A couple months ago, Disney announced that they would be making a live-action remake of the classic Disney animated movie- The Little Mermaid. Since then, they’ve casted Halle Bailey as Ariel. And although there have been a lot of (very stupid) backlash from some extremely bigoted people, I am obsessed with their choice to cast a person of colour. Halle Bailey is #MyAriel all the way!
Fueled by the excitement, I decided to make a crochet Ariel that has darker skin and curlier hair. I chose to give my Ariel shorter hair because I’m loosely basing her on one of my beautiful friends, Tiff. My friend Tiff has had so many different hairstyles throughout the years that I have known her, but she always feels extra confident when she’s rocking her short curly ‘do.
*Ariel is a character trademark of The Walt Disney Company
Free Ariel Little Mermaid Amigurumi Crochet Pattern
The finished crochet Ariel toy will measure to be around 9 inches tall.
The difficulty level of this pattern is Easy and this pattern is written in US crochet terminology.
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TERMINOLOGY
st(s): stitch(es)
ch: chain
sc: single crochet
hdc: half double crochet
dc: double crochet
inc: two single crochet in one stitch
dec: invisible decrease, single crochet two stitches together through the front loops only
sl st: slip stitch
BLO: crochet only in the back loops (loop away from you) of each stitch
(…) x # : repeat anything in the parenthesis however many times the number indicates
[#]: total number of stitches for that row
#sc: one sc in the following # stitches
dc/hdc#: dc/hdc # of times in the next st
THINGS YOU NEED
- Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran in Soft Fudge, Red Wine, Slate Green, Evergreen, Rich Mauve & Vintage Pink
- 6mm Safety Eyes and Matching Backings
- 3.5mm Crochet Hook
- Polyfil for Stuffing
- Scissors
- Darning Needle
- Pins
- Optional: Red Washable Marker
- Optional: 6mm Metal Double Pointed Knitting Needles
- Optional: Toaster Oven
- Optional: Spray Bottle with Water
Ariel’s Head
with Soft Fudge yarn
1 6sc in magic circle [6]
2 (inc) x 6 [12]
3 (sc, inc) x 6 [18]
4 (2sc, inc) x 6 [24]
5 (3sc, inc) x 6 [30]
6 (4sc, inc) x 6 [36]
7 (5sc, inc) x 6 [42]
8-13 sc in all sts [42]
14 (5sc, dec) x 6 [36]
15 (4sc, dec) x 6 [30]
16 (3sc, dec) x 6 [24]
17 (2sc, dec) x 6 [18]
18 (sc, dec) x 6 [12]
Fasten off, stuff fully, and close the hole. Weave the tail in.
Ariel’s Hair Cap
with Red Wine yarn
1 6sc in magic circle [6]
2 (inc) x 6 [12]
3 (sc, inc) x 6 [18]
4 (2sc, inc) x 6 [24]
5 (3sc, inc) x 6 [30]
6 (4sc, inc) x 6 [36]
7 sc in all sts [36]
8 (5sc, inc) x 3, sc in the rest of the sts [39]
9 sc in all sts [39]
Fasten off, leave a long tail for sewing.
Tail Fins
Make 2
with Slate Green yarn
1 4sc in magic circle [4]
2 sc in all sts [4]
3 (sc, inc) x 2 [6]
4 (sc, inc) x 3 [9]
5 sc in all sts [9]
6 (2sc, inc) x 3 [12]
7 (3sc, inc) x 3 [15]
8 sc in all sts [15]
9 (3sc, dec) x 3 [12]
10 sc in all sts [12]
11 (2sc, dec) x 3 [9]
12 (sc, dec) x 3 [6]
Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing.
Ariel’s Body
starting with Evergreen yarn
1 6sc in magic circle [6]
2 sc in all sts [6]
3 (sc, inc) x 3 [9]
4 sc in all sts [9]
5 (2sc, inc) x 3 [12]
6 sc in all sts [12]
7 (sc, inc) x 6 [18]
8-9 sc in all sts [18]
10 (2sc, inc) x 6 [24]
11-12 sc in all sts [24]
13 (3sc, inc) x 6 [30]
14-17 sc in all sts [30]
18 (4sc, inc) x 6 [36]
19 sc in all sts [36]
20 (4sc, dec) x 6 [30]
switch to Slate Green yarn
21 sc in all sts [30]
switch to Soft Fudge yarn
22 BLO, sc in all sts [30]
23 sc in all sts [30]
24 (3sc, dec) x 6 [24]
25 sc in all sts [24]
26 (2sc, dec) x 6 [18]
27 sc in all sts [18]
28 7sc, inc, 2sc, inc, 7sc [20]
29 3sc, dec, 2sc, (inc) x 2, 2sc, (inc) x 2, 2sc, dec, 3sc [22]
30 7sc, inc, 6sc, inc, 7sc [24]
31 (2sc, dec) x 6 [18]
32 sc in all sts [18]
Fasten off, stuff fully, leave a long tail for sewing.
The front of the body will be a little bumpier around the chest area.
Ariel’s Arms
Make 2
with Soft Fudge yarn
1 6sc in magic circle [6]
2 sc in all sts [6]
3 (sc, inc) x 3 [9]
4 sc in all sts [9]
5 (sc, dec) x 3 [6]
6-14 sc in all sts [6]
Fasten off, stuff lightly, leave a tail for sewing.
Shell Bras
Make 2
with Rich Mauve yarn
Ch 4, sc in the 2nd ch from hook, dc2, sc [4]
Fasten off, leave a tail for sewing.
Assembly
- Pin the arms to the side of the body and sew in place.
- Pin the head onto the body and sew together. Make sure to have the face on the same side as the chest.
- Pin the shell bra onto the chest and sew in place.
- Pin the tail fins onto the end of the tail and sew in place.
- Fit the hair cap onto the head, the tail end for sewing should be on the right side of Ariel’s head.
- With a marker that closely resembles the colour of the hair cap, draw lines as a guide for how you want the hairline to look. You will be attaching your hair away from the lines you draw to create the hairline. I chose to give my Ariel a side-part (I went over the lines I drew in Photoshop with pink so that it shows up better in photos).
- This part is completely optional and only if you want your mermaid to have curly like mine. Feel free to skip this step if you want your mermaid to have straight hair. Take your metal double pointed needles and coil your hair-yarn around it tightly.
- Spritz a little bit of water onto your yarn sticks and place onto a fresh piece of parchment paper in a toaster oven. Set it to bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Allow to cool on your counter before taking the hair off the DPNs.
- Determine how long you want each strand to be by lining it up to the hair cap and doubling it. You will be folding each strand of yarn in half.
- Pull the centre of the strand through from the outside of the cap to the inside of the cap. You will now have a loop inside the cap. Through the hole right next to where the loop is coming out of, pull the loop through from inside to out.
- Pull the ends through the loop and gently tighten. Make sure to not pull too hard because the hair might lose its curl.
- Continue doing so along the hairline. Place the cap onto the head periodically to ensure that everything is still looking good.
- After you have all the hairlines covered, you can add hair to the other areas of the hair cap to make it fuller and to fill in visible gaps in the hair cap. You do not need to fully cover the hair cap because doing so will make it too voluminous.
- Once you’re happy with the way your doll’s hair looks, sew the hair cap onto the head and then give your doll a haircut.
- To crochet the fin belt, eyeball where the centre of the body is and with the head towards you, crochet onto the exposed line from Row 22 of the body.
Ariel’s Fin Belt
with Slate Green yarn
Ch 1, hdc, dc2, hdc2, 21sc, hdc2, dc2, hdc, sl st [33]
Fasten off, weave tails in.
- With soft fudge yarn, embroider a nose onto the centre of the face between the eyes.
- With Vintage Pink yarn, embroider lines underneath each of the eyes to create blush.
You have just finished your very own Ariel!
Please leave me a comment down below (or contact me) if you have any questions about this pattern. I would also love to see your creation so don’t forget to tag me (@olliehollycrochet) on Instagram or use the #olliehollycrochet! Please let me know in the comments what you would like to see next!
If you find any mistakes in the pattern, please contact me and let me know! I do my best to catch my mistakes when I edit my patterns but I sometimes miss the little things.
You may sell products made from this pattern in small quantities but please clearly credit the design to me, Abby Sy of Ollie + Holly and provide a link to my blog www.OllieHolly.com. Permission is NOT granted for mass production or factory manufacturing of any kind. Thank you for being respectful and for your understanding!
Hi, I am fairly new to crochet and I am left-handed. I started with the arms. As the arms gain length is the tail of my yarn supposed to be on the outside or should it be inside? I ask this because I don’t know obviously and my stitches start to curl inward as the arm gets a bit longer and then I can’t see the stitches very well. I can see that I would be able to see the stitches better if I turned the work inside out so that the tail of the yarn is inside of the arm as I worked it. Can you offer any assistance? I hope I’ve made myself clear. It’s hard to know how to ask this. I guess the answer might become obvious is the tail of the yarn is supposed to be on the inside of your work. Thanks for any help.
Hi Denise,
The tail end of your yarn should be inside of your work. In amigurumi, the “right” side of the piece is usually the side that looks like little “v”s. I hope that makes sense!
Abby