Recently I tackled a Minecraft Villager one of my student’s requested. I thought it was going to be an easy task. My student showed me what it looked like and my initial thought was ‘easy peasy.’
Once I actually did some research on the character, I found other pictures that showed a little more detail.
He had a large nose. Did I want to embroider a long nose or make a separate piece and sew it on? He obviously has a robe. Should I keep it simple with no robe or try for the robe? Arms crossed (in pictures of the game they seemed crossed) or hanging loose?
I couldn’t decide what details were important. Simplicity has turned out just fine for the previous characters I made but the challenge is always to keep it simple while keeping all the qualities of the character. This villager has a robe and pants. I debated on whether I wanted to make the robe with separate legs underneath or just have the body with the legs. I was sure my student wouldn’t even notice if I didn’t attempt the robe but I wanted to try it for my own sake. The next question was whether I wanted to keep the arms straight or make them appear folded like they appear in some of the illustrations. I decided to attempt a robe but to keep the arms simple and kept them straight.
I didn’t get a chance to take more photos of this guy because my student wanted to take him home but I think this photo shows enough details of what I did.
I didn’t write this pattern down because it involved a lot of trial and error with some (more like a ton) ripping but I can give a general idea of what I did along with some things I do remember doing.
The head was in a rectangle instead of in a square like my other Minecraft dolls. This character had more of an elongated head than the others. I believe I did 12 rows of 1o single crochets per row. I made two.
I embroidered the eyebrow, eyes and mouth. I used graph paper counting each square as a stitch in order to help me map out the face.
I did the nose as a separate piece so it would stick out like it did in the drawings. I did four rows of 2 single crochet per row and then sewed it on.
Once done with the face, I whip stitched the two rectangles together leaving an opening for stuffing and then sewing it closed.
The body was the most complicated part. I made it in three panels instead of my usual two. I also laid my pieces vertically versus horizontally like the other pieces of the body.
For the back panel, I did 10 rows of single crochet with about 16-20 single crochets per row.
For the front panels, I made two. I did four rows of single crochets with 16-20 (same amount I did for the back panel) single crochets per row. I changed color from the brown to black on the fifth row and fastened off.
I lay my two panels together with the black edges from both pieces touching. I sewed them together leaving the last few (3 or 4) stitches alone to create the appearance of a robe. With the 2 front panels sewn together, I now had 2 panels to sew together. I sewed around the panels but left the bottom open.
The arms were 12 rows of single crochet with 10 single crochets per row. 10 rows were in the dark brown and 2 rows were in the cream color. I folded it over, sewed and stuffed and sewed to the body.
The legs were 12 (or possibly 14) rows of single crochet with 10 single crochets per row. 10 (or 12) rows were in the dark brown and 2 rows were in the grey color. I folded it over, sewed and stuffed and sewed to the body. The legs were a bit tricky to attached because I tucked them under the robe. It was a bit fiddly but I managed to get them secure. 🙂
I felt pretty proud of this one. 🙂
yochet 