Strawbeary – Strawberry Bear – Free Crochet Pattern

My Strawbeary pattern is my newest food-themed teddy bear 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.

The cutest food and teddy bear mashup!

Teddy bears are some of my favorite amigurumi to make because of how classic and cute they are. With this design, I wanted to incorporate an adorable food pun as well, to make this strawberry bear a “strawbeary”! (please laugh.)

I love how it turned out with the pastel pink body and mini accessories. This bear will fit in the palm of your hand and you can switch it out with other tiny foods.

I’m hoping to make this pattern the first in a series of adorable food pun animals, so please comment below if you have any ideas!

Tips for making this pattern!

This pattern is generally straightforward for those who have made amigurumi before, but it can be a challenge for complete beginners. Here are a few tips on the trickier parts:

  • This amigurumi includes many sewing steps for small pieces. I’ve created an entire guide here on how to sew amigurumi parts together, and highly recommend referring to it throughout.
  • The legs of this teddy bear include a technique that asks you to crochet around a foundation chain. This is a technique that I love, since it results in a slightly oval shape, but can be tricky for first timers. I have an in depth photo tutorial here that walks you through the whole process!
  • If your crochet fabric is too loose and you can see the stuffing poking through, size down your crochet hook so that it’s tighter. If it’s too tight and the crochet stitches are warping or too stiff, size up your crochet hook to get that perfect balance.

More blog posts like this:

The Pattern

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

Description

Strawbeary is a miniature bear holding her favorite fruit, a strawberry! She also has a small rose to match. This is a beginner level pattern with a few extra accessories that can be a little tricky because of their size.

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!

  • WeCrochet Brava Sport (sport)
    • (<1 skein) Cotton Candy (pink)
    • (<1 skein) Red
    • (<1 skein) White
    • (<1 skein) Hunter (dark green)

Notions

  • Size D 3.25mm Clover Amour hook
  • 4.0mm safety eyes
  • brown embroidery thread
  • fiberfill stuffing
  • tapestry needle
  • stitch markers

Abbreviations

  • BLO: back loop only
  • ch: chain
  • CC: contrast color
  • dec: decrease
  • hdc: half double crochet
  • inc: increase (work two single crochets in one stitch)
  • MC: main color
  • MR: magic ring
  • rnd: round
  • sc: single crochet
  • sk: skip
  • x sc: work x number of single crochets
  • sl st: slip stitch
  • st(s): stitch(es)
  • (x sts): total number of stitches for the round
  • (…) x: work all steps within parentheses x number of times

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.
  1. When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness within the amigurumi.
  2. To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
  3. Stuff the head and the body firmly at the openings so that the neck is stable upon completion.
  1. Use sewing pins to secure parts of the amigurumi before you sew them.

Color Coding

For this pattern, the MC is pink, CC1 is red, CC2 is white, and CC3 is green.

Special Stitches

  • How to embroider a nose: see this tutorial
  • Invisible finish off: click here for tutorial

Final Size

Approx. 3.5″ x 2.5″

HEAD (in MC)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)
  • Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x6 (30 sts)
  • Round 6: (4 sc, inc) x6 (36 sts)
  • Round 7: (5 sc, inc) x6 (42 sts)
  • Round 8-9 (2 rnds): sc around (42 sts)
  • Round 10: (6 sc, inc) x6 (48 sts)
  • Round 11-12 (2 rnds): sc around (48 sts)
  • Insert 4.0mm safety eyes between rounds 11 and 12 (counting from top), 6 sts apart.
  • Round 13: (7 sc, inc) x6 (54 sts)
  • Round 14: (7 sc, dec) x6 (48 sts)
  • Round 15: (6 sc, dec) x6 (42 sts)
  • Round 16: (5 sc, dec) x6 (36 sts)
  • Round 17: (4 sc, dec) x6 (30 sts)
  • Round 18: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24 sts)
  • Round 19: (2 sc, dec) x6 (18 sts)
  • Stuff.
  • Round 20: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 21: dec x6 (6 sts)
  • Finish off and weave in end.

BODY (in MC)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24 sts)
  • Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x6 (30 sts)
  • Round 6-10 (5 rnds): sc around (30 sts) Round 11: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24 sts)
  • Round 12: sc around (24 sts)
  • Round 13: (2 sc, dec) x6 (18 sts)
  • Stuff. Invisible finish off, leaving a tail for sewing, and sew to the head.

LEG (in MC)

  • Begin: Chain 4. Beginning in the 2nd chain from hook, work 6 single crochets around the foundation chain. See chart below for visual representation. For a complete tutorial on this step, click here to learn how to crochet around a foundation chain. (6 sts)
  • Round 1: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 2-4 (3 rnds): sc around (12 sts)
  • Stuff lightly.
  • Round 5: (sc, dec) x4 (8 sts)
  • Make another identically. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing, and sew between rounds 5-7 of the body (counting from the bottom), 4 stitches apart.

ARM (in MC)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3-4 (2 rnds): sc around (12 sts)
  • Round 5: (2 sc, dec) x3 (9 sts)
  • Round 6-7 (2 rnds): sc around (9 sts)
  • Insert hook through both loops of both sides and sc 4 across to close the opening (4 sts)
  • Make another identically. Do not stuff or stuff very lightly. Finish off, and sew to the seam between the body and head.

EAR (in MC)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: sc around (12 sts)
  • Insert hook through both loops of both sides and sc 6 across to close the opening (6 sts)
  • Make another identically. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing, and sew to the head between rounds 4-7 (counting from the top). Curve the ear slightly when sewing.
Finish ear in similar way as arm.

MUZZLE (in CC2)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: inc x6 (12 sts)
  • Round 3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
  • Invisible finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Using brown embroidery thread, embroider a nose. See Special Stitches for tutorial.
  • Sew to the head between rounds 10-15 (counting from the top). The top of the muzzle should be at the level of the eyes.

STRAWBERRY (in CC1)

  • Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6 sts)
  • Round 2: (sc, inc) x3 (9 sts)
  • Round 3: (2 sc, inc) x3 (12 sts)
  • Round 4-6 (3 rnds): sc around (12 sts) Stuff.
  • Round 7: dec x6 (6 sts)
  • Change to CC3.
  • Working around round 7, crochet leaves.
  • For each leaf: chain 3 off the side of round 7, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, work 2 single crochets. Then, slst into the next stitch. (see crochet chart below)
  • Repeat all around to make 6 leaves. Finish off, leaving a tail for sewing. Using CC2, embroider short vertical stitches over the strawberry to imitate seeds.
  • Sew to the left and right hands to secure. Glue can also be used.

ROSE (in CC1, worked in turned rows)

  • Begin: chain 12
  • Row 1: sc in 2nd chain from hook, (chain 2, sk1, sc in next stitch) x5. Chain and turn. (5 chain spaces)
  • Row 2: chain 2, in chain space work 3 dc, chain 1, slst, slst in next chain space, chain 1, (in chain space work 3 hdc, chain 1, slst, slst in next chain space) x2, in chain space work 3 sc, chain 1, slst, slst in next chain space, in chain space work 3 sc, chain 1, slst. (5 petals)

  • Starting with the sc petals, roll up the rose keeping the bottom (where you see your foundation chain) in a flat spiral, not a cone shape. Sew across the bottom to secure, then sew just under the right ear.
  • If you’re having trouble visualizing this, see this video. The video is for a rose that’s about twice as big, but uses the same process.

Your Strawbeary 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. Once again, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to me with a direct message on Instagram or through email at littleworldofwhimsy@gmail.com. Happy crocheting!