By Tawni Rogers
When I started making amigurumi, I think I picked up that particular skill because I just thought it was cute. I thought it would be fun to have something you could hold in your hands or display on a shelf. They're fun gifts to give to kids and friends.
Don't lose this article. Enter your email below, and I'll send it to you right now. Plus a little crochet inspiration from me, straight to your inbox.
And surprisingly, they have been my most challenging projects at times. At first, I was getting very impatient and would try to do things very quickly.
When you make a big blanket or a hat or a scarf, typically your pattern is very repeatable. You're doing the same thing over and over and over, and it comes together fairly quickly. When I tried to do that same thing with amigurumi, I did not get the same results.
If you try to speed up this process, the results get a little tattered.
Loose Limbs and Visible Thread on the Finished Pieces
The parts that I would try to speed up or quickly breeze through were the parts that I didn't enjoy. That would be sewing them together or adding the details like mouths and eyes. I would get all the crochet pieces made.
And then when it came time to actually assemble it, I would do it really quickly because I just didn't enjoy it.
And I quickly learned that if you get sloppy with the fine details, it's going to be very noticeable. The limbs are going to hang loose, or you're going to see the thread that's holding them on. If you don't get the mouth and the eyes quite right, or you try to do it very quickly, it just takes away all the work you just put into it because it ends up looking very sloppy.
A Whole Evening Just to Sew the Pieces Together
When I noticed this happening, it really discouraged me. I would work for hours and hours on a project and then speed through that last part and end up with something that I just wasn't satisfied with. It kind of makes you feel like you wasted your time, that you wasted your yarn.
Don't lose this article. Enter your email below, and I'll send it to you right now. Plus a little crochet inspiration from me, straight to your inbox.
While it was a good experience, and I'm glad that I still used my time and learned new things, I also could have honed my skills better.
When I started noticing that happening, I just made a promise to myself that come time to add the details, I would just slow down. Maybe it takes me a whole evening just to sew them together, or maybe it takes me a good hour and a half to get the face and the details just right. But when you put in that little extra time, and you put in that little extra effort, it makes the results drastically different, and they turn out very, very polished.
Pattern book used: amenagerieofstitches.com
Last Month's Blanket Next to My Early Ones
From learning this in my earlier projects, I've been able to translate this into all of my projects. So whether I'm making a stuffed animal, a hat, a scarf, or a really nice throw blanket, I have taught myself to just slow down. Do not get impatient and speed through things, and it's reflected in all of my work.
I can show you really early examples of the blankets I was making then; compared to a blanket I made last month, you can tell that I finished it differently, that I took my time in completing the corners and sewing in my ends and putting on all the details, and it really does reflect in all the work I do.
Why Straight Stitches and Woven Ends Show
Take it from me. If you want to get into some of this fine detail work, it can apply to all the projects moving forward. You learn to slow down and take your time so that all of your hard work ends up looking just as professional and experienced as you want it to.
It really does make a difference in the end.
You can tell when the yarn is woven incorrectly. You can tell when someone's taken that extra minute to sew things on in a straight manner, or make sure that their experience and their talent really shine through.
