How to create custom amigurumi shapes in 3D

A tail that tapers, a body with a waist, or an ear wider at the base: custom components let you design the recipe of a piece instead of choosing only from ready-made parts. Each section sets a stitch count and how long to keep that width. The outline, 3D preview and written pattern update together.

Open the amigurumi designer, or watch the workspace walkthrough. If this is your first project, start with the editor guide.

1. Create a component

Choose Create from your own components on the start screen. Open Add component (+) and choose Create component. In an existing creation, first select the piece you want to attach it to. With an empty creation, the first custom component becomes its base.

Name the piece so it is easy to find in the component list. Start this shape again offers Tube, Taper, Rounded and Disc recipes. Choosing one replaces the selected piece’s shaping sections, including its linked twin.

2. Set the outline section by section

Select a numbered section. Drag either outline handle to change its width, or use Width around for the stitch count. Counts move in steps of six. Keep this width sets how many rounds stay at that count. Add another section to widen, narrow or extend the piece.

For example, a section at 12 stitches followed by a section at 24 needs transition rounds between them. The designer adds the increases; the section’s repeated rounds are additional. Read the displayed total rather than adding only the section repeats.

Use a narrower middle section between two wider ones to explore a waist. Increase the repeated rounds for a longer straight section. A larger stitch count increases the circumference at your chosen gauge.

Keyboard users can focus an outline handle and use the arrow keys. Undo restores the previous edit; Redo reapplies it.

3. Choose how the piece ends

Open edge leaves an edge for stuffing and sewing onto another component. Closed adds the closing decreases. Unstuffed leaves an open edge for a piece you do not intend to fill. Check the resulting instructions in Pattern, especially the transition and finishing rounds.

4. Explore a curved tail

The curved-tail starter is a useful worked example. Select a shaping section and adjust its curve rounds. These rounds use a mixture of US single crochet (sc) and half double crochet (hdc); the different stitch heights create the estimated bend.

Curves currently require an open piece, at least 12 stitches and two rounds in the section, with at most six curve rounds across the component. Reverse curve changes the bend direction. The width outline shows the piece before bending; the side view shows the estimated curved shape.

This is a preview of a recipe, not a physical fabric simulation. Yarn, tension, stuffing and the height of your hdc stitches affect the actual bend. Crochet a sample before committing to a larger project. Oval cross sections and freehand sculpting are not available.

5. Attach, reuse and colour

Use Attach and position to choose the parent component and placement. Show component only helps inspect an individual piece; Show whole creation restores the assembly. Duplicate a custom component or make a linked mirrored pair for matching limbs.

Save a useful recipe to My components to reuse it. That library stays on the current device. A component already added to an account-saved project travels with that project; editing it does not rewrite the library snapshot.

Next, add stripes in Colour and set your measured gauge. Custom components keep their stitch recipe when gauge changes, so their estimated dimensions change. Ready-made parts instead keep their size settings and recalculate their stitch counts.

Create your own component