3D Crochet Greeting Card „Hearty Teddy Bear”

Since I like to invent and create handmade things, this time I wanted to make an unusual greeting card. I have already drawn greeting cards with pencil and paints, made birthday cards from handmade paper, cut out pop-up cards. It was not so easy to come up with something new. But then I saw a new contest The Instructables Knitting and Crochet https://www.instructables.com/contest/knitcro I realized that I could try crocheting the greeting card. I could try to crochet a Teddy Bear! It will be really very cute. But I didn't want it to be just flat appliqués, as I found it too simple. I wanted to make the 3D birthday card with the voluminous teddy bear. Thus, I realized that I need to crochet the teddy bear using the amigurumi technique. But in this case the birthday card would be too voluminous. Then I realized that I need to figure out how to crochet a half of this teddy bear. To be honest, I've never crocheted half bears. Here is the story of the birth of this project. It's my idea and I really like the result. I hope you like it too.

P.S. I'm tired of fighting with websites that steal my instructables regardless of the license (which is indicated in the upper left corner). Sorry but I decided to add attribution to my photos. I know it looks a little annoying, but it annoys me even more to see my works under someone else's authorship or for sale.

white woolen yarn (for the teddy bear) 220 m / 100 g (natural wool is not completely white),

blue and beige cotton yarn 169 and 180 m / 50g,

white cotton yarn 560 m / 100 g,

red yarn 560 m / 100 g or acrylic paint for fabric and a brush,

polyester fiberfill,

a piece of soft black leather,

a piece of wire 25 cm long (I used electric twin wire with light color wrap),

a piece of foil,

hot glue,

thread No. 40 of black, white color,

a crochet hooks 1.5, 2 , 2.5, 3.5 mm,

cardboard,

a needle,

scissors,

a ruler,

a triangle,

a pencil,

a piece of Velcro hook,

wire cutters,

a pen refill,

blade or very sharp knife to cut cardboard.

You will need to know how to make:

magic ring (magic circle) (mr),

chain (ch),

slip stitch (sl st),

single crochet (sc),

increase (inc) (2 sc in 1 stitch),

decrease (dec) (2 stitches together with 1 sc),

finish off crochet.

There are already great instructables about it:

https://www.instructables.com/Crochet-Magic-Ring-A...

https://www.instructables.com/Beginning-crochet/

https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Crochet-Amigu...

Use woolen yarn and crochet hook 2 mm, crochet tight.

Work in rounds, do not turn.

When you crochet in rounds, mark last or first stitch of every round with a stitch marker or a piece of thread (I mark the last stitch by threading a piece of thread through it).

ROUND (RND) 1: 7 sc into mr (see photo). (In total you will get 7 stitches in this round)

RND 2: 1 sc, 3 sc in one stitch, 1 sc, 1 inc (I marked the increase with a red thread - see photo), 1 sc, 3 sc in one stitch, 1 sc (see photo). (12)

RND 3: 3 sl st, 6 sl st in back loop, 3 sc (see photo). (12)

RND 4: 2 sc, * 1 inc. Repeat from * 7 times. 2 sc (see photo). (20)

RND 5: 6 sc, * 1 inc. Repeat from * 8 times. 5 sc (see photo). (29)

RND 6: sc in every stitch (see photo). (29)

Finish off crochet.

Remove all marking threads. Hide the ends of the yarn (see photo).

Use woolen yarn and crochet hook 2 mm, crochet tight.

Work in rounds, do not turn.

RND 1: 6 sc into mr (see photo). (6)

RND 2: 2 sl st in one stitch, 1 inc, * 1 sc, 1 inc. Repeat from * 1 time. (10)

Finish off crochet.

Hide the end of the yarn.

Crochet second ear in the same way (see photo).

Use woolen yarn and crochet hook 2 mm, crochet tight.

First crochet a chain of 3 loops, 1 ch for lift. Then work in round.

RND 1: 1 inc, 1 sc, 3 sc in one stitch, continue crocheting around the chain, 2 sc. (8)

RND 2: 2 inc, 1 sc, 3 inc, 1 sc, 1 inc (see photo). (14)

RND 3: * 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc. Repeat from * (see photo). (20)

RND 4: 5 sc, 1 inc, 4 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 4 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc. (24)

RND 5: 5 sc, 1 inc, 6 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 6 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc. (28)

RND 6: 5 sc, 1 inc, 8 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 8 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc (see photo). (32)

RND 7: 5 sc, 1 inc, 11 sc, 2 inc, 11 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc. (36)

Finish off crochet (see photo).

Remove marking thread. Hide the ends of the yarn (see photo).

Use woolen yarn and crochet hook 2 mm, crochet tight.

Work in rounds, do not turn.

RND 1: 6 sc into mr. (6)

RND 2: 1 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc. (8)

RND 3: 1 inc, 1 sc, 2 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc. (12)

Hide the ends of the yarn.

RND 4: sc in every stitch. (12)

RND 5: sc in every stitch. (12)

RND 6: 2 sc, 1 dec, 4 sc, 1 dec, 2 sc. (10)

RND 7: 3 sc, 1 dec, 3 sc, 1 dec. (8)

RND 8: sc in every stitch. (8)

RND 9: sc in every stitch. (8)

Stuff the crocheted part of the pawl with polyester fiberfill (push it in using the pen refill) (see photo). Do not fill tightly.

Cut out a piece of wire 10 cm long. Bend the wire a little (see photo).

Insert the wire and continue crocheting.

RND 10: * 1 dec, 2 sc. Repeat from *. (6)

RND 11: sc in every stitch. (6)

RND 12: sc in every stitch. (6)

RND 13: * 1 sc, 1 dec. Repeat from *. (4)

RND 14: 2 dec. (2)

Finish off crochet.

Remove marking thread (see photo).

Crochet second paw in the same way, inserting the opposite end of the wire (see photo).

Use woolen yarn and crochet hook 2 mm, crochet tight.

First crochet a chain of 2 loops, 1 ch for lift. Then work in round.

RND 1: 1 inc, 3 sc in one loop, 1 sc. (6)

RND 2: * 3 sc in one loop, 1 inc. Repeat from *. (10)

RND 3: 1 ch, 1 sc st. Turn and continue to crochet in front loop: 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc, 1 inc, 2 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc. (14)

RND 4: * 6 sc, 1 inc. Repeat from *. (16)

RND 5: sc in every stitch. (16)

RND 6: 2 dec, 10 sc, 1 dec. (13)

RND 7: 1 dec, 11 sc. (12)

Cut out a piece of wire 15 cm long. Bend the wire at the ends (see photo). Insert the wire into crocheted part of pawl.

Stuff the crocheted part of the pawl with polyester fiberfill (push it in using the pen refill) (see photo). Do not fill tightly. Continue crocheting.

RND 8-13: sc in every stitch. (12)

Finish off crochet. Remove marking thread (see photo).

Crochet second paw in the same way, inserting the opposite end of the wire (see photo).

Stuff the pawls with polyester fiberfill (see photo).

It's time to make fur. Using Velcro hook, fluff the wool yarn of all crochet parts, excluding the inside of the ears (see photos).

Trim the fur (see photos)

For a little long time I could not think of what to make a nose. I didn't want to embroider the nose, and I didn't have polymer clay. As a result, I came up with the idea of using real leather and foil.

Crumple up a piece of foil and shape the nose to the desired size (see photo).

Cut a piece out of the leather so that you can wrap the foil blank (see photo).

Wrap the leather around the foil blank and sew the edges (see photo). Do not pull too hard, otherwise the thread will cut the leather.

Sew the nose to the teddy bear muzzle (see photo).

Mark with a pencil the place for the mouth, eyes, eyebrows, claws and embroider them (see photos).

It's time to make a heart for our hearty teddy bear. I wanted to crochet a very small heart, so I came up with a very simple crochet pattern.

Use white cotton yarn (or red cotton yarn) and crochet hook 1.5 mm.

Work in rounds, do not turn.

RND 1: 4 sc into mr. (4)

RND 2: 1 inc, 1 sl st, 1 inc, 1 sl st (see photo). (6)

RND 3: 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 sl st, 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 sl st. (8)

RND 4: 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc, 1 sl st, 1 sc, 1 inc, 1 sc, 1 sl st (see photo). (10)

Finish off crochet.

Stuff the heart with polyester fiberfill (see photo).

Now you need to connect the two halves of the heart. You can do this with a crochet hook, but since the heart is very small, I just sewed the edges (see photo).

Remove all marking threads. Hide the ends of the yarn.

Of course, the heart must be red. If you crocheted the heart not from red yarn like me, then paint it and leave it to dry well (see photos).

Sew the ears to the muzzle (see photos).

Sew the muzzle to the torso of the teddy bear (see photo).

Sew the upper paws to the torso hiding the wire behind (see photo).

Sew the lower paws to the torso hiding the wire behind (see photo).

Cut out rectangle from cardboard 20 cm wide, 31 cm long and fold in half (see photo).

Cut inside rectangular holes 7.5 cm wide and 12 cm long (see photo).

Use beige cotton yarn and crochet hook 3.5 mm. Crochet a chain of 4 loops, 1 sl st to connect the chain. 1 ch for lift. Then work in rounds, do not turn. Don't crochet tight.

You have to know how to make bullion stitch (bs) (there is already an instructable about it https://www.instructables.com/Freeform-Crochet-bag... ). I wrapped the yarn around the hook 3 times.

RND 1: 4 ch, 2 bs in one loop, 1 ch. * 3 bs in one loop, 1 ch. Repeat from * .

RND 2: 4 ch, 2 bc in one arch, 1 ch, 3 bc in the same arch, 1 ch. * 3 bs in one arch, 1 ch, 3 bc in the same arch, 1 ch. Repeat from *. 1 sl st.

Finish off crochet. Hide the ends of the yarn (see photo). You will have a square motif with a side of 4 cm.

Crochet 14 motives in the same way.

Join the motives by crocheting them on the wrong side - sc in every back loop (see photos). Use beige cotton yarn and crochet hook 2 mm.

First connect four motives, then connect the other four motives. Then add two motives on both sides to form a frame like the front part of the cardboard birthday card (see photo).

Crochet the inside edges of the frame with blue cotton yarn.

Use blue cotton yarn and crochet hook 2 mm.

Work in rounds, do not turn.

You have to know how to make half double crochet (hdc), picot (p).

RND 1: 3 ch, * 5 dc in one stitch, 3 sc, 1 hdc, 1 p, 1 hdc in the same stitch, 3 sc. Repeat from * . At the corners 4 dc.

Crochet the outside edges of the frame with beige cotton yarn - sl st in every stitch, at the corners 2 sl st. Don't crochet tight.

Fill the muzzle and torso of the teddy bear with polyester fiberfill.

Glue using hot glue the torso and muzzle of the teddy bear to second part of cardboard (see photo).

Bend the upper legs and sew on the heart (see photo).

The greeting card looks already nice.

Glue using hot glue or sew the crochet frame to front part of cardboard (see photo).