Baby Amigurumi Mouth Embroidery Tutorial

As promised, here is the mini tutorial, which I think you might already known. Anyway, I'm happy to share as I was suddenly inspired after failing to stitch a nice mouth for that baby amigurumi.

Steps:
1. Draw a mouth on a piece of paper.
2. Place the paper on the amigurumi's face and adjust the shape and size until you're satisfied with it.
3. Once you're happy with your drawing, pin the paper on its face and start embroidering (I used 4 strands of pink sewing thread I didn't have embroidery floss) like this great tutorial by nerdigurumi.

That's it! And the mouth is done, without any wicked look! LOL.

By the way, I made felt eyes following this awesome tutorial by freshstitches. As I didn't have black felt, I colored the white felt with black marker pen, haha!

Baby Amigurumi

I made this baby amigurumi for kids ministry of my church, referring to a book I borrowed from a ward office library. In fact this is my first ever amigurumi. Thank God that it looks ok. 

And I love Japan's public libraries - complete with tonnes of handicraft books!!

I have a mini tutorial of mouth embroidery and free diaper pattern with are coming soon.

Shell-stitch V-stitch Book Cover

I bought a notebook (12.5cm x 18cm x 1.7cm) from a 100 yen shop to record Sunday church sermons and write my prayer list. The cover is plain brown and dull looking. So I, being a mad shell stitch fan, crocheted this lovely lacy shell stitch book cover. Straps were added on both front and back to fasten the book. Finished size of this book cover is 26cm x 19cm. Let's get started!

Material
30g (about 75m) off-white yarn
4mm crochet hook
a little bit of pink, yellow, green and ombre purple yarn for flower as embellishment and closure straps.
tapestry needle
fabric of 46cm x 20cm
sewing needle (I don't have a sewing machine, so I hand-stitch everything, you can sew the fabric using a sewing machine if you have one)
sewing thread

Abbreviation

SC - single crochet

DC - double crochet

Ch - chain

RS: right side

WS: wrong side

Pattern 

Part 1: Crochet
Row 1. Chain (ch) 4 (the shell stitch is a multiple of 6 stitches, I simply chained and measured it on the notebook).
Row 2 (RS). Work 5 DC into the fourth stitch from the end. Skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch. Skip 2 stitches. *Work 5 DC into the next stitch (shell stitch), skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch, skip 2 stitches*. Repeat the pattern in * until the end, SC into the last stitch.
Row 3 (WS): ch 3 and turn. DC into the first stitch. #ch 1, work SC into the middle of shell stitch (center stitch of shell stitches), ch 1, DC into the SC on row 2, ch 1 work DC into the same stitch (V-stitch formed)#. Repeat the pattern in # until the end, work 2 DC in the last stitch.
Row 4 (RS): ch 1 and turn, {Work 5 DC into the SC of row 3. Skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch. Skip 2 stitches}. Repeat the pattern in {} until the end, SC into the last stitch.

Repeat row 3 and 4 three more times.

Row 11 (WS). ch 3 (counted as DC), work 2 DC into the same stitch. *Skip 2 stitches, work SC into the center stitch of shell stitch, skip 2 stitches, work shell stitch into the center stitch of shell stitch in the row below*. Repeat the pattern in * until the end, work 3 DC into the last stitch.
Row 12 (RS): ch 1 and turn. #Work shell stitch into the SC in row 11, skip 2 stitches, work SC into the center stitch of shell stitch, skip 2 stitches#. Repeat pattern in # until the end, SC into the last stitch. 

Repeat row 11 and 12 once more, then repear row 11 again (ie row 15). Don't break the yarn yet for edging.

Edging
Work 2 SC at the corner stitch, then work alternate SC-ch1 around the edge at the RS, remember to work 2 SC at the end and at the starting point of corner. Continue until the starting of edge and work 2 SC at the corner. Break yarn and weave in.

Leaf strap

Flower and leaf strap embellishments

Pink and yellow flowers:
Make a magic loop, ch 3, DC, ch 3, SC into the magic loop (a flower petal done), repeat this for more times.

Purple flower:
Method is as same as above but I made 6 petals, in fact I think 5 petals look better.

Leaf strap:
ch 7, work SC into the second ch from the end, work HDC into the next ch, work DC into the next 2 ch, HDC into the next ch, SC into the last ch, ch 2, turn and repeat on the other half of the leaf. Continue making chains as long as you want (I made 31 ch and made 'half of a leaf at the end)

Part 2: Sewing
Sew the flowers and leaf straps wherever you want, as my book cover is quite small, I sewed in the middle from the WS of the book cover.

Cut a piece of fabric (I got mine from the 100 yen shop as well), 2cm longer and 19cm wider than your book, hem top, bottom and the sides (1cm each), fold 9cm at each end of the rectangle and stitch top and bottom. Place the sewn fabric on the WS of crocheted piece, then hemstitch the fabric to the crocheted piece. Confusing? Please refer here for clearer guide.


Note: You can modify this pattern to fit the size of your book.

That's it!!! I'm good at making confusing explanation, so it's my problem if you can't understand what I wrote. Please comment below if you have any question or if you just wanna chat!!! It'll definitely make my day when I know someone noticed my pattern. 😄

By the way, if you fancy this pattern, you're most welcome to make it as a gift or to sell at your shop. I'd really appreciate if you mention my name. I just ask you not to sell this pattern and always link back to this site. Cheers!

!

Three Tone Fan Stitch Mini Cowl (Free crochet pattern)

Hi all, I'm here to share my second pattern (first pattern please refer to this link). After seeing a motif in a Japanese crochet book, I was enchanted by the fan stitch.

I bought 2 small balls of bamboo yarn from this online shop two years ago back in Malaysia. It's so soft to touch and I love its natural sheen. At first, I wanted to make a baby blanket but I underestimated the amount of yarn needed. Ughh! Anyhow, I'm still happy with this cowl. As the shop does not restock this yarn anymore, there is nothing I can do. My salvage method is crocheting a few row at the shorter edge of scarf with another ball of yarn I bought here in Japan, so it's more comfortable to wrap 2 rounds at my neck when it's chilly. Edging around the scarf is to give it a more finished look. The finished size is 88cm x 18cm.

I think this cowl is just perfect for autumn and I can easily keep it in my bag. 

Here we go!

Material:
100 gram (300 meter) 90% bamboo, 10% cotton fingering yarn (50 g/ ball of yarn)

50 gram of wood colour yarn (blend of cotton, linen and silk) 

3.75 mm crochet hook
tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

SC - single crochet

DC - double crochet

Ch - chain
HDC -  half double crochet

Pattern A:
Row 1 - I started with the off-white yarn. Holding 2 strands of yarn together, chain 156 (multiple of 6). SC into the second Ch from the end. SC until the end.

Row 2 - Ch 3 (it's counted as a DC), turn and DC into the next stitch. Make 3 DC into the next stitch. Ch 1. Skip 2 stitches and SC into the next SC. Ch 1. Skip 2 stitches. *Make 2 DC into the third stitch, Ch 1, make 2 DC again into the same stitch (fan stitch). Ch 1, skip 2 stitches and SC into the third stitch from the fan stitch*. Repeat the pattern in * until 5 space left, Make 3 DC into the third stitch from the end of row. DC in each 2 stitches thereafter.

Row 3 - Ch 1, SC on the second and the third stitch. Ch 3, skip 3 stitches, SC into the SC stitch of the fan stitch. *Ch 3, skip 3 stitches, SC into the hole of the chain stitch of the fan stitch (not the loop of chain), Ch 3, skip 3 stitches, SC into the SC of the fan stitch*. Repeat the pattern until last 6 stitches, Ch 3 and SC into each last 3 DC.

Row 4 - Ch 1, SC into the second and third stitch, Ch 1 and skip 2 stitches, make fan stitch (refer row 2) until last 3 stitches, SC into each last 3 stitches.

Repeat row 2 - 4 until the width you want (I did 3 repetition for the off white yarn, then I continued with green yarn, which I did 2 repetition and row 2, as I didn't have ano ugh green yarn).

As I've mentioned above, the length of cowl is merely 75 cm (29.5 inches), I lengthen it by crocheting a few rows, thereby lengtening by 10.5cm, from the direction of off white to green yarn, ie the right side.

Pattern B:

Row 1 - holding 2 strands of yarn together, *Ch 3, make 2 DC into the same space, skip 2 stitches (ie 2 rows), *SC and Ch 2, make 2 DC into the same space, skip 2 stitches (half shell stitch) (multiple of 4)* repeat the pattern in * until the last stitch and SC into the last stitch.

Row 2 - Ch 2, SC into the hole of the 'SC and Ch 2 stitch', *Ch 1, HDC into the SC stitch of the half shell stitch, Ch 1, SC into the hole of the 'SC and Ch 2 stitch*, repeat the pattern in * until the last half shell pattern.

Repeat row 1 - 2 until the length you desire. I made 6 repetitions of these 2 rows.

As for the edge, I simply name it half shell stitch as I think it doesn't look like a full shell stitch. lol.

Edge (Half Shell Stitch) around pattern B - Edge 1

Ch 3, make 2 DC into the hole of the Ch 1 between SC and HDC row below, *SC into the hole of the Ch 1 between SC and HDC row below, Ch 2, make 2 DC into the same space*, repeat the pattern around the edge until the last stitch of the edge, then continue the edge on row 1 of pattern A.

Edge around base chain, ie row 1 of pattern A - Edge 2

SC into the first stitch, Ch 2, make 2 DC into the same space, skip 2 stitches, *SC into next stitch, Ch 2, make 2 DC into the same space, skip 2 stitches*, repeat the pattern in * until the end of row, SC into the last stitch of the row.

Edge around shorter side and last row of green yarn of pattern A - Edge 3

Same as edge 2, note: 2 stitches skipped = 1 SC + 1 Ch or 1 DC (to ensure that the edge lay flat and not turn into ruffle)

End of edging: continue pattern until the corner before the half shell stitch, SC, break the yarn and weave using tapestry needle.

Embellishment: 2 wooden buttons sewn to secure the cowl when I wrap 2 rounds around my neck. 

Note: 

1. You can sew the buttons wherever you like, I think I might sew 3 more buttons around the corner as embelishment and for a tidier look when secured.

2. You can adjust the length and width to your liking by adjusting both pattern A or pattern B,

That's it!!! I'm good at making confusing explanation, so it's my problem if you can't understand what I wrote. Please comment below if you have any question or if you just wanna chat!!! It'll definitely make my day when I know someone noticed my pattern. 😄

By the way, if you fancy this pattern, you're most welcome to make it as a gift or to sell at your shop. I'd really appreciate if you mention my name. I just ask you not to sell this pattern and always link back to this site. Cheers!