Amigurumi finishing: invisible decrease, closing and sewing parts on straight

The invisible decrease: front loops only

A decrease turns two stitches into one, and amigurumi shaping is built from dozens of them. The regular way, working a single crochet two together through both loops of each stitch, pulls both stitches sideways as it closes them. On the outside of a toy that leaves a small bump, a slight ridge along the decrease line, and sometimes a pinhole gap where the two stitches leaned away from each other. On a smooth head worked in plain rounds, you can read the whole shaping history at a glance, and it looks like a seam that was never supposed to be there.

The invisible decrease works only in the front loops, and the shaping all but vanishes:

1. Insert the hook into the front loop only of the next stitch, the loop nearest you, leaving the back loop untouched.
2. Without yarning over, swing the hook straight into the front loop only of the stitch after it. The two front loops now sit side by side on the hook.
3. Yarn over and draw through both front loops. Two loops remain on the hook.
4. Yarn over and draw through both. One stitch stands where two stood, and the unworked back loops lie flat inside the fabric instead of being dragged into the join.

Which one shows depends on where you are. On the visible front of a head or body in smooth yarn, the invisible decrease is the default, and it is worth the extra second per stitch. The regular decrease is honest work in the places nobody inspects: the underside of a body, the back of a head that will wear a hat or hair, joins that another part will cover. In fuzzy or textured yarn, chenille, mohair blends, anything with a halo, the surface hides both kinds and the regular decrease's speed wins. And some patterns use the regular decrease on purpose, as a design line. The rule is simple: if a decrease will be looked at, make it invisible; if it will be sat on, sewn over or lost in fluff, either is fine.

Closing the final hole

Most parts end the way they began, at a small ring of stitches, often six. Do not just fasten off and leave the little star-shaped gap; it gapes wider under stuffing pressure. Close it like a drawstring instead:

1. Fasten off leaving a tail of about 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 in), and thread it onto a blunt tapestry needle.
2. Pass the needle through the front loop only of every stitch in the final round, in order, all the way around. Front loops again: the tail should travel around the rim of the hole, not across it.
3. Pull the tail steadily and evenly. The rim draws in and the hole closes down to a point, flat against the work.
4. Push the needle straight through that centre point and out the far side of the piece. Give the tail one gentle tug so the closing point sinks slightly inward, squeeze the piece once to settle it, then trim the tail flush. The end is buried inside the toy and the close is nearly invisible.

If the hole refuses to close fully, the usual cause is closing from too many stitches: work one more decrease round first, down to around six stitches, and try again. A hole closed from twelve stitches puckers; a hole closed from six disappears.

Stuffing: firm, even, and more in the neck than you think

Stuffing is sculpture from the inside. Work with polyester fibre fill in small tufts, teased apart before they go in, and push each tuft out to the walls of the piece with a chopstick, a knitting needle or the handle end of a spare hook, filling the edges before the middle. Big wads stuffed into the centre give you a toy that is hard in the middle and hollow at the seams, and it will slump into that shape permanently.

The test is in the squeeze. A well stuffed part gives a little and springs back, and the crochet fabric stays closed, no white glints of fill showing between stitches. Too soft and the piece slumps, the stitches stretch apart over time and the figure slowly folds. Too hard and the stitches gape open around the fill and the toy feels like a stone in a sock. Aim for firm and springy, and stop one tuft earlier than your instincts say.

Where everyone under-stuffs is the neck and the joints. A head is heavy, and it is held up by a narrow column of fill at the neck. A neck stuffed to the same softness as the belly gives you the classic amigurumi flop: the head nodding forward within the week. Stuff the neck and the tops of limbs firmly, almost to the hard end of the range, and let the belly carry the softness. Narrow parts get stuffed as you go, while the opening is still wide enough to admit the fill; a leg left until its opening has decreased to six stitches is a leg that stays half empty.

the neck decides whether the head stays up. stuff it like you mean it

Sewing parts on straight

Sewing is where symmetry is decided, and the tool that decides it is not the needle, it is the pin. Before any stitch is sewn, pin every part in place with ball head pins or locking stitch markers, using the long tail you left when you fastened the part off. Then sit the figure down on a flat surface and look at it properly: from the front, from both sides, and from above. A figure that will live sitting must pass the sit test: upright, unpropped, not leaning on its own tail unless the pattern designed it that way. Ears that looked level on your lap are visibly crooked from the front. Check first, sew second.

Placement is counting, not eyeballing. Parts are placed by round: count rounds down from the top of the head for ears and features, count up from the base for limbs, and use the same count on both sides. Find the centre line of the head, the column of stitches running down the middle of the face, and measure both ears the same number of stitches out from it. Two ears placed by the same numbers cannot drift; two ears placed by eye always do.

Sew with a whipstitch: bring the needle up through a stitch on the body, across into a stitch on the part, and repeat around the whole join, catching one stitch from each side in turn and keeping the tension even, snug but not puckering. Go around once for light parts. Go around twice for anything that carries weight or will be grabbed: heads, arms on a toy that will be carried by one. For a head join, leave the last quarter of the seam open long enough to push a final tuft of fill down into the neck, then close it. That last tuft, placed after the pinning and most of the sewing, is the difference between a head that sits and a head that nods.

The order of operations, for a simple figure

1. Make every part first. Head, body, limbs, ears, each fastened off with a long tail for sewing. Closing each small part as you finish it, using the drawstring close above.
2. Face before stuffing. With the head still open, mark the centre line, fit the safety eyes on the pattern's rounds, and embroider the mouth and any other features.
3. Stuff and close the head. Firm fill, extra firm low down where the neck will be, drawstring close, tail buried.
4. Stuff the body, then pin the head on. Sit test on a flat surface. Adjust until it sits upright and the face looks at you, not at the ceiling.
5. Sew the head. Whipstitch around the join, pausing before the last quarter to pack the neck with one more tuft of fill, then finish the seam.
6. Pin the pairs, then sew them. Ears and limbs placed by counted rounds, the same count both sides, pinned and checked from the front before the needle comes out.
7. Final shaping. Squeeze, roll and pose the figure. Check every seam once around, sink any stray tails through the body and trim them flush.

Worked in that order, nothing is ever sewn shut before its moment, and the two irreversible steps, the eye washers and the head seam, both happen with the figure sitting in front of you telling you whether they are right.