Amigurumi Giant Panda crochet pattern
It’s time to present another commissioned design: Giant Panda!
This pattern is a little later than scheduled, both because I’ve been sick and because I wanted to take some extra time to really perfect this design. Some designs come easily, and some take extra time and care to get just right. With an animal as iconic and well-known as the Giant Panda, there were a few criteria I knew I had to include in my design; every crocheted panda I’ve ever seen is just a basic toy bear shape with black circular patches added around the eyes, and that’s not the way I wanted to go.
My panda needed realistic shaping – the sloped back of head and neck, the iconic comfy seated pose – as well as some clever colourwork to give the shaped markings around the shoulders and realistic, symmetrical eye patches. I also had to strike the right balance between including all the features I wanted and making a pattern that isn’t ridiculously complicated to follow. With all those factors to juggle, I ended up making three complete pandas before everything came together perfectly!
In the final design, there are only 8 rounds of follow-carefully colour changes, and the pattern includes lots of tips – specific to this pattern – to make the colour changing easier and ensure you’ll get a beautifully tidy result. I’ve introduced a few new simple but effective shaping techniques too that are built right into the crocheting – I think you’ll enjoy how easily they come together when you make your own panda…
I should mention that the bamboo my panda is holding is not included in the Giant Panda pattern – it’s taken from my Lucky Bamboo pattern, which you can buy separately. However, the Giant Panda pattern does include the modifications for turning the standard Lucky Bamboo pattern into the freestanding panda-sized bamboo stalk you see pictured above with my panda. 🙂
(Btw, my newsletter is going out later today with an exclusive discount coupon for the Lucky Bamboo pattern. I’ll be re-sending that update to new subscribers on Monday, so sign up this weekend and you won’t miss out!)
If you pledged towards the Giant Panda commission, you should have already received your copy of the pattern, and the panda’s bamboo as a special commissioning bonus. Otherwise, if you’d like to make a panda of your own, you can now pick up the Giant Panda crochet pattern from the PlanetJune shop!
If you’re not quite ready to buy though, how about queuing Giant Panda on ravelry so you don’t forget about it?
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Dubois said
Il est tout simplement mangifique!
J’ai une amie qui est fan des pandas est ce que vous pourriez m’expliquez comment vous l’avez fait?
En tout cas encore f
June said
Dubois, thank you, and you can buy my Giant Panda pattern (the instructions for how to crochet a panda yourself) from my shop 🙂 Please note that all my patterns are available in English language only.
fariba said
Hi June,very cool. yeah
Megan said
So cute! I love it!
E said
I’m really, REALLY impressed with this panda June! Defiantly has to be one of my favorite designs from you! It’s so lifelike! :O
Great job! I can’t wait to try him out! =^__^=
Dale said
Very nice! I like how the eyes are part of the head instead of an additional piece stitched upon it.
The back is really well done too! I’ve always had trouble with colour changes midway in the row as the rows tend to turn a little towards the right with every new row.
I find the legs a bit strange though. The way they spread out seem a bit unnatural to me.
June said
Yes, any time you crochet without turning between rounds, the stitches do bias to the right (or to the left if you’re left-handed) over successive rounds. I’ve been developing new techniques for amigurumi colourwork that get around that bias – if you look at my Emperor Penguin, for example, you’ll see it has symmetrical colour changes all the way down the body 🙂
Dale said
Yeaa, I saw the emperor penguin before and I was really impressed with the colour change! I tried my version of colour change and the line just went zig-zagging around.
Monsterscircus said
Hi June! Amazing job, it looks so cool, and I love pandas! Found you at Carinas Craftblog. Have a wonderful day
Lindy said
I love your panda! It’s absolutely gorgeous. You’ve really captured the details and the expression, and the bamboo is great too.
Love, Lindy xx
Gina said
It looks kind of skinny.
June said
That’s because it’s not fluffy like a real panda – you could easily fix that if you wanted a fatter fluffier look by brushing the pieces with a wire brush (before assembly) to fluff them up.
Gina said
Good idea 😀
matsu said
This is super adorable! but i noticed he doesnt have a tail. other than that tho, he’s really cute!
June said
Thanks! And actually, the tail is implied, not missing: if you look at a real panda, you can’t see the white fluffy tail against the white fluffy body when the panda is sitting in this pose – it’s just melded into the general shape of the panda’s rear 🙂