Hand washing, drying, and the two mistakes that ruin a crochet doll permanently.

Start by not washing it

Most marks on an amigurumi doll are surface dust, and dust comes off with a dry soft brush or a lint roller. Washing a crochet doll pushes water into the stuffing, and stuffing takes days to dry. Clean the spot, not the doll, whenever you can.

Spot cleaning

Damp a cloth — damp, not wet — with cool water and a drop of mild soap. Press the mark rather than rubbing it: rubbing fuzzes the yarn and the fuzz never lies flat again. Blot with a dry cloth afterwards and leave it to air.

If it really needs a full wash

Hand wash only, in cool water. Warm water is what felts yarn, and felting is permanent.

  • Fill a bowl with cool water and a little gentle detergent.
  • Submerge the doll and squeeze it gently, the way you would a sponge. Do not wring it.
  • Rinse in clean cool water, squeezing until no soap comes out.
  • Press the water out between two towels. Again — press, never twist.

Drying is the part people get wrong

Lay the doll flat on a dry towel, reshape it with your hands while it is damp, and leave it somewhere with moving air and no direct sun. Turn it every few hours. A large doll can take two days, and that is normal — the stuffing holds water long after the outside feels dry.

Never put a crochet doll in a tumble dryer, on a radiator, or in direct sunlight. Heat felts the yarn and sun fades it, and both are one-way.

Keeping it looking new

Store dolls upright and not squashed. If a doll lives in a box, do not crush the hair — crocheted hair holds its shape but not under pressure for months. Dolls in the seasonal crochet dolls range often spend most of the year in storage, so this matters more for them than for one that lives on a shelf.

If something comes loose, do not pull the thread. Message the studio — it is almost always a two-minute repair, and the refund policy covers anything that arrived faulty.

Curious how the dolls are put together in the first place? Start with the Beddy Byes crochet doll set, which is made the same way as everything else in the studio.