{"id":7034,"date":"2012-05-11T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T17:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/?p=7034"},"modified":"2018-01-27T11:02:16","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T16:02:16","slug":"amigurumi-basics-flattened-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/amigurumi-basics-flattened-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"amigurumi basics: flattened pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"infobox\">Link easily to this tutorial in your patterns: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/flatten\" class=\"autohyperlink\">www.planetjune.com\/flatten<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<p>Flattened shapes are a basic in amigurumi for creating rigid, flat elements like ears, beaks, wings, hands, feet, flower petals, leaves, etc. Here are a few examples from some of my patterns that use flattened shapes:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened1.jpg\" alt=\"flattened pieces used in planetjune amigurumi\" \/><br \/>\n<em>All these amigurumi use flattened pieces in different shapes and sizes (marked here by arrows). Clockwise from top left: flipper, petal, plate, ear, wing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There seems to be some confusion about how to flatten the shapes after crocheting them (see the comments left on <a href=\"\/blog\/free-crochet-patterns\/plumeria\/\">my Plumeria pattern<\/a> for an example of this!) so I thought I&#8217;d spell it out with this tutorial so I can refer back to it whenever people email me for help in future.<\/p>\n<p>For any shape that will be flattened, it&#8217;ll start out looking like a cone or cup shape. The exact shape and dimensions depend on the pattern and the required shape for the finished piece; it may be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>very long and thin <em>or<\/em> short and wide<\/li>\n<li>pointy tip <em>or<\/em> rounded tip<\/li>\n<li>tube-shaped <em>or<\/em> cone-shaped <em>or<\/em> widening and then narrowing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; or something in between! Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened2.jpg\" alt=\"amigurumi flat pieces tutorial\" \/><br \/>\n<em>All the pre-flattened shapes in this picture have the magic ring on the left and the open edge on the right.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But, whatever the specific shape, it will <strong>always<\/strong> have the magic ring at the bottom, and an open edge (which you crochet around) at the top:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened3.jpg\" alt=\"amigurumi flat pieces tutorial\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Before flattening &#8211; note how the open edge runs around the top and the magic ring is at the bottom.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When you flatten it, you&#8217;ll <strong>always<\/strong> bring the two sides of that open edge together:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened4.jpg\" alt=\"amigurumi flat pieces tutorial\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Squash the front and back of the open edge together to flatten the piece.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And then continue to flatten the entire piece, right down to the magic ring.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened5.jpg\" alt=\"amigurumi flat pieces tutorial\" \/><br \/>\n<em>All the flattened pieces from the top&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/tut_images\/flattened6.jpg\" alt=\"amigurumi flat pieces tutorial\" \/><br \/>\n<em>&#8230;and from the side. Note that, in these pictures, the magic rings are all still on the left, and the open edges on the right.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The magic ring will form the tip of the item (ear, petal etc), and you&#8217;ll stitch it to the base piece (head, flower, etc) by the open edge &#8211; which now looks like two parallel rows of stitches.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s all there is to it! I hope this clears up any remaining confusion about how to flatten and attach these pieces to your amigurumi.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"halfright\"><a href=\"\/amibook\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/ega_cover_thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"The Essential Guide to Amigurumi book by June Gilbank\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Loved this tutorial? I have so many more amigurumi tips and tricks to share with you!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boost your amigurumi skills<\/strong> with my latest book, <a href=\"\/amibook\">The Essential Guide to Amigurumi<\/a>, your comprehensive guide to amigurumi techniques and tips.<\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Do you find my tutorials helpful?<\/strong> If so, please consider making a contribution towards my time so I can continue to create clear and concise tutorials for you:<\/p>\n<div class=\"donate\"><a class=\"cssbutton\" href=\"\/shop\/just-a-donation-no-product-p-308.html\">make a donation<\/a><\/div>\n<p><strong>Thank you so much for your support!<\/strong> Now click below for loads more crochet video and photo tutorials (and do let me know what else you&#8217;d like me to cover in future tutorials&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/help\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/more_planetjune_crochet_tutorials.jpg\" alt=\"See more helpful PlanetJune crochet tips and technique tutorials\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Link easily to this tutorial in your patterns: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/flatten\" class=\"autohyperlink\">www.planetjune.com\/flatten<\/a> Flattened shapes are a basic in amigurumi for creating rigid, flat elements like ears, beaks, wings, hands, feet, flower petals, leaves, etc. Here are a few examples from some of my patterns that use flattened shapes: All these amigurumi use flattened pieces in different shapes and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crochet","category-tutorials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}