by Anastasia Marchenko
Pocket Butterfly Free amigurumi crochet pattern
A butterfly resting on its belly, with a cream head and slim body, two tall lavender forewings over two smaller hindwings lying low, every wing tipped in dusty rose, and two thin cocoa antennae.
- About 6 cm (2¼ in) across
- Confident beginner
- 7 pieces
- About 3 hours
- 7 languages
- DK cotton, 3.25 mm hook
Free pattern
Free
Every round and every diagram is here on the page, free to read with no sign-up.
Prefer paper? The printable PDF
The same pattern laid out for print: numbered pages, and each diagram beside the rounds it explains.
In 7 languages details
- English A4, 14 pages · US Letter, 15 pages
- Deutsch A4, 16 pages
- English (UK) A4, 14 pages
- Español A4, 15 pages
- Français A4, 15 pages
- Nederlands A4, 15 pages
- Українська A4, 15 pages
- 9 illustrations · 3 diagrams · 14 pages on A4
Made by hand
Photographs of real makes, crocheted from the written pattern.
Made by Anastasia in Círculo Amigurumi cotton on a 3.25 mm hook. 
From the front: the forewings standing up, the hindwings low at the sides. 
All four wings around the cream head, each lavender with a rose tip.
Free colouring pages
Pocket Butterfly to colour by number, with answers and a gift card. Print at home, no sign-up.
About this amigurumi pattern
- How it is made
- The head and body are one continuous spiral. Each wing is a small flattened shell, worked in the round and pressed flat, then sewn by its open rim to the side of the body at stitches counted from a marked top centre, so that the two sides mirror each other. The antennae are cords, each a short chain finished with slip stitches and sewn on by its base. There is no wire and no hard part but the safety eyes, and the pattern shows how to embroider the eyes instead.
- Skills
- magic ring
- spiral rounds
- increases and invisible decreases
- changing colour at the end of a round
- a chain worked back in slip stitches
- fitting safety eyes
- pressing small pieces flat
- sewing four wings by their open rims and two thin cords to a filled body
- In the wild
- Unlike most insects, which have clear wings, butterflies have wings covered in thousands of tiny scales that make them opaque and often colourful: Lepidoptera, the name of their order, means scale wings.Source: Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) — Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge
Materials
A 3.25 mm hook and smooth cotton, one strand throughout. Suggested yarn: DROPS Muskat (50 g, 100 m a ball), or any smooth cotton of about 2 to 2.5 m per gram, in shades close to these. A finer yarn makes a smaller butterfly; a worsted or aran yarn on a 3.5 mm hook makes a slightly larger one.
| Yarn | Used for | Buy | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Warm cream | the head and the body | 1 ball (50 g, 100 m), or a leftover | about 7 m (3 g) |
| B Muted lavender | all four wings | 1 ball (50 g, 100 m), or a leftover | about 7.5 m (4 g) |
| C Dusty rose | the outer end of each wing | a leftover, or 1 ball (50 g, 100 m) | about 3.5 m (2 g) |
| D Cocoa brown | the antennae | a leftover, or 1 ball (50 g, 100 m) | about 1 m (1 g) |
You will also need:
- one pair of 5 mm glossy black half-dome safety eyes, with no iris
- about 3 g polyester toy filling
- a blunt tapestry needle
- three removable stitch markers — one for the round, one to hold the loop at the pause, one spare for a wing — and pins
- one short scrap of yarn in a contrasting colour
- a little black cotton, only if you embroider the eyes instead
- scissors
Tension and size
About 20 dc and 23 rounds to 10 cm, worked firmly. A dense fabric matters more than the exact figure: filling must not show through it.
The finished butterfly is about 6 cm from wing tip to wing tip, about 5 cm long from its face to its tail, and about 4.5 cm tall at the tips of the standing forewings, with the antennae reaching about as high as the forewing tips; it comes out anywhere from 5.5 to 6.5 cm across depending on your yarn and how tightly you work. Change the size with your hook, never by adding or removing rounds: the rounds make the shape.
Check at R3. Lay the head flat: the circle is about 2.8 cm across. Hold a little filling behind the fabric without stretching it. If gaps show, start again with a 3 mm hook; if the fabric is stiff and hard to work, use 3.5 mm.
Abbreviations and techniques
Original English pattern, UK crochet terms. If you learned from American patterns, the dc used here is the short stitch with no yarn over before the hook goes in, not the taller American double crochet.
- dc
- double crochet
- ss
- slip stitch
- ch
- chain
- st, sts
- stitch, stitches
- inc
- 2 dc in one stitch
- invdec
- invisible decrease
- R
- round
- (12 sts)
- the count at the end of the round
- [ ] 3 times
- work what is inside the brackets that many times.
- R3–R5
- rounds 3 to 5, each worked the same way.
- Magic ring
- make a loop with the tail behind the working yarn, insert the hook, pull up the working yarn and ch 1 (not counted). Work the first round over the loop and the tail, then pull the tail to close the ring.
- Spiral rounds
- no joining and no turning. Mark the first stitch of each round and move the marker up as each round begins.
- Invisible decrease (invdec)
- insert the hook under the front loop only of each of the next 2 stitches, yarn over, pull through both front loops, yarn over, pull through the 2 loops on the hook.
- Changing colour
- work the last stitch of the round until two loops are left on the hook, drop the old colour, yarn over with the new colour and pull it through both loops. The small step where the colours meet sits at the start of the round; on a wing it goes on the folded edge that faces the tail once the wing is sewn on.
- Holding the loop
- when the pattern stops mid-body, slip the loop from your hook onto a spare stitch marker so nothing unravels, and put it back on the hook to carry on.
- Slip stitch (ss)
- insert the hook, yarn over, and pull the loop through both the work and the loop on your hook in one movement.
- Working into the back bumps
- the back of a chain is a row of small bumps, one for each chain. Turn the chain over and put the hook under the bump of the chain you are working into; the cord comes out round.
- Pressing a wing flat
- a wing is a small tube worked in rounds and never filled. Flatten it between finger and thumb so the fold runs from the rose tip down to the open rim, with the step where the colours changed on one of the two folded edges. Roll it once between your palms and it stays flat.
- Safety eyes
- the post goes through the fabric from the outside, between two stitches; the washer is pressed onto the post from the inside, ridged side towards the fabric, until it clicks. Once the washer is on it does not come off again, so every eye is placed and looked at before its washer goes on.
- Filling
- push the filling in with the blunt end of the hook, a little at a time. The head is filled through the neck while you can still reach it, and the body as the pattern says, before it grows too narrow.
- Fasten off
- cut the yarn, leaving the tail the piece asks for, and pull it through the last loop. A tail that is not needed for sewing is woven in: pass it through the backs of at least five stitches on the inside, back through three, and trim. A tail on a closed, filled piece is buried instead: needle it into the fabric and out about 3 cm away, tug so the end disappears, go back through a nearby stitch and trim flush.
Order of work. The eyes go into the head at the R5 pause, before any filling. The head is filled through the neck, and the body before its last rounds. Make the four wings and the two antennae at any time; they all go on after the body is closed, and all four wings are pinned before any of them is sewn. Diagram 1, Assembly order shows what is open at each step.
Body, one piece from the face to the tail — make 1
Yarn A Warm cream
Start with a magic ring. Work in spiral rounds.
- R1A6 dc in the magic ring.6 sts
- R2Ainc 6.12 sts
- R3A[dc, inc] 6 times.18 sts
- R4Adc 18.18 sts
- R5Adc 18.18 sts
Slip the loop on your hook onto a spare stitch marker so it cannot unravel while you work on the face. Mark the top: counting the marked first stitch of R5 as 1, tie a short scrap of contrasting yarn through its 10th stitch. That stitch is the top of the head, T. The line of first stitches runs along the belly. Leave the scrap in until the wings and the antennae are on. Fit the eyes now (Assembly step A), while the head is a shallow cup and you can reach inside.
- R6A[dc, invdec] 6 times.12 sts
Fill the head now, through the neck opening, while you can still reach it: firm, so the head is a round ball. You can add a little more through the body for the next round or two.
- R7–R9Adc 12.12 sts
- R10Adc 12.12 sts
Top up the head if it is not firm, then fill the body as far as this round: firm enough to hold a round tube, not so much that the stitches spread.
- R11Adc 12.12 sts
- R12A[dc 2, invdec] 3 times.9 sts
- R13A[dc, invdec] 3 times.6 sts
Top up the filling through the small opening so the body is firm to the end, and press the butterfly belly-down on the table for a moment so the underside flattens a little. Fasten off, leaving a 25 cm tail. Thread the tail through the front loop of each of the six R13 stitches in order, pull to close the hole, make one small stitch across the closure and bury the tail inside the body. R1 is the middle of the face; R13 closes the tail end. The head is R1–R5, R6 is the neck, and the wings are sewn along R7–R10.
Forewing — make 2
Yarn C Dusty rose B Muted lavender
Start with a magic ring. Work in spiral rounds.
- R1C6 dc in the magic ring.6 sts
Next round: finish its last stitch in B, leaving a 10 cm tail of B inside the wing (Changing colour).
- R2Cinc 6.12 sts
Cut C, leaving a 10 cm tail. Knot it to the starting tail of B inside the wing and trim both to 3 cm: they stay between the two layers and never show.
- R3–R5Bdc 12.12 sts
- R6B[dc 2, invdec] 3 times.9 sts
- R7B[dc, invdec] 3 times.6 sts
Do not fill it. Fasten off, leaving a 30 cm tail for sewing. Pull the ring tail tight and weave it in inside the wing. Press the wing flat so that the line of first stitches — the small step where the colour changed — lies along one folded edge; that edge is the back edge of the wing when it is sewn on. The rose end is the wing's outer tip. The open 6-stitch rim of R7 is pressed into a narrow oval and sewn to the body. Make two the same.
Hindwing — make 2
Yarn C Dusty rose B Muted lavender
Start with a magic ring. Work in spiral rounds.
- R1C6 dc in the magic ring.6 sts
Next round: finish its last stitch in B, leaving a 10 cm tail of B inside the wing (Changing colour).
- R2C[dc, inc] 3 times.9 sts
Cut C, leaving a 10 cm tail. Knot it to the starting tail of B inside the wing and trim both to 3 cm.
- R3–R4Bdc 9.9 sts
- R5B[dc, invdec] 3 times.6 sts
Do not fill it. Fasten off, leaving a 30 cm tail for sewing. Pull the ring tail tight and weave it in inside the wing. Press the wing flat so that the line of first stitches — the small step where the colour changed — lies along one folded edge; that edge is the back edge of the wing when it is sewn on. The rose end is the wing's outer tip. The open 6-stitch rim of R5 is pressed into a narrow oval and sewn to the body. Make two the same.
Antenna — make 2
Yarn D Cocoa brown
Ch 6. Start in chain 2 from the hook, working into each chain's back bump.
Work loosely: a tight chain and tight slip stitches twist the cord into a corkscrew.
- R1Dss 5.5 sts
Fasten off, leaving a 15 cm tail. The end you fastened off at is the base, and it is sewn to the head; the other end is the tip and needs nothing done to it. Do not fill it or press it: a gentle curve along it is right. Make two the same.
Assembly
How positions are given. The first stitch of every round runs along the butterfly's belly. The top, T, is halfway round from it: the stitch the scrap marks on R5, and the stitch straight above it on every round behind. T+2 is 2 stitches towards the butterfly's left and T−2 is 2 towards its right. Left and right are always the butterfly's own: seen from the front, its left is on your right. Count from the scrap, never from the round marker, which drifts in a spiral. Diagram 1, Assembly order shows what happens at each pause and what waits until the body is closed.
- 1Body R1–R5 openThe head in A, from the magic ring out to R5 (18 sts); a scrap through the 10th stitch of R5 marks T. Make the four wings and the two antennae at any time.
- 2A. Eyes pausedBoth posts through R2, between T±2 and T±3, no washers; look at the face from the front and from above; then press the washers on.
- 3Body R6–R13, stuff, close closedR6 narrows to the neck; fill the head firm through it, then the body as far as R10, pressing the belly flat on the table; gather the last 6 stitches and bury the tail.
- 4B. Wings closedAll four rims pinned first — forewings R7 T±1 → R9 T±3, hindwings R8 T±5 → R10 T±3 — the forewings standing nearly upright, about 80° above the table and leaning back and outwards, the hindwings lying low beside the body under them; looked at from the front and from above; then sewn, the hindwings first.
- 5C. Antennae closedEach cord’s base sewn across R4 T±1.5 → R5 T±1.5 on the crown, leaning out; the scrap comes out.
- 6Finish closedRemove the pins, settle the filling and lay the butterfly on its belly.
- open — the body is in progress and rounds continue after the step.
- paused — crochet has stopped with the loop held on a marker; the inside is reachable through the open end.
- closed — stuffed and shut; only surface stitches, with tails buried through the fabric.
Finding the rounds. R1 is the ring in the middle of the face and each round is the next ring out. R5 is the round with the scrap, the last round of the head and the last one 18 stitches wide; R6 is the narrow round behind it, the neck; R7 to R11 are the five even rounds of the body. The wings are sewn along R7 to R10. To find T on any of them, lay the butterfly on its belly: T runs along the top of the back, straight behind the scrap, with the line of the rounds' first stitches along the belly underneath, so a stitch on top is T whenever the stitch under it is a first stitch. Diagram 3, Wing placement map shows all four wing lines together.
Sewing stitches:
- Rim seam: catch both top loops of a rim stitch of the piece, then a shallow bar of the body stitch under it without going through to the inside, and go round the whole rim. Pull until the surfaces just touch.
- Bury a tail: needle into the body at the seam and out 3 cm away, tug so the end disappears, go back through a nearby stitch and trim flush.
The diagrams are flat drawings of a curved, filled surface: place, pin and look before you fix anything.
A. Eyes (at the R5 pause, before any filling)
- Eyes — 5 mm, each post in the gap between the 2nd and 3rd stitch from T on R2: between T+2 and T+3 for the butterfly’s left eye, T−2 and T−3 for its right.
- Antenna bases — each cord's base is sewn across the R4/R5 boundary along one line, between T+1 and T+2 for the left antenna and between T−1 and T−2 for the right, so the two stand on the crown about 1.4 cm apart and lean out.
- T — the top: the scrap tied through the 10th stitch of R5, and the line from it to the centre of the ring.
Hold the piece with its open rim away from you and the scrap at the top: it is a shallow cup, and the ring in its middle is the middle of the face. Diagram 2, Head map shows the rings, both eye positions and where the antennae go later.
| Left eye | Right eye | |
|---|---|---|
| Post | R2, between T+2 and T+3 | R2, between T−2 and T−3 |
- Find T on R2: it is the R2 stitch on the line from the centre of the ring to the scrap. Sighting that line by eye is close enough — step 2 is what settles it. Count 2 stitches towards the butterfly's left (your right) and push an eye's post through the gap just past the second stitch, from the outside, without its washer.
- Place the other eye the same way on the other side. Look at the face from the front: both eyes a little above the middle of the ring, level with each other and the same distance from it. Look from above: both posts the same distance from the rim. Move a post one gap if they are not.
- Press both washers on from the inside.
The eyes sit wide apart, a little above the middle of the face, with nothing else on it.
If you would rather have no plastic parts, embroider the eyes instead: at the same pause, with black cotton, work small straight stitches over the same gap, one over another, until a round dot about 5 mm across stands. Knot the ends inside the cup.
- Wing rims — each open 6-stitch rim, pressed into a narrow oval, is sewn along the line of three stitches written under the grid: the forewing’s slants back and down the upper side; the hindwing’s starts near the belly, below the forewing’s own middle point, and climbs up the side as it runs back, crossing close by the forewing’s line at R9. T itself stays free.
- Front view — a schematic bar for each wing’s angle and lift, not its shape: the finished wing shows its full colour from here, as the photographs of the made toy do. The forewings stand nearly upright, about 80 degrees above the table, leaning a little back and outwards; the hindwings (drawn paler) lie low on the flank, under the forewings, on or just above the table. The outer end of every wing is C.
- ▽ — a decrease, drawn where the round works it: six at the neck on R6, then the tail’s on R12 and R13.
B. Wings (after the body is closed)
All four wings are sewn by their open rims: the forewings high on the side of the body, the hindwings low, on a line that starts near the belly, below the forewing's own middle point, and climbs up the side as it runs back. Press each rim into a narrow oval first, pinching the open end along its two folded edges into a short line with a fold at each end. Pin all four before you sew any — the first pair sewn sets the angle for the second. The two lines cross close together at R9, the forewing's back end a single stitch from the hindwing's middle point: pin both there before you fix either, so the pins don't cross. Diagram 3, Wing placement map shows the four lines and the lift each wing takes.
| Forewings | Left forewing | Right forewing |
|---|---|---|
| Rim, front end | R7 T+1 | R7 T−1 |
| Rim, middle | R8 T+2 | R8 T−2 |
| Rim, back end | R9 T+3 | R9 T−3 |
| Hindwings | Left hindwing | Right hindwing |
|---|---|---|
| Rim, front end | R8 T+5 | R8 T−5 |
| Rim, middle | R9 T+4 | R9 T−4 |
| Rim, back end | R10 T+3 | R10 T−3 |
- Lay the butterfly on its belly with the scrap at the top. Find T on R6, the neck round: it is the stitch straight behind the scrap, one round back. T on R7, R8, R9 and R10 is the stitch in line with it on each round behind.
- Pin the left forewing: its rim's front end over R7 T+1, its middle over R8 T+2 and its back end over R9 T+3, so the rim lies along a line that runs back and down the side. Tip the wing up until it stands nearly straight up — about 80 degrees above the table — leaning a little back and outwards, and pin it there.
- Pin the right forewing the same way at R7 T−1, R8 T−2 and R9 T−3.
- Pin the left hindwing: its rim's front end over R8 T+5, its middle over R9 T+4 and its back end over R10 T+3, so the rim climbs up the side, away from the belly, as it goes back. Let it lie out beside the body, low and nearly flat, on the table or just above it, and pin it there. Pin the right hindwing the same way at R8 T−5, R9 T−4 and R10 T−3.
- Look from the front: the forewings stand upright in a steep V, a hindwing lies out low under each of them, and the two sides match. Look from above: the hindwings spread wide and the body is a narrow line between them — the upright forewings add little width here. Look from each side. Move pins until all three views look right.
- Sew each rim all round with a rim seam, using that wing's tail, and bury each tail in the body. Sew the hindwings first, then the forewings.
The forewings stand upright, nearly straight and leaning a little back and outwards, with the hindwings lying out low under them, a rose end on each. If a wing settles lower than its partner, take out its rim seam's front third and sew it again a little tighter there; a rim pulled snug at the front end lifts the tip.
C. Antennae (after the wings)
Each antenna is a thin cord, sewn on by its base: the end you fastened off at. The cords go on the top of the head, one on each side of the scrap and level with it. Diagram 2, Head map shows both places.
| Left antenna | Right antenna | |
|---|---|---|
| Base sits across | the line where R4 meets R5, between T+1 and T+2 | the line where R4 meets R5, between T−1 and T−2 |
- The scrap marks T on R5; T on R4 is the R4 stitch on the line from the centre of the face to the scrap. Count 1 stitch along R4 towards the butterfly's left and pin the left cord in the gap just past that stitch, its first 5 mm lying flat along the head across the line where R4 meets R5, with the base end on the R5 side, and the rest of the cord rising from it and leaning a little outwards.
- Pin the right antenna the same way on the other side.
- Look from the front: both cords rise the same height, one either side of the top of the head, about a finger's width apart, each leaning a little outwards. Look from the side: both lean the same amount. Move pins until they do.
- Sew each base down with its tail: four or five small stitches along the flat part, each through the cord and a shallow bar of the head stitch under it, without going through to the inside, spread over the R4 stitch and the R5 stitch behind it. Bury the tail and any short end left at the slip knot in the head, and take out the scrap.
Both antennae stand up from the crown, leaning out. If one lies down, take one small stitch through the cord about 4 mm above its base, into the head on the side away from the way it lies.
Finishing
Remove any pins, press the butterfly belly-down for a moment so the underside settles flat, then lift each forewing back to its angle with a fingertip. Do not block, steam or starch.
Your butterfly lies on its belly, the forewings standing nearly upright with a hindwing low under each, a rose end on every wing, wide-set eyes and two thin antennae leaning out above them. If it rolls onto one side, press the belly flat again for a few seconds; a forewing lying against the body needs one stitch from its rim into the body below.
Care: spot-clean only, and dry flat away from heat.
What is checked
passed
Stitch check: every round's count recomputed from the stitch record
passed
Placement check: every placement checked against the rounds it names
passed
Diagram check: every diagram checked against the same record
1
finished make from the written pattern
3
photos of finished makes
Using this pattern
The toys you make from this pattern are yours to keep, give or sell. The pattern itself is for your personal use: please do not share, copy or resell it.
Safety
This pattern uses plastic safety eyes, which are not suitable for toys for children under three. If you would rather have no plastic parts, embroider the eyes instead.
Not for children under three. A handmade toy has not been safety-tested, so sew every part on firmly, and check the seams and stuffing before you give it to a child and every so often after.
Illustrations are generated previews. Your finished piece will differ with yarn, hook, tension and stuffing. © 2026 Anastasia Marchenko