I loved the Yuri on Ice anime, and the beautiful costumes were just asking to be turned into amigurumi dolls. This Victor crochet pattern is probably a little tricky for beginners, but if you’re ambitious don’t let me stop you! And since you can’t have just one of them, you can also find the Yuri pattern over here.
What materials will you need?
- Beige yarn
- White yarn
- Purple yarn
- Dark pink yarn
- Pink yarn
- Gold yarn
- Light grey yarn
- Black yarn
- 2 x 7.5mm safety eyes
- Polyester filling
- Yarn needle
- Black thread
- 3.00 mm crochet hook
- Fabric glue
The yarn I use is an 8ply Australian brand with a guage of 22 stitches x 30 rows. I believe this is equivalent to Double Knit (DK) with the American / UK weighting system. I have also had people tell me they’ve made the patterns with Worsted Weight yarn without issue.
The doll should be about 17.5 cm or 12 inches tall when finished, though this can change depending on how tightly you stitch compared to me 🙂
If you have any problems reading the pattern, head over to the FAQ for a description of the shorthand I use to describe the stitches, and also for a photo-illustrated PDF download of all of the basic stitches / techniques for beginners.
HEAD
1. (in Beige) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
4. sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
6. sc 2, inc, [ sc 4, inc ]x 5, sc 2 (36)
7-12. sc 36 (36)
13. sc 2, dec, [ sc 4, dec ]x 5, sc 2 (30)
14. [ dec, sc 3 ]x 6 (24)
15. sc, dec, [ sc 2, dec ]x 5, sc (18)
Finish off, leaving a tail approximately 20cm or 7.5 inches long. Insert your safety eyes between rows 9 and 10, with approximately 5 stitches between them. Stuff firmly. Embroider the mouth using a few threads of black embroidery or cross-stitch thread.
TIP You can also use yarn to sew on the mouth, though it makes it a bit thicker. For a more expressive or detailed mouth, try felt.
HAIR CAP
1. (in Light Grey) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3. [ inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
4. sc, inc, [ sc 2, inc ]x 5, sc (24)
5. [ inc, sc 3 ]x 6 (30)
6. sc 2, inc, [ sc 4, inc ]x 5, sc 2 (36)
7-12. sc 36 (36)
Finish off, leaving a tail approximately 20cm or 7.5 inches. Use the tail to attach the wig cap to the stuffed head. I don’t go through every stitch of the wig cap, it only needs to be secured in 4 or 5 places to hold properly.
TIP Depending on the yarn you use for the head and hair, you may need more than 12 rows, or less than 12 rows to find the right fit for the wig cap. Adjust as needed.
EARS (MAKE 2)
1. (in Beige) ch 3 (3)
2. ch 1, turn, sl st, sc, sl st (3)
Leave a tail for attaching to head and finish off.
Next I use pins to position the ears in place and then use the tails to attach them. I try to give them a little curve, like real ears would have. The top of the ear should be in line with the middle of the eye. It should be about 5 stitches away from the eye, or wherever it meets the edge of the wig cap.
ATTACHING HAIR TO THE HEAD
The hair is embroidered on using the same light grey yarn you used for the wig cap. I usually do a couple of strands of the fringe at the top/front of the head, then move to the shorter pieces of hair at the back-bottom of the head. With Victor I also outline the level of his hair with pins – see more below.
Owlishly has a great tutorial on embroidering hair and is where I originally learnt this technique: http://owlishly.typepad.com/owlishly/2007/08/amigurumi-hair.html
After the bottom of the head has been done and the gaps filled in, I move back to the front of the head, from the centre outwards. Since Victor has hair that falls to the same level around the entirety of his head, I also like to take a few pins to mark out that line. Then I am to embroider the hair as “long” as those pins mark. It makes it a bit easier to fill when you have an area to aim for.
For the most part it’s easier to see and imitate in pictures – and I will often pull up a reference picture of Victor while I do this to try and recreate how his hair acts and looks. The key point with his hair is the fringe, sometimes I’ll undo it and do it again if I can’t get it to look the way I want.
I find the best way to get better at this technique is practise and to use plenty of references.
Just keep filling in the hair until you’re done!
LEFT ARM
1. (in Beige) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc, sc 2 ]x 2 (8)
3. sc 8 (8)
4. (in Dark Purple) sc 8 (8)
5. sc 3, 4sc popcorn, sc 4 (8)
6-8. sc 8 (8)
9-15. (in Light Pink) sc 8 (8)
The arms are so small there’s no need for stuffing. Leave a tail approximately 20cm or 7.5 inches long and finish off.
TIP The popcorn stitch in the arm is the thumb. If you prefer straight arms, simply replace the popcorn stitch with a sc.
RIGHT ARM
1. (in Beige) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc, sc 2 ]x 2 (8)
3. sc 8 (8)
4. (in Dark Purple) sc 8 (8)
5. sc 3, 4sc popcorn, sc 4 (8)
6-8. sc 8 (8)
9-15. (in Dark Pink) sc 8 (8)
Next, we’re going to pick up 2 rows of stitches around the arm in the dark purple colour, between rows 8 and 9, where it switches between dark purple and either light pink or dark pink yarn.
If you’ve never picked up stitches before, take a look at this guide for more in depth instructions
ARM BAND (for both arms)
1. (in Dark Purple) pick up 8 stitches (8)
2. sc 8 (8)
LEG (MAKE 2)
1. (in Black) MR 6 (6)
2. [ inc ]x 6 (12)
3. [inc, sc ]x 6 (18)
4. BLO sc 18 (18)
5-7. sc 18 (18)
8. sc 3, dec 6, sc 3 (12)
9-19. sc 12 (12)
Finish off the first leg (no tail necessary), but leave the second one on your hook.
TIP Crocheting one round in the back loop only makes it easier to give the foot its shape, as its easier to make the base flat.
JOINING THE LEGS
Take the two legs and position them so that both feet are pointing correctly. I like to place two bobby pins across the stitches where the legs will join to make it a little easier to keep track of. The right leg should be the one still on your hook, so that the colour change at the start of the round later will be at the back of the doll.
Usually it’s four more stitches on the right leg before the fifth stitch jumps over to the left leg. Hopefully the pictures below will help illustrate.
Join with two bobby pins, this is where you’ll go from one leg to the other.
Make one sc in the right leg in the stitch the bobby pin marks. The next sc will be on the left leg, in the stitch the bobby pin marks.
Do the same when you reach the opposite bobby pin. This is what it should look like after the first round of the body.
BODY
Be sure to read the *** warnings before you start row 4.
(row 1 is the one described above when joining the legs)
1-3. (in Black) sc (24)
4-7. (in Dark Pink) sc 24 (24) **
(stuff the body at this point)
8. (in Light Pink) sc 3, dec [ sc 6, dec ]x 2, sc 3 (21) **
9. [ dec, sc 5 ]x 3 (18) ***
10. sc 2, dec, [ sc 4, dec ]x 2, sc 2 (15) ***
11. [dec, sc 3 ]x 3 (12) ***
12. (in White) sc 12 (12) ***
13. (in Beige) [ sc, inc ]x 6 (18)
Finish off and stuff the rest of the body.
** These rows should have 2 stitches in White in the middle of the body – see the pictures on the next page. For the duet version from the last episode, replace the white undershirt with black, including row 12.
*** These rows should have 2 stitches in Beige, above the black stitches.
If one of the decreases is going to be in the middle of a colour change, just move it one stitch earlier or later in the row so that you always have those two white or beige stitches in the middle.
The pictures above show the two middle stitches in a different colour. I use bobby pins to find the middle stitches and mark them because it’s a bit easier. The two stitches will be in white for all of the dark pink rows, and the first light pink row. Then they switch to beige.
After you’ve finished the body, take a length of white yarn (black for the duet version) and embroider a line down the chest, so that the undershirt looks like it’s under the jacket.
TIP Stuff the legs before beginning the decreases. Make sure it’s not stuffed too much. You should be able to press the bottom of the feet in and have the doll stand.
SHOULDER PADS (MAKE 2)
1. (in Gold) ch 3 (3)
2. ch 2, turn, hdc 3 (3)
* The shoulder pads should be in silver for the duet version.
Finish off, leaving a long enough tail to attach to the arm later.
COAT TAILS (make 2)
1. (in Dark Pink) ch 4 (4)
2. ch 1, turn, sc, hdc, dc, htc (4)
Finish off, leaving long enough tails to attach to the body later. The middle picture below shows the start of a half treble crochet – it’s like a double crochet, except at the start you wrap the yarn around your hook twice before inserting it into the stitch.
ASSEMBLY
Attach the arms. I like to pin them in place to get an idea of where they should be placed, then they are attached as a flattened piece using the tail.
Next take the dark purple yarn again and create 4 chains:
Short Chain (make 2)
1. (in Dark Purple) ch 2 (2)
Long Chain (make 2)
1. (in Dark Purple) ch 4 (4)
These are the collar of the jacket. The long ones go along the edge of the jacket, from the top of the pants to where the body changes to light blue. The short ones go on a slight angle, from where the long ones end towards the shoulders. See pictures below.
Next, attach the coat tails using the tails.
Attach the shoulder pads to the arms. Then loosely embroider the two loops hanging around the left shoulder in the same colour as the shoulder pads – this part can be a bit of a pain. Just make sure to secure them tightly with knots on the inside so they can’t be pulled out.
Finally, attach the head. There should have been 18 stitches in the last round of the head and the body, so they match up evenly. Simply align the head, and whipstitch closed. I use coloured pins to mark which stitches line up at the front of the doll, and then count them out to see where to start joining at the back.
Congratulations, you’re done! He’s ready for the ice.
I hope you had fun! You can find Yuri here, because you obviously have to have the two of them together <3