Eyes for Amigurumi

What do you prefer to use for the eyes of your amigurumi?

Here’s how it is for me: since I usually crochet fairly small amigurumi, I prefer to embroider the eyes. That way, you can always make adjustments, and in my opinion, it gives the little figures more character.

I actually don’t like safety eyes at all. With small heads, the safety washers are usually so big that they change the shape of the head. Plus, you can’t adjust their position later on. And finally, I think amigurumi with safety eyes all somehow have almost the same facial expression. The faces become more uniform, yes, but somehow also less lively.

I do use sew-on eyes sometimes too, mainly when I’m crocheting with fluffy yarn, because it’s hard to embroider on that. With sew-on eyes, just like with embroidery, you can also finish the face at the end, when it’s easier to imagine how the figure should “look.”

What do you think?

I, for one, prefer safety eyes—because I absolutely love the shine! And because I’m too impatient to embroider the eyes, so they always end up looking silly ;-)

I like safety eyes, but I also like eyes with eyelets that can be pulled through, because you can position the eyes afterward and let them sink deeper into the head. This is also helpful if you add eyelids to avoid bulging eyes.

I use half-beads and glue them on with superglue, but I leave it up to the customer whether to use safety eyes. That’s hardly possible with egg cozies, though, since they’re so small. So far, there haven’t been any objections.

I also prefer to embroider them on.
For larger animals, or when larger eyes are needed for the proportions, I crochet them myself and then sew them on very securely.

When my kids were very little, I noticed that they somehow always managed to pull the safety eyes right out of the animals (just like they were faster than me at opening the safety closures on various packages).
And since I make a lot of things for the young children of friends and relatives, I prefer to stick with sewn-on eyes.

For purely decorative figures, safety eyes or even glued-on half-beads work fine, but as soon as something needs to be child-safe, I swear by crocheting the eyes and sewing them on, or embroidering them. It’s always amazing what little fingers can manage to pull out.

I love using half beads that you pull in. They have a beautiful sheen, and I can use them to shape the face with them. It looks more lifelike that way.