Amigurumi Eyes: Everything You Need to Know
There are so many options when it comes to amigurumi eyes. They can totally change the look of any crocheted toy. Find all the information you need about safety eyes, embroidered eyes, crocheted eyes and more.
Amigurumi eyes are a hot topic in the crocheted toy world. I get more questions about this subject than any other.
And in this post we are going to deep-dive into all the different options for amigurumi eyes…from safety eyes, to embroidered eyes, to crocheted eyes and more.
Amigurumi Eyes: Everything You Need to Know
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Amigurumi eyes can totally change the look of your crocheted toy.
You can make your toys look happy, surprised, sleepy or sad. The eyes you choose can be simple or elaborate, cartoonish or totally realistic.
Check Out My Amigurumi Eyes Pinterest Board
In this post I’m going to be sharing my Pinterest board all about amigurumi eyes to share examples of each technique and style.
You’ll also find tutorials to particular amigurumi eye techniques as well as links to my favorite places to purchase the best amigurumi safety eyes.
Amigurumi Safety Eyes
Safety eyes are a popular choice for amigurumi makers because they are simple, easy and quick. There’s no skill needed to make the eyes of your crocheted toys look nice. You just pop them on and go.
But if you’ve ever used amigurumi eyes before, you know they can be tough to put on. You also probably know there are safety concerns.
Safety
Many people are rightly concerned about safety for small children when using safety eyes.
Safety eyes really are a misnomer and shouldn’t be used if you’re giving your amigurumi toy to a child under the age of three, who could choke if the eye came off in their mouth.
While some safety eyes are definitely more safe than others, it isn’t worth the risk when it comes to a young child.
You’ll find information about alternatives to safety eyes below (Embroidered eyes would be a better option).
Where to Buy Safety Eyes
I have purchased many amigurumi variety size packs on Amazon and all of them have been about the same in quality and price.
Each of them are made of plastic and have been difficult to place the backs on. Some of the backs even popped off very easily.
Recently I decided to test three different brand of safety eyes to see if they were any better.
6060 Eyes
I bought a wide variety of safety eyes from 6060 Eyes and I happy to report that were all of very high quality at reasonable prices.
My order contained four different types of safety eyes:
- 4.5 mm brown
- 4.5 mm solid black
- 4.5 mm amber
- 6 mm clear
We have high quality acrylic and plastic round safety eyes, cat safety eyes, oval safety eyes, frog safety eyes, owl safety eyes, and comical safety eyes.
6060 Eyes
6060 Eyes stresses their focus on safety standards and quality control. The backs of the eyes are metal and don’t come off easily, if at all.
I did find putting the back of the safety eye on to be fiddly, but with a 4.5 mm eye, I can’t imagine it would be easy. I tried pulling the back of the eye off and it wasn’t budging.
On the 6060 Eyes website, you will find round eyes, cat eyes, oval, comical, hand painted, frog and owl eyes in a large assortment of sizes and colors.
I highly recommend these safety eyes and I will definitely be ordering from them again.
Glass Eyes Online
The next company I ordered safety eyes from was Glass Eyes Online. They also have a wide variety of amigurumi safety eyes in sizes and colors.
I ordered 50, 5 mm round black safety eyes.
These have flat plastic backs that I found to be a little easier to put on than the ones from 6060 Eyes.
They feel incredibly secure as well.
I will definitely be ordering eyes from them again.
Go to the Glass Eyes Online Website
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Darice
The final set of amigurumi eyes I purchased were from Darice. They are more like the standard amigurumi eyes that you can purchase on Amazon.
But the plastic is clearly a higher quality. The backs are a more flexible plastic, but feel very secure when placed on the eye.
They don’t feel like they will come off easily.
You can easily purchase these eyes on Amazon which is nice, but they don’t have quite the variety of sizes, shapes and colors as the other retailers.
Find the Darice Eyes on Amazon
Size of Safety Eyes
Changing the size safety eyes you are using for your crocheted toy can give it a completely different appearance.
Bigger eyes tend to give the toy a more innocent look, while smaller eyes can look more comical.
Experiment with the size of your amigurumi eyes to see which look you like better.
Shape and Style
I love that we live in a day and age where there is so many different options to choose from right at our fingertips.
Make sure to look at all the different shapes and styles of safety eyes as well.
There are cat eyes, frog eyes and even owl eyes. They can give your toys a more realistic or unique look.
Position
Another fun thing to do is experiment with the position of your amigurumi eyes.
Place the eyes higher or lower to change the entire look of your toy.
Keep the eyes close together or far apart, whatever looks best to you.
Special Additions to Safety Eyes
Add felt as background of safety eyes to give your toy even more expression.
This adorable little pug is even cuter because the safety eyes were placed at the top of the felt background. The pug looks as if it’s looking up at its owner.
How adorable!
Use embroidery floss to add eyelashes and eyebrows to enhance plain black safety eyes.
I love using this technique and find that it gives the toy more detail and interest.
I really like how adding a black lining around the top of the eye and the white below give this adorable bunny such a sweet face.
Embroidered Amigurumi Eyes
Embroidering eyes is one of the safest ways to add eyes to a toy, especially if it is for a small child. There aren’t any hard, round objects for them to choke on.
There are a lot of different ways you can embroider amigurumi eyes. The most common ways require simple back stitching with embroidery floss.
You can make your toy look sleepy or happy just by changing the direction of your embroidered arch.
These charming dolls all have embroidered eyes and it perfectly illustrates the difference in happy vs sleepy eyes. Just by changing the direction of the arch can give the doll a completely different look.
My personal preference is to use only one, two or three strands of embroidery floss to stitch with.
I rarely if ever embroider with yarn. I feel it doesn’t look quite as neat and tidy as floss does.
Crocheted Amigurumi Eyes
Although I don’t have any personal experience crocheting eyes for amigurumi, it is definitely going to be in my future.
This captivating crocheted fox has such a wonderful (and mischievous) look on his face and it’s because of the eyes.
You will find an excellent tutorial for how to crochet these exact eyes on YouTube.
Everything You Need to Know About Amigurumi Eyes
Finally, whether you choose safety eyes or decide to embroider/crochet them, experiment with:
- size
- shape
- color
- position
to create the amigurumi toy of your imagination.
Pin for Later!
You are always have the most expressive creations.