How to use Safety Eyes
With the rising popularity of Amigurumi, safety eyes have been hugely popular and are always our most popular add on to every order.
Safety eyes (or teddy bear eyes) are little plastic bulbs that will give character and life to your amigurumi, teddy bears and crochet stuffed toys. The best part is they are super easy to attach, but difficult to remove! They come in many sizes, shapes and colours. We measure them in millimeters on our site, which represents the diameter of the eye.
We have put together a handy little guide for beginners (with picture below) so you can see exactly how to use teddy bear or safety eyes.
How to Attach safety eyes
- Safety eyes come with an eye part and a backing piece (usually a clear or white washer looking part)
- Make sure the right side of the piece is facing you. Insert the eye between two stitches.
- On the inside of the piece, put the backing on the stem, with the flat side facing your yarn.
- Push down on both sides of the backing, and you should feel it snap into place. Push it far enough that it's secure but not too far that it distorts the piece.
- You can repeat the steps 2-4 for the second eye. You can count how many stitches away the second eye should be by counting the number of gaps that represent the space between the stitches.
Some handy hints from some of our customers have given us when using safety eyes:
- Before putting the backings on, put both safety eyes where the pattern instructs, then you can adjust their placement if you think it could look better!
- If you are creating a small amigurumi project or looking for a more subtle look for your design, use a smaller size safety eyes (like 12mm or less).
- If you are looking to make something larger or want a more expressive look on your plushie, you can use 18mm or 20mm size eyes. It's totally up to you!
What size safety eyes should I use?
The size of the safety eyes will totally depend on your project's size and personal preference. There are many sizes available in Safety eyes, however we have found these 12mm Black eyes from Porta Craft are the most popular.
When not to use Safety Eyes?
We absolutely don't recommend using safety eyes if your projects are for kids under 3 years old or pets. If you don't want to use safety eyes, you can embroider them on instead.
Where can I purchase safety eyes?
Well, right here at Discount Craft - you can shop our range of Safety eyes , no matter who you buy from just make sure that they include the washer backings so they can stay securely attached!