A Design for Chilli — A Bluey-Inspired Crochet Pattern

Chilli is the last of my Bluey-inspired crochet patterns, and she’s also my favourite. A few things worked against me for this pattern, including my own procrastination (not helped by the colour change of her head and those spots on her back and tail!), the weather (much harder to get out and take great photos in the winter), and life throwing a few unexpected curveballs that pushed the launch date out. We’ve made it to the end though, and I’m thrilled to share this pattern with everyone.

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The Process

Since Chilli is the fourth of my Bluey-inspired crochet patterns I already had a fair amount of her design under my belt. That being said, all four characters are similar shapes, but different sizes and have different designs in their colours. I wanted Chilli to be slightly different from Bandit in size so that meant a whole new pattern! I also worked hard to try and get her spots in the right place and roughly the right size (my patterns are inspired by the characters, so differences here and there aren’t a big deal!). Once I knew where her spots would go and figured out how to do half her head one colour then the rest fell into place quite quickly.

Hurdles

I can get a bit lazy when it comes to colour changes and just left the strands there…that’s usually fine, but because the white stranded from one side of the body to the other it pulled the piece out of shape and I had trouble with the tension.

Lessons learned: Take the extra time to switch colours properly, especially when there are large gaps!

At least in my part of the world it’s much harder to catch the “golden hour” light in the winter…it only lasts a few minutes! I used this as an excuse and it meant it took me ages to actually take some nice photos of Chilli for the pattern itself.

Lessons learned: Just get out there and take some photos! They may not be as great as some of my other photos, but having a pattern up is much better than not, and I can always take better photos down the track if they’re still bothering me come summer.

During testing, we discovered that Chilli was ending up taller than Bandit for everyone else except me…turns out the Chilli pattern wasn’t wrong, but the Bandit pattern was! I didn’t use the correct yarn when writing that pattern as I was trying to be more accurate on the colours, so now will need to revisit that pattern to make sure it works for everyone else as well. This was another thing that made me hold off releasing Chilli, as if I want to sell them as a bundle I need to make sure they work together properly!

Lessons learned: It’s okay to revisit patterns, it shows I’m growing as a designer as my patterns get better! I’ve taken Bandit down from my shops just to make sure no one purchases it then is frustrated if they make Chilli as well and end up with Chilli much taller. Though it’s a little sad that the Bandit pattern currently hasn’t made any sales yet, it’s actually worked out to be a good thing — I want to make sure folks making my patterns have the best possible chance of success!

Wrap Up

Whatever causes you to grow is a good thing. I’m six months into “designing for realsies” and having a proper go at this business (albeit part time!) and I think it’s fantastic that I’m already seeing such growth in my patterns as well. It can be frustrating to have to go back and fix other things, but whatever makes the patterns stronger overall is worth it!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tiny glimpse of what goes on in the background of pattern designing, and that it may inspire you to design your own! If you’d like to see more of the pattern itself please feel free to head over to my shop! I love seeing the toys folks make from my patterns, so please tag me on FB or IG @littlesealdesigns on any makes!

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