These crochet eyes are free patterns by Nana’s Crafty Home!
Looking to add some extra fun personality to your amigurumi animals, character crochet squares or hats? These quick and easy crochet eyes make a great substitute for plastic safety eyes!
Ditch the traditional plastic eyes and embrace the charm of handmade crochet eyes. This easy-to-follow crochet eye pattern is available in three distinct sizes. Perfect for amigurumi, plush toys, and unique crafts. Add a touch of personality and safety to your creations. Grab your hooks and let’s make some eyes pop!
Why Crochet Eyes?
Crochet eyes make a wonderful substitute for plastic safety eyes for several reasons.
For children’s items, especially for babies, there’s always a concern about small parts like plastic eyes being a choking hazard. Crochet eyes are attached and sewn to the fabric which greatly reduces the risk. This means crochet eyes can be used for blankets, toys and and amigurumi items.
With crochet eyes you can easily customize by adjusting the size and color combinations to perfectly fit the character or creature you are creating.
Unlike hard plastic eyes, crochet eyes are soft which makes cuddly toys or blankets more snuggly and comfortable to hug and sleep with.
The ability to add tiny details like the reflections or different colors in the iris can provide a toy a more expressive or unique look.
Crochet eyes are economical and can be made with scrap amounts of yarn rather than purchasing ready made large safety eyes. And the nicer the eyes, the bigger the price!
Crochet Eyes Design Details
You may already be familiar with my fun seasonal “Squares” Blankets over the last year. I started these blankets last year with the Christmas Squares Blanket.
When I designed the faces for those squares I wanted the perfect eyes for them – eyes that had personality and depth. Yet, because it was a blanket I didn’t want to use traditional safety eyes.
I also desired large eyes and safety eyes really don’t come in the size I was hoping to achieve for my squares.
So I played around with several different ideas for my crochet eyes and ended up working a double crochet round, added a few slip stitches in blue and then below those stitches an accent of white slip stitches. By adding a tiny speck of embroidered white at the top of the eye it gave the eyes a twinkly and expressive appearance.
I have now used those same eyes for each of my seasonal squares as well as a couple of farm animals I released over the summer – the Chicken Squish and the Pig in a Blanket Squish.
With my final square for my Fall Squares Blanket – the Fall Flower – I needed to have a much smaller eye so I adapted the double crochet to single crochet and used those. I was so happy with how they turned out!
Then I realized I could have several different sizes of eyes if I made one in half double crochet as well. And now that I have these three different crochet eye sizes I can use them for so many different projects!
This tutorial will walk you through each step of creating these crochet eyes. The concept is the same regardless of the base stitches – from single to half double to double. Really the only difference between them is the base stitch for the eye plus how many slip stitches you are working.
I ended up working 4 – 5 slip stitches for the contrasting color and for the white accent but you could certainly go with less or more slip stitches to change up the finished look.
That’s the best thing about these crochet eyes – you can customize them so very easily! Work slip stitches all the way around for a completely different look! Use lighter weight yarn and a smaller hook for even smaller eyes!
I am using Red Heart Super Saver* for my crochet eyes which is a medium worsted weight yarn and yielded the following sizes.
Approximate finished size:
Small: 3/4” round
Medium: 1” round
Large: 1 1/2” round
*This post contains affiliate links. You can click on any yarn or material highlighted to purchase. I will receive a small commission if you purchase but it won’t cost you any extra! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Each of these eyes start from a Magic Circle but if you aren’t a fan you can substitute a ch-4, sl st in first ch to form a ring and work the first round in the ring instead.
I have complete photo and video tutorials below. I am using a lighter yarn for what would typically be black as black yarn really doesn’t show up well in photos or video. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get notified whenever I post a new video.
The Crochet Eyes in 3 Sizes is also available as an ad-free, printable PDF! You can purchase the individual pattern, or if you love PDFs, you might want to check out my Lifetime Membership. It’s an awesome deal! Never pay for one of my PDFs again!! (Or, scroll down for the free version!)
Purchase the ad-free pdf of the crochet eyes in 3 sizes for a small fee. Thank you so much for supporting my work!
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You may also like the following tutorials by Nana’s Crafty Home:
- Rectangle Granny Tutorial
- Mini Crochet Star Applique Tutorial
- How to crochet a perfect round circle in sc!
Crochet Eyes in 3 Sizes free crochet pattern
Pattern written in US crochet terminology
Supplies:
Red Heart Super Saver Weight 4 / Medium (100% acrylic)
- Black (Black)
- Tea Leaf (CC)
- Cafe Latte (CC)
- Aqua (CC)
Size I (5.5 mm) crochet hook
Scissors
Stitch marker (optional)
Tapestry needle
Approximate finished size:
Small: 3/4” round
Medium: 1” round
Large: 1 1/2” round
Abbreviations:
- MC = magic circle
- ch(s) = chain(s)
- sc = single crochet
- hdc = half double crochet
- dc = double crochet
- st(s) = stitch(es)
- CC = contrasting color
- sl st = slip stitch
- RS = right side
Recommended Tutorial:
Pattern Notes:
- All rows are worked from the RS of the eye.
Pattern Instructions
Small Eyes
With black, make MC.
Round 1: (RS) Ch 1, 6 sc in MC, join with sl st in first st, tighten ring. (6)
Fasten off black, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Row 2: Join CC in first st of round 1, sl st in next 4 sts.
Fasten off CC.
Row 3: Join white in first st of round 1 (behind slip stitches of row 2), sl st in next 4 sts.
Fasten off white, leaving a long tail for embroidery of eye.
With long tail of white, embroider center of eye.
Weave in remaining ends not left for sewing.
Medium Eyes
With black, make MC.
Round 1: (RS) Ch 1, 8 hdc in MC, join with sl st in first st, tighten ring. (8)
Fasten off black, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Row 2: Join CC in first st of round 1, sl st in next 4 sts.
Fasten off CC.
Row 3: Join white in first st of round 1 (behind slip stitches of row 2), sl st in next 4 sts.
Fasten off white, leaving a long tail for embroidery of eye.
With long tail of white, embroider center of eye.
Weave in remaining ends not left for sewing.
Large Eyes
With black, make MC.
Round 1: (RS) Ch 3 (counts as first st), 10 dc in MC, join with sl st in top of ch-3, tighten ring. (11)
Fasten off black, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Row 2: Join CC in first st of round 1, sl st in next 5 sts.
Fasten off CC.
Row 3: Join white in first st of round 1 (behind slip stitches of row 2), sl st in next 5 sts.
Fasten off white, leaving a long tail for embroidery of eye.
With long tail of white, embroider center of eye.
Weave in remaining ends not left for sewing.
Sew eyes to project.
Copyright 2023 Tonya Bush/Nana’s Crafty Home
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Hi! Thank you so much for being here! I am Tonya the designer behind Nana's Crafty Home. As a wife, mother, Nana of 9 & with 2 fur babies, my days are filled with love, laughter, hugs and yarn! Here you will find colorful and creative crochet designs for yourself or loved ones. My hope is that you will be inspired to learn and create along with me!