Sunday 20 May 2018

Bertie Bear - Free Crochet / Amigurumi Pattern


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This design has been in my head for a long time and finally I've been able to bring it to life! I was going for simple, classic teddy bear so I'm quite happy with how he turned out. I asked those of you who follow my Facebook page to name him and by far the most suggested name was "Bertie" - so here he is, and now you can make him too!

I used my favourite Paintbox Simply Aran yarn in the aptly named "Soft Fudge" shade which, I think, is the perfect colour for a teddy bear. He is 12 inches tall standing and big enough for cuddling! If you would like to make an even bigger bear I recommend using the Paintbox Simply Chunky yarn and a 3mm hook.

I would love to see pictures of your own bears either in my email inbox or my Facebook page!

Peace, love & yarn.
Julie x



Copyright 2018 Julie Erskine, All Rights Reserved © 

Please note: This pattern is property of Heart & Sew. This pattern is not to be redistributed for sale or for free. Text and images contained within this pattern are not authorised to be placed in full or in part on any website, book, magazine, blog or forum.
  
This pattern is not to be translated or altered without expressed written consent. 

You may however: Post my pictures on your website, blog or forum with a link back to this post. You may not post the pattern or any parts of it.

You may however: Sell your own handmade items made from this pattern. The items must be individually handmade on a small scale by you and not mass produced in any way. Credit for the pattern in any online description (eg: "Created using a Heart & Sew Pattern") would be greatly appreciated. You may not claim, directly or indirectly, to be the original designer or author of the pattern. 

Please see my full disclosure for more details.




This bear uses only one 100g ball of Yarn! I have used the Paintbox "Simply Aran" range, which is an acrylic, worsted weight yarn, to make Bertie Bear. This yarn is only available at Love Crochet, but they ship world wide! Shipping to the USA is $4.95 and free when you spend over $60.00. You can check the exact shipping cost for your country hereYou can read my full review of this yarn here.




- 3mm Crochet Hook (I used a Clover Amour hook)
- 1 ball of brown in Aran/Worsted Weight (I used Paintbox Aran in shade "Soft Fudge" I also like "Light Caramel" for a teddy bear!)
- Pair of 9mm Black Safety Eyes
- Black Embroidery Floss
- Sharp Needle For Embroidery
- Scissors
Stitch marker



Pssst! Hold down Ctrl and P to print the pattern!
Difficulty: Moderate difficulty - Beginners may struggle with the feet.

Must know how to work in the round, increase, invisible decrease and crochet around a chain.

This pattern uses the following U.S stitches & abbreviations:
  • st(s) = stitch(es)
  • sc = single crochet (double crochet for UK)
  • ch = chain
  • 2tog = crochet 2 stitches together (decrease) 
  • inc = increase (2sc in the next stitch)




Do not join rounds, work in a continuous spiral unless stated otherwise. It is a good idea to use a stitch marker to mark the end of each round (You can use a bent paper clip or hair grip!) My notes, tips and further instructions are in purple italics.

Important: IF you want to get a bear out of only 1 ball of Paintbox: Do NOT leave excessively long sewing tails or you may run short of yarn!


Head:

The head is worked as one piece from front of the snout to the back of the head.

Round 1) Magic circle with 6sc (6)
Round 2) 2sc in each st (12)
Round 3) 1sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (18)
Round 4) 2sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (24)

Beginner's often get stuck on round 4 because my patterns are written to be as less wordy as possible. Round 4 simply means: 1sc in the first 2sts, 2sc in the next st (increase) repeat this until you come to the end of the round. This same way of writing is used for round 11.

Round 5) 3sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (30)
Round 6-9) 1sc in each st, for 4 rounds total (30)
Round 10) 1sc, 2sc in next st, repeat 6 times THEN 1sc in each of the remaining 18 sts (36)
Round 11) 2sc, 2sc in next st, repeat 6 times THEN 1sc in each of the remaining 18 sts (42)
Round 12-18) 1sc in each st, for 7 rounds total (42)

Attach 10mm safety eyes between rounds 9 and 10.

Round 19) 5sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (36)

Start stuffing the head.

Round 20) 4sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (30)
Round 21) 3sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (24)
Round 22) 2sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (18)
Round 23) 1sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (12)

Add in any more stuffing you may need at this point.

Round 24) 2tog all the way around (6)

Slip stitch into next st and fasten off leaving a long yarn tail. Weave tail in and out the front loops of the remaining 6 sts and pull tight to close. Knot yarn to secure and hide yarn tail inside the head.

Embroider a nose: Using a long length of black embroidery floss stitch a "V" shape where you want the nose to go and then fill it in. Embroider an upside down v for the mouth for a classic, teddy bear face!



Ears (Make 2):


Round 1) Magic circle with 6sc (6)
Round 2) 2sc in each st (12)
Round 3) 1sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of the round (18)
Round 4) 1sc in each st (18)
Round 5) 1sc then 2tog, repeat until end of the round (12)
Round 6) 1sc in each st (12)

Slip stitch into the next stitch and fasten off, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing. Do not stuff ears.

Body:


The body is worked from the bottom to the top of the neck. The top of the neck will be an open hole which will be covered when we sew on the head.

Round 1) Magic circle with 6sc (6)
Round 2) 2sc in each st (12)
Round 3) 1sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (18)
Round 4) 2sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (24)
Round 5) 3sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (30)
Round 6) 4sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (36)
Round 7) 1sc in each st (36)
Round 8) 5sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (42)
Round 9-18) 1sc in each st, for 10 rounds total (42)
Round 19) 5sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (36)
Round 20-24) 1sc in each st, for 5 rounds total (36)
Round 25) 4sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (30)
Round 26-28) 1sc in each st, for 3 rounds total (30)
Round 29) 3sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (24)
Round 30-31) 1sc in each st, for 2 rounds total (24)

After last round: Slip stitch into the next st and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff the body through the neck hole.


Arms (Make 2):


Round 1) Magic circle with 6sc (6)
Round 2) 2sc in each st (12)
Round 3) 1sc, 2sc in next st, repeat until end of round (18)
Round 4-5) 1sc in each st, for 2 rounds total (18)
Round 6) 4sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (15)
Round 7) 1sc in each st (15)
Round 8) 3sc then 2tog, repeat until end of round (12)
Round 9-23) 1sc in each st, for 15 rounds total (12)

After last round: Slip stitch into the next st and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff the arm, leaving the last few rounds at the shoulder free of stuffing so the arm will lie flat against your bear instead of sticking out.

Legs (Make 2):


In order to get the oval shape we need for our feet we will crochet around a chain instead of starting with the usual magic circle. Crocheting around a chain can be daunting at first, but it's great for making an oval shaped piece instead of a typical, perfectly round amigurumi. To avoid holes in the front of your work I recommend working into the "back bumps" of your chain instead of the top (back) loop as you would usually do. Check out this link (courtesy of My Hobby Is Crochet) for a great tutorial about working in the back bumps of a chain.

Starting from the sole of the foot and working to the top of the leg:

Round 1) Ch 7
                Skip first chain

Put a stitch marker in the first sc you make. This will make sure you will work into the correct first stitch of the next round and do not try to work into the skipped chain.

                1sc in the next 5 chs
                3sc in last ch

Now turn your work and start crocheting in the other side of the chain. For this side, you will see you now have both loops of the chain to work in like a normal stitch! We already have our first sc of this side done as we did 3sc in the last st of the first side. Your next st is in the second stitch of this side, to the left of the starting slip knot.

               1sc in the next 4 sts
               2sc in last st. (14)

Put a stitch marker in the last stitch you just did. You should now have 14 sts around. Now we start crocheting in the round as normal. Make sure you don't try to crochet into the skipped first chain of round 1! Skip that entirely.

Round 2) 2sc in each st (28)

The increases of round 3 are spaced unevenly apart. This is the easiest way I have found to write out Round 3 without making it very wordy and confusing. Where it says "inc" put 2sc in the next st. Eg: 1sc in the first 2 sts, then 2sc in next st, then 1sc in each of the next 8 sts...etc

Round 3) 2sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 4sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 2sc (32)
Round 4-6) 1sc in each st, for 3 rounds total (32)

For the following rounds we will repeat the parts in brackets for the amount of times stated. So Round 7 has 6 decreases repeated one after the other.

Round 7) 10sc, then (2tog) x6 then 10sc (26)
Round 8) 9sc then (2tog) x4 then 9sc (22)
Round 9) 7sc then (2tog) x4 then 7sc (18)
Round 10) 7sc then (2tog) x2 then 7sc (16)
Round 11-24) 1sc in each st, for 14 rounds total (16)
Round 25) 3sc then 2tog, repeat until second last st, 1sc in last st (14)

Slip stitch into the next st and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff the feet and legs leaving the last few rounds at the top of the legs empty and free of stuffing so the legs bend - then your bear can either sit or stand!


The following is the easiest order I have found to sew the bear together.

1. Embroider the nose and mouth (if you haven't already)
2. Sew the ears to the head.
3. Sew the head to the body, the neck hole should be completely covered by the head.
4. Sew the arms to the body. They go directly under the head at either side.
5. Sew the legs to the body. They should be directly centered under the body side by side. Your legs will probably stick out sideways instead of standing straight - sew the legs together with one tight stitch between the legs at the top to keep them together.


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♥ 
 Julie xxx 

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