outside where the two pieces meet, coming up further inside, then through both loops of the next stitch of the open-ended piece, going from inside to outside:
Repeat for each stitch around the open-ended piece. When you get the hang of it, you can do the complete stitch in one move:
Here’s a close-up of exactly where the stitch should be made:
And here is the finished result – a nice, smooth join:
Look at the size of the stitches – to make the best join, the stitches should be visible like this, but of course they will not show up like this in your real work where you use one colour instead of three! Here’s an example of my technique in action:
I hope you find this tutorial useful! Happy amigurumi making…
27 Comments »
Leave a Comment
Please note that I respond to comments here on the blog, so please return to this post to see my reply, or check the above box to subscribe to comments on this post by email. -June
Suzi.BC said
I love your tutorial, but can you answer a silly question ? On your dog at the bottom pic, did you join everything with one colour or other? Thanks I am still just a beginner! you have such beautiful patterns.
Suzi.BC
June said
Suzi, it’s not a silly question
I changed colour where necessary so I was always joining the brown parts with brown yarn and the white parts with white yarn. It’s not a lot more work (except more ends to fasten off and weave in) and the end result is much better if you match the yarn colours.
Emma said
Thank you soo much for posting this!
I’ve been getting into all sorts of pickles trying to join my little friends together.
You’ve made some lovely things and well done for mastering left-handed crochet, It looks so confusing!
kkelly said
This is a great tutorial, and makes me happy to see I’ve been basically doing it correctly, if a little messy. But I run into a problem at the end. I’ve just been doing a stitch and then making a knot through it, then sort of tucking the rest of the long piece of thread into the inside of the piece. Is that crazy talk?
Amigurumi Tutorial 1 (learn to crochet) | Hook and Needles: Knitting and Crochet Blog (cool stuff, techniques, and things I find) said
[...] I couldn’t find a video for this part, but Crochetme has a great article about it, and here’s another one. It’s really [...]
June said
kkelly, all I can say is that if it’s crazy talk, call me crazy – I do the exact same thing
Jeannie said
Great tutorial, June! My problem is knowing where to place the pieces/parts. I made a reindeer (sorry, someone else’s pattern I think) and can’t get his legs, antlers, ears, etc., in the best places. It would be so helpful if patterns could tell you to “mark this spot” for the different parts. Also, I was wondering, do the plastic pellets in the bottom of the legs help the cutie to stand up better?
Tutorial de Amigurumi 3 (técnicas adicionales) | Gancho y Agujas said
[...] un exelente tutorial sobre cómo ensamblar amigurumis. PlanetJune también tiene un tutorial sobre unir amigurumis. La clave es hacerlo con calma y cuidado para que las uniones se noten lo menos posible, y para las [...]
Amigurumi Tutorial 3 (additional techniques) | Hook and Needles: Knitting and Crochet Blog (cool stuff, techniques, and things I find) said
[...] Me has an excellent tutorial on Assembling Amigurumi. Planetjune also has a very good tutorial on Joining Amigurumi. The key is to do it slowly and with care so they join shows as little as possible. Use pins to [...]
Nicole said
Hi June,
I am a brand newbie to amigurumi & I am really confused about which way is the right side & which way is the wrong… can you shed any light on this for me? Also I am making a pattern from the book Kyuto Japanese Crafts Amigurumi & trying to make the furry bunny but am stuck on the ears…. (I know – basic & I can’t get it) – any advice you could offer would be great.
Nicole
Tracy said
i’m making a baby pig for my dad’s birthday with my OWN pattern… now i can sew the pig’s leg to the body. YAY!
Rowena said
Thanks for that – a simple technique, excellent description and it looks great – can’t wait to try it out tonight!
sheene said
thanks for sharing!
really helpful..
Jonnie said
This is the BEST tutorial EVAH!! I enjoyed making my first amigurumi but was DREADING sewing on the pieces and parts. It seemed like I was messing up all of the nice, neat work I’d done on the body parts. You make it looks so easy — and it is. It seems so simple now and it looks so much nicer.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing!! I’m going to share this link on Ravelry.
Eleanor said
Thank you so much! A great pictorial explanation of the joining process…and left-handed too!!! I never find things explained for lefties, and I’m always the one trying to mentally flip everything around. Ha Ha you righties…now you know how it feels
just kidding you guys…but it’s nice to see something from our point of view!
clar said
hi, im new to crocheting. just wondering, do you have to join up the stitches at the end of the last round with a slip stitch before joining or is that unnecessary?
June said
clar: your pattern should instruct you how to finish each piece before joining the pieces. In general, it’s best to join with sl st at the end of the last round. This will give a smoother open edge, which will make it easier to join the pieces neatly without leaving any holes.
Clar said
Oh. All the pattern did instruct was to just fasten off and end with a long tail. Well i guess i ought to join with the sl st then. Thanks
Parker said
Oh my goodness, this tutorial was so helpful! Thank you!
Silvi said
Thank you! It is very helpfull!
Eo said
This is so incredibly helpful. I’ve been trying to muddle may way through patterns in the past, but now it all makes sense!
Can I ask what you do with your ends? I normally just stuff them in, but I’ve had some problems with them popping back out :/
June said
As Cheryl says below, you can weave the ends through your stitches one way, and then back the other way.
An easier way for amigurumi, though, is to just take the end right through the body (through all the stuffing) from one side to the other, and then make another stitch heading back through the body again, in a slightly different direction, then snip off the remaining end. Same principle – if you pull on the stitches, the yarn won’t slide out because it’s ‘facing’ both directions – but it saves having to actually weave the yarn through your stitches.
To make it even more secure, you can knot the yarn around the post of one of your stitches before losing the end inside the piece.
Eo said
Thank you both for the help!
Cheryl said
The best way to secure your tails is to thread them through your work one way in a straight line, then thread them back through those same stitches in the opposite direction – so they are going back on themselves. This is much like the “backtack” sewing stitch you would use on a sewing maching to finish your work. (Obviously do this in such a way that the tails aren’t showing on the outside of your work.)
Cheryl said
Just to add to the above: when you’ve threaded your tail in one direction you have to pick up a stitch before you turn and go back the same way, otherwise the thread would just come out.
Crochet-Along: Week 6 | FaveCraftsBlog said
[...] and sweater collar to body as in photo, using long yarn tails. (For help joining these pieces, see this excellent photo tutorial. ) Make sure parts are securely attached. Sew ears to head leaving approximately 4” diameter [...]
Anna said
Thank you soooo much!
I messed some of my Amigurumis just because I did not know how to sew parts together.