Baby Amigurumi

I made this baby amigurumi for kids ministry of my church, referring to a book I borrowed from a ward office library. In fact this is my first ever amigurumi. Thank God that it looks ok. 

And I love Japan's public libraries - complete with tonnes of handicraft books!!

I have a mini tutorial of mouth embroidery and free diaper pattern with are coming soon.

Shell-stitch V-stitch Book Cover

I bought a notebook (12.5cm x 18cm x 1.7cm) from a 100 yen shop to record Sunday church sermons and write my prayer list. The cover is plain brown and dull looking. So I, being a mad shell stitch fan, crocheted this lovely lacy shell stitch book cover. Straps were added on both front and back to fasten the book. Finished size of this book cover is 26cm x 19cm. Let's get started!

Material
30g (about 75m) off-white yarn
4mm crochet hook
a little bit of pink, yellow, green and ombre purple yarn for flower as embellishment and closure straps.
tapestry needle
fabric of 46cm x 20cm
sewing needle (I don't have a sewing machine, so I hand-stitch everything, you can sew the fabric using a sewing machine if you have one)
sewing thread

Abbreviation

SC - single crochet

DC - double crochet

Ch - chain

RS: right side

WS: wrong side

Pattern 

Part 1: Crochet
Row 1. Chain (ch) 4 (the shell stitch is a multiple of 6 stitches, I simply chained and measured it on the notebook).
Row 2 (RS). Work 5 DC into the fourth stitch from the end. Skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch. Skip 2 stitches. *Work 5 DC into the next stitch (shell stitch), skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch, skip 2 stitches*. Repeat the pattern in * until the end, SC into the last stitch.
Row 3 (WS): ch 3 and turn. DC into the first stitch. #ch 1, work SC into the middle of shell stitch (center stitch of shell stitches), ch 1, DC into the SC on row 2, ch 1 work DC into the same stitch (V-stitch formed)#. Repeat the pattern in # until the end, work 2 DC in the last stitch.
Row 4 (RS): ch 1 and turn, {Work 5 DC into the SC of row 3. Skip 2 stitches and SC into the next stitch. Skip 2 stitches}. Repeat the pattern in {} until the end, SC into the last stitch.

Repeat row 3 and 4 three more times.

Row 11 (WS). ch 3 (counted as DC), work 2 DC into the same stitch. *Skip 2 stitches, work SC into the center stitch of shell stitch, skip 2 stitches, work shell stitch into the center stitch of shell stitch in the row below*. Repeat the pattern in * until the end, work 3 DC into the last stitch.
Row 12 (RS): ch 1 and turn. #Work shell stitch into the SC in row 11, skip 2 stitches, work SC into the center stitch of shell stitch, skip 2 stitches#. Repeat pattern in # until the end, SC into the last stitch. 

Repeat row 11 and 12 once more, then repear row 11 again (ie row 15). Don't break the yarn yet for edging.

Edging
Work 2 SC at the corner stitch, then work alternate SC-ch1 around the edge at the RS, remember to work 2 SC at the end and at the starting point of corner. Continue until the starting of edge and work 2 SC at the corner. Break yarn and weave in.

Leaf strap

Flower and leaf strap embellishments

Pink and yellow flowers:
Make a magic loop, ch 3, DC, ch 3, SC into the magic loop (a flower petal done), repeat this for more times.

Purple flower:
Method is as same as above but I made 6 petals, in fact I think 5 petals look better.

Leaf strap:
ch 7, work SC into the second ch from the end, work HDC into the next ch, work DC into the next 2 ch, HDC into the next ch, SC into the last ch, ch 2, turn and repeat on the other half of the leaf. Continue making chains as long as you want (I made 31 ch and made 'half of a leaf at the end)

Part 2: Sewing
Sew the flowers and leaf straps wherever you want, as my book cover is quite small, I sewed in the middle from the WS of the book cover.

Cut a piece of fabric (I got mine from the 100 yen shop as well), 2cm longer and 19cm wider than your book, hem top, bottom and the sides (1cm each), fold 9cm at each end of the rectangle and stitch top and bottom. Place the sewn fabric on the WS of crocheted piece, then hemstitch the fabric to the crocheted piece. Confusing? Please refer here for clearer guide.


Note: You can modify this pattern to fit the size of your book.

That's it!!! I'm good at making confusing explanation, so it's my problem if you can't understand what I wrote. Please comment below if you have any question or if you just wanna chat!!! It'll definitely make my day when I know someone noticed my pattern. 😄

By the way, if you fancy this pattern, you're most welcome to make it as a gift or to sell at your shop. I'd really appreciate if you mention my name. I just ask you not to sell this pattern and always link back to this site. Cheers!

!