Best Amigurumi Books: A Comprehensive List for Both Beginner and Advanced Crocheters
Amigurumi books are wonderful resources for anyone interested in crocheting adorable stuffed toys and characters. These books provide step-by-step instructions, patterns, and helpful tips for creating your own amigurumi designs. They often cater to various skill levels, from beginners to experienced crocheters, and offer a wide range of cute and whimsical projects to choose from.
Amigurumi books are not only great sources of inspiration and instruction but also offer the joy of browsing through beautiful photos of finished amigurumi creations. They can spark your creativity and motivate you to explore new designs, customize patterns, and even design your own unique amigurumi characters.
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Table of Contents Show
First, we start with amigurumi books for beginners just starting off and then we will move onto more advanced books, specifically for crocheting dolls then for crocheting animals!
Best Amigurumi Books for Beginners
Here I will periodically mention if I have personally bought and read the books, which is more under the doll and animal book categories below. I’ll start off with the books which are better for beginners to try out first. For this part, I have not tried the patterns inside myself but these books have great reviews.
Learn to Crochet Creative Figures with 20 Easy Patterns by Julia Simpson
This book is designed to introduce beginners to the world of amigurumi with step-by-step instructions and colourful illustrations. It features 20 easy patterns for creating various cute figures, such as animals, dolls, and objects. The book covers essential crochet techniques, including basic stitches and shaping, making it suitable for those new to crochet. It is created by none other the Julia from Wayward Pineapple Creations, who regularly organizes Amigurumi Treasure Chest!
Crochet Amigurumi for Every Occasion: 21 Easy Projects to Celebrate Life's Happy Moments by Justine Tiu
This book offers a collection of 21 amigurumi patterns that are perfect for celebrating special occasions. It includes patterns for creating adorable characters and items related to birthdays, holidays, weddings, and more. The projects are beginner-friendly, with clear instructions and helpful tips to guide you through the process. It is made by the same folks at Woobles with their creative amigurumi kits and they used Easy Peasy yarn to create the amigurumis inside.
Mini Crochet Creatures: 30 Amigurumi Animals to Make by Lauren Bergstrom
Mini Crochet Creatures was created by the same folks over at mohu mohu, where they similarly focus on creating a variety of miniature amigurumi animals. It features 30 patterns for cute and compact creatures, ranging from forest animals to pets and sea creatures. The patterns are designed for beginners, with detailed instructions, stitch explanations, and assembly tips. The small size of the projects makes them ideal for quick and satisfying creations.
Crochet Cute Critters: 26 Easy Amigurumi Patterns by Sarah Zimmerman
Moving onto the next book, which involves slightly more complex patterns because of the different arm and leg attachments with the facial detailing for animals. This book presents a collection of 26 adorable amigurumi patterns that are perfect for beginners. It includes a variety of animal designs, such as bears, rabbits, cats, and more. The patterns are accompanied by clear instructions, helpful diagrams, and step-by-step photos to assist in the crocheting process. It is made by the same brains behind the Repeat Crafter Me, Sarah Zimmerman!
Crochet Donut Buddies: 50 Easy Amigurumi Patterns for Collectible Crochet Toys by Rachel Zain
I added this book to this list because it has such a delightful selection of 50 amigurumi patterns featuring cute and collectible donut-themed characters. It provides patterns for a wide range of donut buddies, including animals, mythical creatures, and everyday objects. The patterns are beginner-friendly, with detailed instructions, stitch explanations, and tips on customizing your creations.
All these books are designed specifically with beginners in mind, offering accessible patterns, clear instructions, and helpful illustrations. They provide a great starting point for those new to amigurumi, allowing them to create charming and enjoyable crochet projects while developing their crochet skills.
If you are looking for some free resources to get started, here is my free Crochet Basics Mini Course where you can learn how to crochet step-by-step in just 5 days - on your own time for free! This is the free step before you start tackling more complex amigurumi, for which I have other free resources as you will see below as well. Just click here or on the image to get started!
Best Amigurumi Doll Books
As for this section on amigurumi doll books, the suggestions I made for this part I have bought these books and tried out the patterns inside, and I have decided to list them all from the simplest patterns to the most complex ones. After all, after you have mastered the basics, avid amigurumi crocheters always crave for the next skill level. Just beyond that, I also included some other popular options that have great reviews too.
Literary Yarns: Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Books by Cindy Wang
This book combines the love for literature and crochet by providing patterns for creating amigurumi dolls inspired by classic books. You can bring beloved characters from literature, such as Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, and Jane Eyre, to life through crochet. In fact, I was inspired by Cindy Wang of Geeky Hooker to make my first amigurumi. The patterns in this book are pretty basic to try out, with the dolls not having limbs, but there is quite a bit of detailing for the faces and clothes.
Star Wars Crochet by Lucy Collin
This book combines the world of Star Wars with amigurumi, which is great for geeky crocheters! It includes patterns for creating iconic Star Wars characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, and Darth Vader. The book comes with yarn, a crochet hook, and stuffing, making it a great kit for Star Wars fans who enjoy crochet. I included this as the next book in this list because I moved on from the limbless patterns above onto the doll suggestions in this book, which are pretty simple to crochet.
Disney Princess Crochet by Jessica Ward
One of my favourite books for levelling up your technniques on doll hairstyles and doll clothing! This book allows you to create your favorite Disney princesses as adorable amigurumi dolls. With patterns for characters like Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, and Snow White, you can bring the magic of Disney into your crochet projects. The book includes step-by-step instructions and colourful photos to guide you.
AmiguruME: Make Cute Crochet People by Allison Hoffman
After making basic bodies and hairstyles, this is the next great book to try customizing dolls. She has all kinds of amazing ideas in here to make a simple doll look different from the next. This book focuses on creating amigurumi dolls that resemble real people. It provides instructions for designing and customizing your own unique dolls using basic crochet techniques. The book also includes tips for adding personal touches and creating different facial expressions.
Amigurumi Design Book 1 (Sculpturingface)
Finally, I have not even begun to complete this book because there is so much inside here and the patterns do tend to create larger pieces than I am used to. This book is a comprehensive guide to creating amigurumi dolls with detailed facial expressions. It includes patterns and techniques for sculpting and shaping faces, creating different eye styles, and adding unique features to your amigurumi designs. When I mean sculpting, I really do mean sculpting with yarn!
Just below here I have included a few more suggestions that I have not personally tried but always felt were fascinating and there are certainly great reviews about them. Likewise, they are all about customizing and levelling up your skills in crocheting dolls.
If you are looking for some free resources for now to get started on crocheting dolls, go check out my free doll pattern and crochet-a-long which comes with free accompanying videos as well, which showcases ‘5 tiny step to crochet a doll in 30 minutes’. Just click here or on the image above to get instant access now!
If you find this article useful so far, remember to pin to Pinterest so others may read it and benefit from it too!
Amigurumi Style Crochet book by Cara Medus
This book focuses on creating stylish and fashionable amigurumi dolls. It offers a collection of patterns for trendy dolls with modern outfits and accessories. The book includes detailed instructions and colourful photographs to guide you through the process.
Crochet Iconic Women: Amigurumi Patterns for 15 women who changed the world by Carla Mitrani
This book celebrates iconic women from history and pop culture through crochet amigurumi dolls. It features patterns for notable figures such as Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie, and Audrey Hepburn, allowing you to crochet your own miniature versions of these inspiring women.
Crochet You!: Make unique and inclusive dolls for all with this crochet pattern collection by Nathalie Amiel
This book emphasizes inclusivity by providing patterns for diverse amigurumi dolls. It includes instructions for creating dolls of various skin tones, hairstyles, and body types, promoting representation and diversity in your crochet projects.
Amigurumi Dolls: 40 Cute Characters and Their Accessories to Crochet by Sachiyo Ishii
This book offers a wide selection of amigurumi doll patterns, featuring 40 adorable characters and their accompanying accessories. It provides step-by-step instructions, colourful photos, and creative ideas to personalize your dolls and their outfits.
All these books showcase the creativity and versatility of amigurumi doll making. They offer patterns for dolls with different styles, themes, and inclusivity, allowing you to create unique and personalized crochet dolls that reflect your interests and values.
Best Amigurumi Animal Books
This next section is all about animal amigurumi books, which to be honest, something that I have not extensively tried (mainly because I am trying to design my own line of amigurumi animal patterns). I have included some that I have tried and a whole bunch after that which are really popular and very inspirational for amigurumi designers!
Sanrio Hello Kitty Crochet by Mei Li Lee
One of the first few books I bought because the patterns in here are so cute and easy to follow. This book features patterns for creating adorable Hello Kitty and her friends using amigurumi techniques. It includes step-by-step instructions and colourful photos to guide you through the process. There are a variety of “animal” characters inside with a basic body structure and is not too complex.
Ami Ami Dogs 2: More Seriously Cute Crochet by Mitsuki Hoshi
This book is a sequel to the popular "Ami Ami Dogs," and it offers even more cute and lovable amigurumi dog patterns. From tiny puppies to larger breeds, you'll find a variety of dog designs to crochet. They are in many different positions with a variety of colour changes, but they do involve many separate attachments for the body parts. Great for beginners as well.
Disney Classic Crochet (Crochet Kits) by Megan Kreiner
This kit includes a book and materials to create amigurumi versions of classic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. The kit includes yarn, a crochet hook, stuffing, and other essentials. The best part of this book is that it is each distinct disney character is beautifully shaped with separate attachments which makes the detailing remarkable.
For the next 5 suggestions below, they are very popular amigurumi books with great reviews and the pieces look positively magical to make! I also intentionally picked up more complex looking animal patterns for when you choose to level up your animal amigurumi game.
Amigurumi Treasures Crochet Book by Erinna Lee
This book features a collection of adorable animal amigurumi patterns, including creatures like bears, rabbits, and unicorns. The patterns are accompanied by clear instructions and colorful photographs, making it easy to create charming crochet toys. Her style is soft, pastel with a baby, fairy-tale type appearance and she has other amazing follow up books of animal patterns as well.
Zoomigurumi Series by Amigurumi.com
The Zoomigurumi (10 in total!) series consists of multiple books filled with cute and whimsical animal amigurumi patterns. Each book showcases a variety of animals, ranging from domestic pets to wild creatures, and provides step-by-step instructions for crocheting them. It is difficult to pick the best one in the series as they are all so creative, they are also the folks behind ‘Amigurumi Animals at Work’ which is super fun too!
Dinosaurs, Mammoths and More Prehistoric Amigurumi: Unearth 14 Awesome Designs
Like the previous mention, this book is also put together by amigurumi.com but this time focuses on prehistoric creatures and offers patterns for crocheting 14 amazing designs, including dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers. The patterns are accompanied by detailed instructions and helpful illustrations and almost have a cartoony vibe, which is totally different from the previous series.
Animal Friends of Pica Pau by Yan Schenkel
This book presents a unique and playful approach to animal amigurumi. It features patterns for crocheting animals with colorful and imaginative designs, along with instructions for creating their accessories. The book also includes captivating stories about the characters. I love the colours and designs, which merges animals in interesting combination of clothes!
Aquatic Amigurumi: Make a Colorful Splash in Your Yarn Stash by Natasha Tischenko
This book explores the world of aquatic animals and provides patterns for creating a variety of marine creatures like fish, octopuses, and seahorses. The book includes step-by-step instructions, vibrant photographs, and helpful tips for bringing these charming creatures to life. The patterns in this book have a more whimsical vibe and the colour combinations for each pattern are unusual but nautically beautiful!
These books offer a great starting point for crocheting amigurumi animals. They provide detailed patterns, helpful instructions, and plenty of inspiration to create your own adorable animal friends. Buying pattern books not only gives you a glimpse into another crocheter or designer’s creative process, it also teaches a variety of new techniques that you can employ for your own patterns in the future.
Continue watching this space regularly for more updates, as I add more to the list or I might buy some of them and add in some personal suggestions for each book. Enjoy the journey of bringing these creatures to life through crochet!
Related Resources
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