In February, I had the idea to start crocheting amigurumi1. When I started looking for inspiration, I spotted many Miffy2 toys in the gift shop of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Then, I got these advertisements for Miffy, Melanie, and Boris, which only further convinced me that I needed to make my own version of Miffy.
I began searching for a pattern that I could follow, which is easier than starting from scratch. I eventually found a pattern by Christine Hebert, which isn’t for Miffy, exactly, but rather her cousin Hippy. I loved Hippy even more, and set out to create one of my own.
In terms of yarn, I had about a third of a skein of white yarn from Red Heart left, which was more than enough. I did have to solve the problem of stuffing. The way that Hippy is made, she needs to be stuffed as she goes, unlike some other amigurumi where the stuffing can be left to the end. Stuffing sold as stuffing is rather expensive for what it is3, so for my solution I got a $4 pillow from Target and simply opened a corner with my seam ripper. Then, I pulled pinches of fiberfill out to stuff with as I went.
I started with her head, then her legs, then her body:
The ears were created one by one, then attached to the head. After, I sewed on Hippy’s face before stitching together the head and the body. After that, I added a bow4 around her ear!
Finally, I decided to make her a red dress with a collar. I started crocheting around Hippy, then added strategic stitches through the body of the doll to affix the dress on. Now, here’s some pictures of the final product!
All in all, Hippy took three days to make once I’d gathered all of the materials (read: stuffing) I needed. In March, I gifted her to my grandmother, one of the people who taught me to crochet.