Maple the Boucle Bear is my newest amigurumi teddy bear free crochet pattern! I love fuzzy teddy bears, and this one is one of my all time favorites with her fuzzy and textured fur – Maple is so squishy and unique!
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 classic teddy silhouette from across the pond!
If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I just adore teddy bears! At this point it’s probably a bit of a problem but I just keep making them!
I’ve made several bears from various fluffy yarns like Faux Fur and Alpaca, but this is my first project in boucle yarn!
I purchased this yarn on a trip to London this past fall from an adorable store called Loop in the Islington neighborhood of London. I had so much fun yarn shopping with my crochet friend Clare, and I found this amazing fuzzy boucle yarn from Woolfolk (you can see it peeking out of the bag!).
Luckily, Woolfolk has tons of stockists in the US and ships to the US so you won’t have any trouble finding the exact yarn that I used. I know that boucle yarn is sometimes hard to locate these days so I was glad to see that it’s readily available!
I also have to say that this is some of the loveliest yarn that I’ve ever worked with! The boucle curls are so soft to touch and it’s a thinner boucle yarn so that the end result looks refined and classic like an old-fashioned teddy. It’s a little on the pricey side, but it’s so worth it!
If you’re on a budget or don’t want to mess around with fiddly boucle yarn, one of my testers used Lion Brand Homespun, and while it had substantially more stitch definition, it turned out to be a good substitute in terms of weight.
Boucle Yarn for Beginners
If you’re intimidated by the thought of working with fluffy yarn, rest assured, I’ve got tons of tips and tricks to help you out.
This is a good project to start with if you’ve done one or two projects in some other novelty yarn (e.g. plush yarn, velvet, or faux fur), since the yarn weight is a bit smaller and requires more counting.
The good news is, as usual with amigurumi, only single crochets are required, so you don’t have to worry about creating fancy stitches or detailed shaping at all. Only the most basic shapes are needed—a spherical head, cylinder body, and then other features made by crocheting in a round. This means that if you mess up somehow (which happened to me multiple times), it’s not as difficult to find your way back to where you should be.
Although boucle yarn takes a little getting used to, I found a few things particularly helpful for me:
Feel for stitches, don’t look for them
It’s impossible to count stitches to see where the loops are when working with fluffy yarn, so adjust to this difference by feeling for the loops with your fingers.
If you try pinching the crochet fabric near your hook, you can identify the stitches by the places where your index finger and thumb can touch. If there’s a hole, it must be created by a single crochet stitch!
Use plenty of stitch markers
This is always important when working in the round, but if you’re using boucle yarn, it can be a life saver. However, in this case, you might want to use stitch markers more often than usual to help you count stitches, in addition to keeping track of rounds.
This way, you can keep track in a more systematic way of how many stitches you’re crocheting in a round. This is not a mandatory step, but I feel that it can be helpful for those of us who are a little neurotic about counting stitches. It can be really frustrating to not know whether you’re on the right track or not!
When I was working on Maple, I had 2 stitch markers going at all times. One was my beginning of round (BOR) marker, and the other one was for the halfway point. I would take the total number of stitches in the round and divide by two to get the number of stitches I needed to work before reaching the midpoint stitch marker.
This made it easier to spread out the stitches evenly and make sure that I didn’t have any large ripples or areas with too many increases.
If you still find that it’s hard to make it to the midpoint stitch marker with the right number of stitches, you can even use four (one for each quarter round) to make it easier on yourself. I stuck to 2 because I felt that using too many could be a little fiddly, but there’s no shame in starting slow and making sure that you don’t have to frog!
I use these stitch markers because they never fall out and have ridges to keep them securely in place!
Because it’s impossible to count stitches worked in fluffy yarn, it might be helpful to place a stitch marker every five or six stitches that you work in a round.
If all else fails, guess!
For all the difficulties that fluffy yarn comes with, it also comes with this major plus. That is, since you can’t see the stitches, no one can see your mistakes!
If you end up having trouble counting exactly how many stitches there were so far, or you know you’re off by one but can’t tell where you went wrong, don’t worry.
It happened to me, and as long as you make sure you’re in the right ballpark and approximately on track with the increases, then you should be fine.
No one will be able to tell and your Maple Bear will still be the cutest ever. Yay!
Try to avoid frogging
Boucle yarn sheds very easily when frogged. Because boucle yarn generally is made up of a soft exterior strand wound around a central string, if you frog it, the friction can easily lead to a lot of shedding and stray yarn pieces (not to mention tears). The best solution to this is to try to avoid frogging, and also working in a place that can be easily cleaned.
Try the chain-2 method instead of the Magic Ring
If you haven’t heard this before, the chain 2 method is another way to start a magic ring/circle.
Some people prefer it to magic circles. I like chaining 2 for fluffy yarns, but I will use magic rings for everything else because I can pull it shut.
For the chain 2 method, you will start with a slip knot on your hook then chain 2 (as the name of it implies). From there, you will crochet into the second stitch from your hook however many times that you would normally crochet into a magic ring.
It’s as simple as that! Feel free to use this method instead of a magic circle, but be warned: it will leave a small hole that you won’t be able to tighten!
If you would like a visual, click here for a YouTube tutorial. If you would rather read a blog post, you can find a post on One Dog Woof, who breaks down magic circles and chaining 2.
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!)
Technical Notes
- If you want to take this pattern offline, grab the beautifully formatted, ad-free, PDF pattern from Etsy here!
Description
This fluffy fleece teddy bear is insanely cute and a little larger than life! If you’ve never used fleece yarn before, it can be a bit tricky but also so worth it when you finish — it looks like a real teddy bear! The cherry on top is an adorable heart that makes it perfect for gifting.
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!
- Woolfolk Flette Bulky (bulky weight)
- (1 skein/100 yards) FB11 (golden brown)
- You can get this yarn online at woolfolkyarn.com/shop/flette-bulky-yarn/
- (1 skein/100 yards) FB11 (golden brown)
- Hobbii Amigo (sport weight)
- (1 skein) Christmas Red (red)
Notions
- Size F 3.75mm Clover Amour hook
- 8.0mm safety eyes
- black embroidery thread
- fiberfill stuffing
- tapestry needle
- sewing pins
- stitch markers
Abbreviations
- ch: chain
- dec: decrease
- hdc: half double crochet
- inc: increase (work two single crochets in one stitch)
- MR: magic ring
- rnd: round
- RS: right side
- sc: single crochet
- sk: skip
- x sc: work x number of single crochets
- sl st: slip stitch
- st(s): stitch(es)
- WS: wrong side
- (x sts): total number of stitches for the round
- (…) x: work all steps within parentheses x number of times
Technical Notes
- 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.
- Consider using the chain-2 method to begin your work instead of the magic ring.
- When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness within the amigurumi.
- To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
- Stuff the head and the body firmly at the openings so that the neck is stable upon completion.
- Use sewing pins to secure parts of the amigurumi before you sew them.
Special Stitches
- How to embroider a nose: see this tutorial
Final Size
4″ x 9″
The Pattern
HEAD (in Golden Brown)
- Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- If you’re having trouble with the magic ring, try the chain-2 method instead (for more detail, scroll up!)
- Rnd 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
- Rnd 4: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)
- Rnd 5: (3 sc, inc) x6 (30 sts)
- Rnd 6: (4 sc, inc) x6 (36 sts)
- Rnd 7: (5 sc, inc) x6 (42 sts)
- Rnd 8: (6 sc, inc) x6 (48 sts)
- Rnd 9-16 (9 rnds): sc around (48 sts)
- Rnd 17: (6 sc, dec) x6 (42 sts)
- Rnd 18: (5 sc, dec) x6 (36 sts)
- Rnd 19: (4 sc, dec) x6 (30 sts)
- Measuring 2.5 inches from the top of the head, place two 8.0mm safety eyes about 1.5 inches apart (fig. 1)
- Rnd 20: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24 sts)
- Rnd 21: (2 sc, dec) x6 (18 sts)
- Stuff.
- Rnd 22: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 23: dec x6 (6 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing.
MUZZLE (in Golden Brown)
- Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Rnd 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
- Rnd 4: sc around (18 sts)
- Invisible finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Then embroider a nose (see Special Stitches for a tutorial). See figure 2.
- Using a running stitch, sew the muzzle between the eyes, making sure that the top of the muzzle aligns with the top of the eyes (fig. 4). Lightly stuff as you go.
EARS (in Golden Brown, make two)
- Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Rnd 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
- Rnd 4-5 (2 rnds): sc around (18 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Do not stuff, and fold in half (see figure 3).
- Sew the ears to the top of the head, about an inch to the left and right of the center (see fig. 4).
- Your work should now look like figure 5.
LEGS (in Golden Brown, make two)
- Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Rnd 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 3-10 (8 rnds): sc around (12 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing (this is leg 1). Place a blue st marker at the last st. Make another, but do not finish off (this is leg 2). Place an orange st marker in the last st. See fig. 6 (leg 1 on the left and leg 2 on the right).
Connect the legs (tutorial here): With your hook still connected to leg 2, pick up a stitch on leg 1 (immediately to the left of the blue st marker). See fig. 7 and 9. Next, work 12 scs all around leg 1 until you get to the blue st marker (see fig. 9). Then, pick up a stitch on leg 2 right next to the orange st marker (see fig. 10), and then work the remaining 11 stitches around leg 2. The two legs should now be connected with a total of 24 stitches around.
Continue to body.
BODY (in Golden Brown)
- Rnd 11-12 (2 rnds): sc around (24 sts)
- Rnd 13: (3 sc, inc) x6 (30 sts)
- Rnd 14-16 (3 rnds): sc around (30 sts)
- Rnd 17: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24 sts)
- Rnd 18-19 (2 rnds): sc around (24 sts)
- Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff. See fig. 11 for finished body. Sew the body to the head.
ARMS (in Golden Brown, make two)
- Rnd 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
- Rnd 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
- Rnd 4: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
- Rnd 5-10 (6 rnds): sc around (12 sts)
- Stuff lightly. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Make another identically. See fig. 12 for finished arms. Sew to the left and right sides of the body. See fig. 13 for finished bear base.
SCARF (in Red)
- Begin: Chain 4 (4 sts)
- Row 1: Beginning from the second chain from the hook, work 3 sc, ch and turn (3 sts)
- Row 2: 3 hdc, ch and turn (3 sts)
- Row 3-55 (53 rows): repeat row two (3 sts) The scarf should measure around 15” long.
Work a single crochet border (fig. 14) (see tutorial here): The last stitch in row 55 is the black dot. Then, you’ll omit the last “turn” and continue working down the left side of the scarf, following the direction of the black arrow. After working scs all the way down the left side of the scarf, turn and work 3 scs across the bottom of the scarf, below row 1. Then, turn one more time and work scs all the way up the right side of the scarf, following the red arrow. You should end at the red dot. Then, finish off and weave in the ends.
Wrap the scarf around the bear.
Maple the Boucle Bear is all done! I hope you enjoyed crocheting her 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.
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