Star Wars Crochet: Amigurumi Princess Leia
By popular demand, the next project in my series of amigurumi Star Wars characters from the instructions from the Star Wars Crochet craft kit was Princess Leia.
Leia's elaborate hairstyle is one of the most recognizable things about her, and the pattern called for the hair to be constructed as separate pieces with the central figure constructed first. When I first started these projects starting a new piece from the center was one of the most difficult and confusing aspects for me, but I think I've got a solid handle on it now.
The instructions for placing the eyes come about 75% of the way into the construction of the head. I believe I put them in the places that the pattern called for, but as I continued crocheting they looked to me like they were awfully low on the face. Still, I figured that it was hard to judge what the final result would look like without the hair, so I kept going.
The color transitions on my earlier projects also tended to be a stumbling block, but I'm a lot more confident that my skills have improved on that score now. I think the neck and belt transitions worked well on this one.
However, one thing I forgot from my Han Solo is how these instructions tend to leave applying the mouth until pretty late in the process. The pattern calls for a strand of yarn for each lip, but with the head already stuffed and sitting atop the cone of the body I found it challenging. I think I ended up giving her a weird chicken face here.
But, as with my skepticism about the eyes, I wanted to wait until I could judge the face with hair to see how things were really going. I crocheted the base part of her hair and put it on the figure without permanently affixing it yet.
I still wasn't completely sold, but Leia's iconic side-buns do contribute a lot to her look, so I figured I should see if that would change things. However I had run low on the dark brown yarn that I had been using (which had originally come with the kit), having only enough to get about one third of the way through one of the side-buns.
So I got some new dark brown yarn. I figured things would look strange if the colors didn't match, so I redid the hair “cap” in the new yarn. Since the new yarn is the same brand and weight as the stuff I used for her head I also thought I may end up with a better “fit”.
But when I tried to fit the new hair I couldn't deny any longer that the eyes still looked “off” to me, and I hadn't been happy with the mouth, so I decided to de-stuff her head, move the eyes up, and redo the mouth.
I was much happier with the results from the outward appearance perspective (although I may have hurt the structural integrity a bit with all attempts it took me, and doing the maneuvers to make the changes via the small neck hole was especially challenging).
The pattern calls for the side-buns and arms to be done as separate pieces that are attached with the tails of the yarn. I decided to get them all done before attaching any of them. I think the buns really help balance out the “look” of the face.
And with the arms attached she's done!
In terms of technique, with the actual crocheting part of this one I felt like my skills have definitely been improving. The things I struggled with here were more in the secondary elements, embroidering on the mouth and placing the eyes (I think I must be misinterpreting what the patterns mean when they talk about how to position the eyes). Running out of yarn was also a bit of a drag, but to me that felt more like bad luck from an external event than a failing on my part since I wouldn't expect a relative beginner such as myself to have a good ability to estimate how much yarn things will take. But I think the end result looks pretty good!
Here's a crowd shot of the whole collection so far:
What's next?
I'm enjoying making these figures quite a bit. Part of that enjoyment is the prospect that I'll be able to employ some of the skills I'm developing and techniques I'm learning to try my hand at creating my own designs. I've been trying to keep a balanced perspective and not letting my dreams of future possibilities become too distracting, or letting my ambitions get so far ahead of my skills that I get frustrated. (I wouldn't want Master Yoda saying “All his life has he looked away to the future, the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing.”). I hadn't originally planned to do one per week, but my progress lining up so I can post about each one for #needleworkmonday has been nice. So my plan is to try to do another one for next week, possibly R2-D2, or maybe Chewbacca now that I have a lot of brown yarn. That said I do also want to try some experimentation on my own, so I'm currently working on a similar project with a superhero character that I'll probably post about in a day or two.
I love Princess Leia’s final look, the buns do balance the face. Your collection is looking really cool :) Thanks for sharing with us the process photos.
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Hurrah for Leia! I like the fixes you did to her face. The doll looks great.
I'm intrigued about what your next project will be! Have fun!
Hola, hay un concurso de tejido para que participe, es una experiencia fascinante: Ultimate Crochet Winners and Contest¨
https://steemit.com/ultimatecrochet/@foxyspirit/ultimate-crochet-winners-and-contest
Wow! I love your Princess Leia! especially her hair, Am thinking to make a bonnet like her hair...
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