Let's talk about amigurumi shapes! In this blog post, I'm covering three basic amigurumi shapes that every amigurumi designer needs to know. There are three basic crocheted shapes that are the foundation of every amigurumi design. Yes, only three! If you can master these three shapes you can design almost anything. The sky is the limit! So what are you waiting for?
INDEX
1. VIDEO
2. SHAPE NUMBER ONE - SPHERE
3. SPHERE PATTERN
4. SHAPE NUMBER TWO - CYLINDER
5. CYLINDER PATTERN
5. CYLINDER PATTERN
6. SHAPE NUMBER THREE - CONE
7. CONE PATTERN
7. CONE PATTERN
BASIC AMIGURUMI SHAPES THAT YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW
SHAPE NUMBER ONE - SPHERE
The first fundamental shape is a sphere also known as a ball. This shape is the most basic shape and a total must-know!
Let’s break up the shape! The crocheted sphere can be divided into three sections. An increase part, where you increase 6 times evenly per round. A single crochet part, where you crochet one single crochet in each stitch, and a decrease part where you decrease six times evenly per round. The sphere always starts with a magic circle with typically six single crochets and the total amount of stitches on each row can be divided by six. (See the pattern down below.)
It's easy to adjust the size of your sphere. The only thing you need to do is to continue to add more rounds with increases until you have the circumference that you want on your sphere. Spheres make great shapes for amigurumi heads and a half-sphere can be used as a nose or ears for your amigurumi. I've used a sphere for the head of Luna the cat and a half a sphere for the ears of Ellie the elephant.
SPHERE CROCHET PATTERN (Us-terms)
r 1: ch 2, 6 sc in the second chain from the hook. (6) = magic circle
r 2: [inc]x6. (12)
r 3: [1 sc, inc]x6. (18)
r 4: [2 sc, inc]x6. (24)
r 5: [3 sc, inc]x6. (30)
r 6: [4 sc, inc]x6. (36)
r 7-10 (4 r): 36 sc. (36) If you want a half-sphere (a ball cut in half) just ignore the rest of the rows.
r 11: [4 sc, dec]x6. (30)
r 12: [3 sc, dec]x6. (24)
r 13: [2 sc, dec]x6. (18)
r 14: [1 sc, dec]x6. (12)
r 15: [dec]x6. (6)
SHAPE NUMBER TWO - CYLINDER
The second fundamental amigurumi shape that you just have to master is a cylinder.
The sphere and the cylinder have a lot of common characteristics. The cylinder can be divided into the three same sections as the sphere. It’s super easy to transform a sphere into a cylinder. The only thing you need to do is to add rounds with only single crochets in between your increase and decrease rounds. The more rounds you add the longer your cylinder will be. (See the pattern down below.)
Cylinders are great shapes for legs and arms. I've used a cylinder for the nose and legs of Frida the llama.
CYLINDER CROCHET PATTERN (Us-terms)
r 1: ch 2, 6 sc in the second chain from the hook. (6) = magic circle
r 2: [inc]x6. (12)
r 3: [1 sc, inc]x6. (18)
r 4: [2 sc, inc]x6. (24)
r 5-14 (10 r): 24 sc. (24) If you want to leave the cylinder open just ignore the rest of the rounds.
r 15: [2 sc, dec]x6. (18)
r 16: [1 sc, dec]x6. (12)
r 17: [dec]x6. (6)
SHAPE NUMBER THREE - CONE
You can make a cone in a couple of different ways. This cone starts with a magic circle with six single crochets and continues with increase rounds, where you increase three times evenly per round. (See the pattern down below.) You can play around with how many increases you make per round. This will affect the shape of your piece. The golden rule is the more increases per round, the more flat your piece will be, and the fewer increases per round the more pointy it will get.
CONE CROCHET PATTERN (Us-terms)
r 1: ch 2, 6 sc in the second chain from the hook. (6) = magic circle
r 2: [1sc, inc]x3. (9)
r 3: [2 sc, inc]x3. (12)
r 4: [3 sc, inc]x3. (15)
r 5: [4 sc, inc]x3. (18)
r 6: [5 sc, inc]x3. (21)
r 7: [6 sc, inc]x3. (24)
r 8: [7 sc, inc]x3. (27)
r 9: [8 sc, inc]x3. (30)
r 10: [9 sc, inc]x3. (33)
r 11: [10 sc, inc]x3. (36)
- Continue to add rounds with increases until you have the size that you want.
I highly recommend you to try out these shapes and play around with them. I have a bunch of shapes that I have tried during the years of designing and I've saved them all in a tin box. You never know when you want a certain shape and you will save so much time if you don't have to figure them out over and over again.
These are the three fundamental shapes you need to know when starting to design your own amigurumi! I hope you found this post helpful and if you want to dive even deeper into how to design unique amigurumi, be sure to check out my online course Amigurumi Design LAB! Join the waitlist to be one of the first to get notified when the sign-up opens!
