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…
20 Comments »
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Suzi.BC Said,
January 15, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
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,
January 15, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
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,
March 7, 2008 @ 8:20 am
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,
March 7, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
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,
March 20, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
[...] 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,
March 24, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
kkelly, all I can say is that if it’s crazy talk, call me crazy – I do the exact same thing
Jeannie Said,
March 28, 2008 @ 7:39 pm
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,
April 10, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
[...] 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,
April 11, 2008 @ 11:38 am
[...] 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,
April 27, 2008 @ 9:23 am
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,
December 10, 2008 @ 5:43 am
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,
January 29, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
Thanks for that – a simple technique, excellent description and it looks great – can’t wait to try it out tonight!
sheene Said,
February 5, 2009 @ 8:44 am
thanks for sharing!
really helpful..
Jonnie Said,
February 10, 2009 @ 5:35 pm
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,
March 30, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
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,
April 13, 2009 @ 3:22 am
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,
April 13, 2009 @ 8:14 am
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,
April 13, 2009 @ 8:17 pm
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,
September 7, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
Oh my goodness, this tutorial was so helpful! Thank you!
Silvi Said,
November 13, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Thank you! It is very helpfull!