How to Embroider a Cute Animal Mouth on Amigurumi

For me , one of the best parts of amigurumi is making the face, because it’s always felt to me as though it’s when your little creation starts to come to life. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to embroider a cute animal mouth for your amigurumi. The details are what really make your amigurumi shine, and my hope is that with this, you are able to come up with some fun ideas and combinations when making your amigurumi.

This mouth is perfect for the following animals:

• Cat
• Dog
• Mouse
• Hamster
• Rat
• Raccoon
• Rabbit
• Ferret
• ..and so many more!

All you need to get started is an embroidery needle and either embroidery thread, craft cord, or crochet thread in the color of your choosing. You’ll also need to have a nose in place, whether it be yarn, felt, or plastic. This mouth is made before you stuff and close up the head, so you will need access to the front and back of your work.

Thread your needle with your thread and, starting from back to front, insert your needle directly under where you’ve placed the animal’s nose, making sure you’re lined up in the center.

You will now be inserting your hook back through the amigurumi a number of rows down to create a straight line. Think about how large you would like the mouth to be. The number of rows you go down here depends on how large you want your creation’s mouth to be. Keeping this in mind, insert your needle back through the amigurumi, lining it up with where your first stitch came out in order to make a straight line. I tend to make fairly small amigurumi and usually go no more than 2 or 3 rows down from where I originally came through near the nose.

Pull the thread through and check that your line is straight and you are happy with the length.

Your needle will now be in the back of your work. You are now going to be making another straight line, working from left to right as if to create a backwards “L” shape. Insert your needle a couple of rows to the left, lining it up with the bottom of the center line you just made. How far you go to the left will vary based on how large or small decided to you make your mouth. My general rule of thumb here to keep things balanced is to make your line roughly the same length as the center line. For example, if my center line is approximately two stitches long, I’ll go two stitches to the left for this part.

Now, reinsert the needle back into the bottom of the center line.

Pull your thread through. Check for straightness and whether you are satisfied with the length or not.

From here, you are going to wiggle the thread downwards to create an arc shape. I like to use the back of my needle to do this, as shown above, but you can also use your finger.

Now, we need to anchor this arc shape into place. At this point, your embroidery needle will be in the back of your work. Insert your needle just above the center of the arc you just created, trying to keep it as close as possible to the top of the thread. If you go too far up you won’t maintain the arc shape you just made. You may need to hold the thread in place so it doesn’t move around too much, just mind where the needle is – you don’t need any poked fingers!

Now, insert your needle directly underneath the arc shape, underneath but staying as close as possible to the thread. Pull the cord through and you’ve just anchored half of the mouth in place!

Your needle is now in the back of the work after anchoring the smile into place. To make the other side of the mouth, I like to begin from the center again. Insert your needle through the middle of the center line so that your needle and thread is in the front of your work. Now, repeat the same process on this side: making a straight line except this time to the right, creating an arc shape, and anchoring it in to place. Make sure to go the same amount of stitches to the right so that your mouth is even.

And there you have it – a cute animal mouth that can be used on many different animals! I hope this has been helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to try and help you!

Need help embroidering a simple smile on your amigurumi? Check out my tutorial on how to make a simple smile on your amigurumi – Click HERE!