The ocean is teeming with a myriad of enchanting sea creatures, and it’s no surprise that these delightful beings have captured the hearts of many! As a crochet enthusiast, you and I are lucky enough to have the ability to bring these animals into our homes—in the form of appliques!
Crochet appliques are a fun way to bring in your personality to your crochet projects. You can add them to a beanie, a cardigan, a pouch, a bag—your choices are limitless! A collection of marine wonders stitched on a blanket would be a beautiful addition to your home decor!
Appliques use a very small amount of yarn, so they’re the perfect stash buster! They also primarily use simple stitches, so they are completely accessible to beginners. Don’t forget that you can also resize appliques to suit your needs by going up or down in yarn weight and hook size!
Without further ado, let’s dive into the marine world of adorable ocean animal crochet appliques!
Table of Contents
1. Ocean Friends
This pattern post comes with not one, but four wonderful patterns for our delightful ocean friends: a whimsical seahorse, a playful octopus, a cute starfish, and a delightful turtle. Together, they make for the perfect inhabitants for a marine playground!
The pattern includes clear and concise written instructions and step-by-step video tutorials for each applique. All of them only require knowing basic stitches—no fancy shenanigans required!
2. Octopus and Jellyfish
In this free pattern, you get to make cute smiley octopuses and jellyfish! Whichever you pick to crochet—or both, if you wish!—these happy octopuses and jellyfish will surely brighten your space up and bring happiness into your home!
The distinctions between them lie in the bell decoration on the jellyfish, the rounder head of the jellyfish, as well as the shorter tentacles in the octopus. The stitches used in this pattern are basic, except for front loop only (FLO) and back loop only (BLO) stitches. Here’s a quick video tutorial for those stitches!
More blog posts for amigurumi beginners:
- My Foolproof Guide to Crocheting Amigurumi for Beginners
- What’s the best stuffing for amigurumi? (+ how to stuff!)
- How to Sew Amigurumi Parts Together (easy photo tutorial!)
3. Little Fishies
These colorful fish will look right at home in a bunting, decorating the sides of a tissue box, or stitched on to a cardigan. What’s wonderful is they’re super simple to make and will take you only 10 minutes to make. Crocheting a bunch will be a breeze!
The pattern writer recommends using cotton yarn so you can block them at the end for a crisp and neat look!
4. Whale
These cute and happy whales come with an adorable spout of water! The spout is created by simply tying a knot of yarn on the top of the whale’s head.
It starts with a simple round of doubles, after which you can start crocheting its tail. The pattern provides two sizes; small and large. Additionally, you can choose whether to add the white underbelly or to let your whale be one solid color.
5. Starfish
Colorful starfish are guaranteed to add a playful and light-hearted touch to anywhere you put them on!
These starfish involve constructing a magic circle, slip stitching into it, chaining then crocheting back to the center to create the arms.
6. Crab
Whether you’re a fan of Sebastian (and who isn’t?) or not, there is no question that this heart-shaped, googly-eyed crab is as charming as crabs come! The crab’s body is created by first crocheting a heart, before adding on its cute little legs and soulful eyes.
Other amigurumi beginner tutorials:
- How to Stuff Amigurumi the Right Way (no holes or lumps!)
- How to Change Colors in Amigurumi (easy photo tutorial!)
- How to Crochet an Oval around a Foundation Chain (easy!)
- How to Sew Amigurumi Parts Together (easy photo tutorial!)
7. Seahorse
This beautifully intricate seahorse requires more attention to detail than the other patterns in this post! Its graceful curves and delicate features make it a centerpiece for any crochet project.
This pattern comes with thorough written instructions and contains photos for each step.
8. Heart Fish
Wouldn’t you agree that these heartfish are simply adorable? If you look closely, you’ll realize that these heartfish consist of just a small heart sewed on to its bigger counterpart!
With so many color choices, you can choose to add these heartfish as embellishments to any of your projects! Remember, you also have a choice in the sizes—simply increase or decrease your yarn weight and hook size!
9. Dolphin
Dolphins are charming and intelligent creatures, and it’s only natural to want to incorporate them into your projects! Which you can now, by adding this dolphin applique!
The pictures look deceptively simple—this pattern includes three special techniques you might not be familiar with: crocheting on the other side of a foundation chain, a half triple crochet, and a picot stitch. The pattern does explain how to do them though, so feel free to jump straight in!
More like this:
- 20 Cutest FREE Crochet Baby Toy Patterns (for beginners!)
- 14 Quick and Easy Crochet Keychains for Bags (Stashbuster!)
- 12 Cutest Free Crochet Gnome Patterns (beginner friendly!)
- 9 Cutest Totoro Crochet Patterns (from Studio Ghibli!)
- 9 Fun Crochet Jellyfish Patterns!
10. Turtle
Here we have a sweet family of turtles lining up, ready to explore the world! This pattern post provides not one, not two, but five different patterns for these turtles of varying sizes! A big turtle, a small turtle, a tiny turtle, a baby turtle, and a baby turtle still in its little white shell!
The pattern comes with concise written instructions and a series of photos for the sewing sections. I think we can all agree that these turtles are adorable, but be warned that there is a lot of sewing involved in this project!
11. Narwhal
There’s nothing that can portray the magic of the sea better than the unicorns of the sea, our beloved narwhals! These narwhals’ bodies were crocheted in one piece with no sewing, though there is some sewing required for its horn, facial features, and heart tummy spot.
12. Penguin
The one and only marine bird in this post, a classic favorite—the penguin! This penguin starts off with rounds of dcs, and its wings are attached to the main body. Its face is embroidered, and its happy little feet are sewed on to the bottom of the applique!
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