Amigurumi Donut Teddy Bear – Free Crochet Pattern (low sew!)

My Donut Teddy pattern is my newest food-themed free crochet pattern!

Read on to learn more about my design process and inspiration, or scroll to the end to get the free pattern. If you’re in a hurry and need to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here.

A satisfying, almost no-sew pattern!

I absolutely love how this adorable donut teddy bear turned out, but I’m mostly proud that its construction is so clever and unique.

When I was developing this pattern, my goal was to make it as painless as possible. I know a lot of amigurumists out there struggle with sewing, especially on curved surfaces.

For this project, I used a variety of no-sew techniques that I’ve implemented on various other projects like working through the back loop (or front loop) only, which means that the ears and frosting pieces are worked directly onto the donut itself as you make it, not worked separately and attached at the end.

All this means that this project is incredibly satisfying to work up since you don’t have a million pieces flying around as you go, and you’ll be able to learn some clever new techniques to upgrade your skills.

This does mean that this pattern is slightly more advanced, since sewing is often the lowest common denominator to attaching pieces together. You’ll need to know (or learn very quickly) how to work in the FLO, BLO, pick up stitches, and work around protruding pieces.

All in all, I loved how this adorable munchkin of a project turned out, and I’m also very satisfied with the “dipped-in-frosting” look of the bottom. So cute!!!

Tips for making this pattern!

The donut base of this pattern is very similar to my full sized donut pattern, linked below. The larger donut is a good place to get started if you’re not comfortable with making mini amigurumi. This Donut Teddy pattern is about 2″ x 2″, so the work is fairly small and you’ll need to be familiar with the process of making amigurumi to be successful.

Amigurumi Donut Free Crochet Pattern

The main reason why this project is more difficult when scaled down is because at the end, you’ll need to seam the inner edges shut to form the inside circle of the donut. This isn’t a big deal when the donut is 6″ in diameter, but it can be tricky to both seam and stuff at the same time when the donut is a lot smaller.

Apart from that, this pattern also requires familiarity with the double crochet and treble crochet, which you’ll be working into the FLO and BLO at various points to create the ears and the frosting detail. Click here for more tips on working the treble crochet into the FLO!

I’ve also made a full video tutorial below which you can follow along with if you’re a beginner!

More blog posts like this:

• Ultimate List of Free Chunky Blanket Yarn Amigurumi Patterns
• Jumbo Strawberry Free Velvet Crochet Pattern
• My Foolproof Guide to Resizing Amigurumi (no math required!)
• My Foolproof Guide to Crocheting Amigurumi for Beginners

The Pattern

• If you want to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here!

Description

This adorable Donut Teddy amigurumi project is simply adorable and whimsical. It uses clever no-sew techniques to form the ears and frosting, so you only have to do a minimal amount of seaming at the end. This miniature sized amigurumi is a perfect keychain or bag charm!

Yarn

Confused about materials? For all my personal recommendations of my most-used tools, yarns, and supplies, check out my favorites in this complete guide!

• Hobbii Amigo (sport)
  • (<1 skein) Dark Beige (light brown)
  • (<1 skein) Light Pink
  • (scrap) Sky Blue, Dusty Green, and Sunflower (yellow)

Notions

• Size D 3.25mm Clover Amour hook
• 4.0mm safety eyes
• black embroidery thread
• pink embroidery thread
• scrap white felt
• (optional) tacky glue or hot glue
• fiberfill stuffing
• tapestry needle
• stitch markers

Technical Notes

1. Crochet in continuous spiral rounds, unless specified otherwise. Use a stitch marker or piece of yarn to keep track of the last stitch in each round.

2. When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness within the amigurumi. Read this post here for more tips on stuffing!
3. To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
4. Stuff the head and the body firmly at the openings so that the neck is stable upon completion.

2. Use sewing pins to secure parts of the amigurumi before you sew them. Click here for a photo tutorial on how to sew amigurumi.

Special Stitches

• How to embroider a nose: see this tutorial

Final Size

2″ x 2″

DONUT (in brown. See Special Stitches for Foundation Single Crochet (FSC), as well as *…* abbreviation.)

• Rnd 1: FSC 12, sl st to first st to join (12 sts)
• Rnd 2: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
• Rnd 3: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)
• Rnd 4: (3 sc, inc) x6 (30 sts)
• Rnd 5: 2 sc, (4 sc, inc) x5, 2 sc, inc (36 sts)
• Rnd 6: (5 sc, inc) x6 (42 sts)
• Rnd 7: Sc around (42 sts)
• Rnd 8: 26 sc, then work the remaining 16 sc in the BLO (see fig. 1) (42 sts)
• Rnd 9: Begin by working 6 sc. Next, start working on the ear below.
• Ear: Working in the FLO, work *dc, tr* in the same st. In the next st, work *2 tr* in the same st. In the next st, work *tr, dc* in the same st.
  • Resume working through both the front and back loops. Work 7 scs. Work a second ear in the same method as before. Your work should look like fig. 2.
  • Resume working the both the front and back loops. Work 23 remaining scs. After finishing this round, there should be unworked back loops behind the two ears (see fig. 3).
• Rnd 10: Sc around. When you reach the ears, work into the back loops left unworked from the previous rnd. After working into the unworked back loops of the ears, insert the hook into both loops of the first st after the ear to continue in the rnd (see fig. 4). (42 sts)
• Insert two 4.0mm safety eyes between rnds 5-6, in the center of the ears with 5 sts between the two eyes.
• Rnd 11: (5 sc, dec) x6 (36 sts)
• Rnd 12: (4 sc, dec) x6 (30 sts)
• Rnd 13: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24 sts)
• Rnd 14: (2 sc, dec) x6 (18 sts)
• Rnd 15: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
• Finish off, leaving a long tail of around 24″ (60 cm) for sewing. Using the tail, whip stitch the donut closed in the center (fig. 5). After you’ve finished whip stitching 1/3 of the donut, begin stuffing and continue stuffing as you go until completely finished. Finish off and weave in the end.

FROSTING (in pink)

• We will now work into the unworked front loops from rnd 8. With the hook pointing towards the front of the donut, attach pink yarn to the right most unworked stitch.
• In the first stitch, work hdc, dc in the same stitch. Work one tr each in the next two sts. Work dc, hdc together in the next st. Work a sc in the next st. Repeat 2 more times. Work a sl st in the remaining st. See fig. 6.
• Finish off and weave in end. Secure to the bottom of the donut by sewing or gluing. See fig. 7.
• Add sprinkles to the pink frosting by sewing with a running stitch using blue, green, and yellow yarn.

NOSE

Cut a white piece of felt into an oval 1/2″ wide and 1/4″ tall. Using black embroidery thread, embroider a triangular shaped nose (tutorial here). See fig. 8. Glue the felt nose in between the eyes, with the top edge of the nose aligning with the top of the eyes.

BLUSH

Using pink embroidery thread, embroider two small dashes to the left and right sides of the nose piece, directly under the eyes and extending one stitch outwards (fig. 9).

Your Donut Teddy amigurumi is all done! I hope you enjoyed crocheting it and found the pattern helpful. I would love to see your finished amigurumi, so share a picture on Instagram with me by using the #littleworldofwhimsy and tagging me @littleworldofwhimsy.