If you love to crochet cute and cuddly animals, you’ll want to check out my review of a crochet pattern book for 12” (30 cm) animal friends with adorable outfits to mix and match. The excerpted free crochet fox toy patterns for Evie and Ben Fox were also available through February 27, 2026.
This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no added cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links. GMC Publications provided me with a free review copy of Cute Crocheted Animals by Emma Varnam. Although I accept free products for review, I do not accept additional compensation, nor do I guarantee a positive review. My reviews are based entirely on my honest opinions.
Book Review
Cute Crocheted Animals by Emma Varnam is an interesting twist on crochet animals or amigurumi books. The book includes patterns for ten animal friends in five pairs, along with 39 patterns for clothing and accessories. As Emma mentions in the introduction, all of the animals have the same size limbs and bodies (and all stand 12”/30 cm tall), so all of the clothing and accessories are interchangeable. If you know a child that is interested in playing “dress up” with toys you may just have stumbled upon the perfect pattern collection!
The book is organized into 3 main sections: The Animals, The Wardrobe, and The Basics. After the Introduction where Emma shares her inspiration, the Gallery includes 11 full pages of lovely photographs of each pair of animals with and without various outfits.
The Animals includes full page, photographic introductions to each animal, followed by the patterns for the animal bodies. Each pattern includes:
- You will need, which lists the yarn used by brand, fiber content, length in yards and meters, and weight in grams; the crochet hook size (in mm with UK/US sizes in parenthesis), and any notions used,
- Finished size, which lists the finished size in inches and centimeters, and
- Pattern instructions in UK pattern abbreviations.
After the animal patterns, the wardrobe patterns for those animals are provided. However, as noted above, these can be easily substituted with the clothing and accessories patterns for the other animals. Each pattern also includes multiple large photographs of the animals posing with their wardrobes.
The Wardrobe is a photo gallery of the clothing and accessories, arranged by type, so that you can easily find an outfit. In this section, the clothes are shown clothing hung and/or in flat lay images rather than on the animals. There are 5 tops, 5 trousers and shorts, 7 extra layers (including jackets, coats, cardigans, and a poncho), 5 dresses and skirts, and 17 accessories including hats, bags, shoes, scarves, balls, and more.
The Basics section starts with Getting Started, a 4-page overview of yarn and hooks, the differences between US and UK crochet terms, information about notions such as stuffing, needles, and safety eyes, written and illustrated instructions for holding the hook, holding yarn, and making a slip knot, and a list of pattern abbreviations. Crochet Stitches includes written and illustrated instructions for the chain, slip stitch, double crochet (US single crochet), working in the back loop, treble crochet (US double crochet), double treble crochet (US treble/triple crochet), working in rows, working in rounds, joining a ring, starting with the magic adjustable ring, changing colors, increasing, decreasing, crab stitch, raised treble front (US front post double crochet), and shell stitches. Finishing Touches provides written and illustrated instructions for 3 methods of seaming and for weaving in ends. It includes written instructions for making pompoms with a fork and slip-stitch surface decoration. Embroidery Stitches provides written and illustrated instructions for the back stitch, chain stitch, cross stitch, satin stitch, daisy stitch, stem stitch, and blanket stitch, which are used to embellish the animals and their accessories. Blocking provides instructions for finishing your projects with blocking.
The book ends with Resources, which includes information on the yarns used in the book and inspirational books and websites, acknowledgements, and an about the author page, as well as the original concept drawings and background about Stanley the cat.
Some of my favorite things about this book…
- The pictures are great eye candy! They inspire you to pick up your hook.
- The flaps on the front and back cover. While this is a paperback, the flaps help you to keep track of the pages you are working from, even though the book doesn’t lay flat while you’re reading.
- The concept. Because the animals have the same size bodies, it really extends the wardrobe. You can make one pair of animals (or several individual animals) to gift to a child with a complete wardrobe, or make animals with just one outfit each — the choice is yours!
- The patterns. The animals really are cute and I love the outfits and accessories, too.
If you like to crochet animals, or to crochet for children, check out Cute Crocheted Animals!
Absolutely precious!