Piper The Penguin Crochet Pattern (Free!)

Get ready to add some fun to your stuffed animal collection with this realistic crochet penguin pattern! This pattern uses colorwork to create a detailed and playful design that will delight all kinds of crocheters. I’m excited to share my free penguin pattern with you today!

Scroll down for the free pattern, or purchase a print-optimized PDF here

Free Stuffed Penguin Crochet Pattern

I’ve always loved penguins—they’re such a cool animal!

For this free pattern, I wanted to create something that was cute and cuddly, while also being somewhat realistic.

This penguin is made in the amigurumi style, with all the body parts made separately, stuffed, and then sewn together. The detail in the penguin is mostly done using colorwork, so make sure you know how to change colors in amigurumi! (I’ll also show a video on this farther down.

Save this pattern for later by pinning to Pinterest

Love downloading and printing out your patterns? You can buy this pattern as a standalone PDF—or, it will soon be apart of an Amigurumi Ebook! Keep an eye out for that coming soon.

And while you’re at it, check out my other amigurumi crochet patterns, Felicity the Frog, Douglas the Dog, Chloe the Cat, Levi the Lion, Hannah the Hippo, Giana the Giraffe, Paige the Panda, Walter the Whale, Elsie the Elephant, Kaley the Koala, and Dolly the Deer!

Piper the Free Crochet Penguin Pattern

Without further ado, let’s start making this cute amigurumi penguin for your stuffed animal collection!

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Explanation: Meet Piper the Penguin, a cute little guy made with lots of cool color changes! Piper would make the perfect gift for a little boy or girl, and he is not hard to make!  You’ll just need some worsted or DK weight yarn to get started.

Materials:

• DK weight yarn: approx. 50 grams black, 50 grams white, and 25 grams yellow
• 3.5mm crochet hook
• You can also try using worsted weight yarn & a 4 or 4.5mm hook, but the plushie size will vary depending on your tension.
• 8-mm black safety eyes (or embroider the eyes for children under 3)
• Fiber filling
• Yarn needle & stitch marker

Gauge and Tension:

Exact gauge is not critical for this pattern. Keep tension normal—do not work with a loose tension. You can always adjust your hook size if need be. For example, if you crochet loosely and you find the amigurumi is looking holey, go down a hook size. 

Notes:

1. All body parts are crocheted separately and then sewn together according to the finishing instructions.
2. All parts are made in continuous rounds. Do not join at the end of each round unless otherwise specified. 
3. Turning chain does not count as a stitch. 
4. Place a stitch marker at the end of each round and move it up as you go.
5. When a number is placed after a stitch it means that you should single crochet in each of the next number of stitches. (i.e. sc 7 means single crochet in each of next 7 sts)
6. You will need to know how to change colors in amigurumi to make this pattern. Learn the different color change methods here. You can use whichever method you like best.

Measurements/Sizing: 

Height: 8-9”

Abbreviations/Stitches Used (U.S.) 

Chain – ch

Slip stitch – sl st

Single crochet – sc

Repeat – rep

Stitch(es) – st(s)

Increase – inc

Back loop single crochet – blsc 

Single crochet increase – inc

Invisible single crochet decrease – inv dec

Round – rnd

Black – B

White – W

Yellow – Y

Special Stitches:

Invisible single crochet decrease (inv dec): video tutorial here

Insert hook into front loop of first stitch, insert hook into front loop of the next stitch, yarn over, pull through both sts (2 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through all loops on hook to complete stitch. 

Single Crochet Increase (inc):

Make 2 sc in indicated stitch. 

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Amigurumi Penguin Instructions

Legs – make 2 in yellow

Chart for first 2 rounds:

Ch 6.                                   

Rnd 1: Inc in second ch from hook. Sc in next 3 ch. 3 sc in last ch. Turn to work along the other side of ch. Sc 4. (12)

Rnd 2: (Inc) 2x. Sc 3, (inc) 3x. Sc 3, inc in last st. (18)

Rnds 3-4: Sc in each st around. (18)

Rnd 5: (Sc 4, inv dec) x3. (15)

Rnd 6: Sc in each st around. (15)

Fasten off. Do not sew the opening closed. Do not fill with stuffing.

Beak – in yellow

Make a magic ring.                                                                

Rnd 1: 6 sc into ring. (6)                                                        

Rnd 2: (Inc, sc 2) 2x. (8)

Rnd 3: Sc in each st around. (8)

Rnd 4: (Inc) 2x, sc 2. (Inc) 2x, sc 2. (12)

Fasten off. Do not sew the opening closed. Do not fill with stuffing.

Tail – in black

Make a magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in ring. (6) 

Rnd 2: (Inc) x6. (12)

Rnd 3: Sc in each st around.(12) 

Rnd 4: (Inc, sc 1) x6. (18)

Rnd 5: Sc in each st around. (18)

Fasten off. Do not sew the opening closed. Do not fill with stuffing.

Wings – make 2 in black

Make a magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in ring. (6)

Rnd 2: Sc in each st around. (6) 

Rnd 3: (Inc) x6. (12)

Rnd 4: Sc in each st around. (12) 

Rnd 5: (Inc, sc 1) x6. (18)

Rnd 6: Sc in each st around. (18)

Rnd 7: Sc 9. (Inc, sc 2) x3. (21)

Rnds 8-9: Sc in each st around. (21)

Rnd 10: (Sc 5, inv dec) x3. (18)

Rnd 11: (Sc 4, inv dec) x3. (15)

Rnd 12: (Sc 3, inv dec) x3. (12)

Rnd 13: Sc in each st around. (12)

Rnd 14: (Inv dec) x6. (6)

Fasten off. Sew the opening closed. Do not fill with stuffing.

Head – in black (B) and white (W)

Chart for first 4 rounds:

We will use B for 6 rnds before adding W. With B, make a magic ring. 

Rnd 1: 8 sc into ring. (8) 

Rnd 2: (Inc) x8. (16) 

Rnd 3: (Inc, sc 1) x8. (24)

Rnd 4: (Inc, sc 2) x8. (32)

Rnds 5-6: Sc in each st around. (32)

Rnd 7: B sc 12. W sc 3. B sc 2. W sc 3. B sc 12. (32)

Rnd 8: B sc 11. W sc 4. B sc 2. W sc 4. B sc 11. (32) Rnd 9: B sc 10. W sc 5. B sc 2. W sc 5. B sc 10. (32)

Rnd 10: B sc 9. W sc 5. B sc 4. W sc 5. B sc 9. (32)

Rnd 11: B sc 9. W sc 14. B sc 9. (32)

Rnd 12: With B, sc 1. (Sc 2, inv dec) x2. With W, sc 1. (Sc 2, inv dec) x3. Sc 1. With B, (sc 2, inv dec) x2. Sc 1. (25)

Rnd 13: With B, sc 3, inv dec, sc 2. With W, sc 1, inv dec, sc 3, inv dec, sc 3. With B, inv dec, sc 3, inv dec. (20)

Rnd 14: B sc 6. W sc 9. B sc 5. (20)

Fasten off. Do not sew the opening closed. Fill with stuffing.

Finished head:

Body – in black and white

We will use B for 5 rnds before adding W. With B, make a magic ring. 

Rnd 1: 6 sc into ring. (6) 

Rnd 2: (Inc) x6. (12) 

Rnd 3: (Inc, sc 1) x6. (18)

Rnd 4: (Inc, sc 2) x6. (24)

Rnd 5: (Inc, sc 3) x6. (30)

Rnd 6: With B, sc 4, inc, sc 4. With W, inc, sc 4, inc, sc 4, inc, sc 1. With B, sc 3, inc, sc 4, inc. (36)

First 6 rnds of body:

From here maintain colored stitches as established: work B sc in B sts and W sc in W sts including all increases as you come to them.

Rnd 7: (Sc 5, inc) x6. (42)

Rnd 8: (Sc 6, inc) x6. (48) 

Rnd 9: (Sc 7, inc) x6. (54)

Rnds 10-13: B sc 13. W sc 24. B sc 17. (54)     

Rnds 14-15: B sc 12. W sc 26. B sc 16. (54)

Rnd 16: (Sc 7, inv dec) x6. (48)

Rnds 17-18: With B, sc 12. With W, sc 21. With B, sc 15. (48)

Rnd 18: (Sc 6, inv dec) x6. (42)

Rnd 19: (Sc 5, inv dec) x6. (36)

Rnd 20: (Sc 4, inv dec) x6. (30)

Rnd 21: With B, sc 3, inv dec, sc 3. With W, inv dec, (sc 3, inv dec) x2. Sc 1. With B, sc 2, inv dec, sc 3, inv dec. (24)

Rnd 22: With B, sc 4, inv dec, sc 1. With W, sc 3, inv dec, sc 4, inv dec. With B, sc 4, inv dec. (20) 

Fasten off. Do not sew the opening closed. Fill with stuffing.

Finished body:

Finishing:

• Attach the beak to the head.
• Then, sew the head and body together.                                                         
• Attach the wings at head-body join.
• Attach the tail in the middle of the back side, between rnds 4 and 9.
• Attach legs on rnd 6 of the body.

FAQ

How do I make a small crochet penguin?

While this penguin isn’t designed to be too small, you can adjust the size by changing the hook and yarn you use! For example, using a fingering or sport weight yarn and a smaller hook will result in a much smaller penguin.

How do I make a large crochet penguin?

To make a big crochet penguin, simple use a larger yarn and hook size! I think this penguin plushie would looke ADORABLE in chunky yarn. You could use Bernat Velvet for Bernat Blanket and you would get a much fluffier, larger penguin!

Is this pattern toddler friendly?

This penguin stuffy is great for toddlers, except for the eyes. If you are making this for a small child you may want to embroider the eyes rather than use safety eyes.

How do I make a baby crochet penguin?

This design actually looks kind of similar to the head and body shape of a baby penguin. If you want to make it even more realistic, you can make the body grey and black instead of white and black. And, do the feet and beak black instead of yellow.

Conclusion

This cute crochet penguin pattern is easy to follow and perfect for gift giving. The pattern includes detailed instructions and helpful tips to make the process of creating your own penguin as enjoyable as possible. Bring home the fun of the arctic today by starting this crochet penguin!