Inserting safety eyes into a plushie gives the plushie a face, a personality, and all around cuteness! And it's actually much easier than one might think! Safety eyes typically come with backing washers to secure them into place and those backing washers go inside of the project. This is why safety eyes are typically inserted into an amigurumi plushie before the plushie is sewn closed.
Some crocheters, on the other hand, like to hot glue safety eyes onto the plushie after closing the plushie up. This is another option, especially for beginners. We at Loved & Lovables Crochet, however, do not typically hot glue our safety eyes to our plushies because it may result in a lack of durability of the safety eyes and may result in the eyes falling out.
Therefore, we like to use the following method to make sure that our safety eyes are secure:
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Insert your safety eyes into your project where you would like them to be placed. Typically, it is written in the pattern where to insert the eyes--usually between two rounds and a certain number of stitches apart. Feel free to place both/all eyes before moving onto step 2 to ensure that the eyes are where you'd like them to be.
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Make sure that the eye goes all the way through your project so that you can feel the pointy part on the inside of your project.
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On the inside of your project, place the washer/backpiece of the safety eye on the pointy part of the eye, with the wider part of the washer against the project.
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Press the washer into the eye until you hear at least one click and you can see that one of the grooves of the pointy part of the safety eye is on the outside of the washer.
In case you are more of a visual learner, reference this YouTube video:
(If it doesn't already, skip to 16:33)
We hope this was helpful! If you had any trouble learning how to do this stitch or have questions or feedback, we would love other from you! Contact us here.