If you want to buy an inexpensive, printable PDF of this free crochet sloth pattern, you can get it HERE in my Etsy shop!
This crochet sloth pattern is one of my favorites! This post covers the second half of the pattern, so if you need the first half go check it out HERE.
Part 1 covers making the head, the felt face, and making the body.
Part 2 covers making the arms, legs, and final sewn/embroidered details.
NOTE: If you are wanting to sell finished products you’re welcome to, just make sure you link back to my pattern here and credit me with the design. Thank you!
Arm (make 2)
Start with the Cafe yarn
Rnd 1: sc 5 in a MR
Rnds 2 – 4: sc 10 in each rnd
Rnd 5: sc 4, dec, sc 4 (9)
Rnds 6 – 10: sc 9 in each rnd
Rnd 11: sc 3, dec, sc 4 (8)
Rnds 12 – 17: sc 8 in each rnd
Sl st and FO, leaving a 6 inch tail for sewing onto the body later.
To stuff the arm, make 3 small tufts of stuffing about the size of a big marble. Push them down all the way to the end of the arm so that the “hand” is full and firm but the stuffing tapers off about halfway up the arm. Make sure the top 1/3 of the arm is completely flat.
Foot (make 2)
Start with the Cafe yarn
Rnd 1: sc 6 in a MR
Rnd 2: *inc* 6 times (12)
Rnds 3 – 8: sc 12 in each rnd
Sl st and FO, leaving a 6 inch tail for sewing onto the body later.
Assembly:
Next you’ll sew the arms onto the sides of the body. Start by positioning the arm so that the flat side is flush against the spot where the head and body meet. Make sure that the yarn tail is on the left side.
Using a yarn needle, go into the body at the leftmost edge of the arm and come back up 3 stitches to the right (see the pictures below).
Then go into the right side of the top of the arm and pull tight. This anchors the arm in place and makes it easier to finish stitching it on.
Stitch from right to left going into the body then into the next stitch on the top of the arm and pulling tight (similar to how you attached the body to the head). Keep adding stitches as needed until you feel the arm is secure.
Then poke the needle back into the body and come back out in the middle of the backside of the body.
Sew on the other arm the same way, but at the end when you poke back into the body and come up in the middle of the backside of the body make sure you come up in the same spot the other string did.
Tie a knot with the two strings and weave the ends back into the body. This keeps the ends anchored to each other so they won’t get pulled out when a child is playing with the toy.
The last crochet piece to sew onto the sloth is the feet. You’ll place the feet towards the edges of the front of the body with the tail of yarn facing down.
Start attaching the right foot at rnd 4 on the body using the same technique as attaching the head. The top of your foot should attach to your body on rnd 8 of the body, so the foot spans rnds 4-8.
Once you’re back at the beginning, poke back down into the body and come up at a point in the bottom of the body between the two feet. Leave the tail there for now.
Then sew on the left foot using the same process. But this time, once it’s attached, poke back into the body and come up at the same point you came up at last time.
Tie them in a knot and weave in the ends just like you did for the arms.
Next you’ll embroider the little claws onto the feet and hands of the sloth. You’ll repeat this process for each foot and then for each hand.
Using the cream yarn and a yarn needle, start by entering the foot around row 5 and coming back up in the top hole between rows 1 and 2 (see the picture below).
These next three steps are shown in the photograph below them from left to right:
1. Make one stitch straight up across rows 2 and 3 and then come back up out of the foot just to the left of where that stitch began.
2. Then make another stitch up across rows 2 and 3, coming back up out of the foot just to right of where the very first stitch began.
3. Then make another stitch up across rows 2 and 3, coming back up out of the foot at the base of the claw stitch furthest to the left.
Now just work from left to right adding another stitch onto each claw stitch. Then poke back up to the base of the claw furthest to the left and add a third stitch onto each existing claw stitch.
Come back up out of the foot one stitch to the right of where the other string is already sticking out of the foot. Then poke the needle through the yarn in between the two so that the strings are coming out of the same spot in the foot. Tie them into a knot and weave the ends into the foot. This anchors the yarn so that it isn’t easily pulled out of the foot.
Make the claw stitches on the left foot the same way that you did for the right foot.
For the hands you’ll create the claws using the same process as well. The only difference is the position of the claws. You don’t want them directly on the side or on the front, you want them somewhere in between. Here is a picture zooming in on what the result should look like to help you see where to position the stitches:
Finally you’ll need to embroider the nose and mouth onto the face. Cut a 24 inch long string of the dark brown embroidery floss and use 3 strands of it threaded onto an embroidery needle.
Poke up from the bottom of the head, coming up in between the two eyes to the left a little less than a quarter of an inch to the right of the dark brown felt.
Stitch about 7-10 times from left to right to create the nose (if you have prior embroidery experience you’re doing a satin stitch here). Make the first 4 about the same width with them becoming shorter as you progress downwards. This helps create the rounded, triangular shape of the nose.
Make one stitch on each side of the nose to round it off as shown in the pictures below.
Come back up about ⅜ of an inch below the bottom right corner of the nose to start the mouth. Stitch back into the head ¼ of an inch to right and just barely 1/16 of an inch up to create a little side smile.
When you stitch back into the head, come back up out of the head close to where you began.
Poke the needle through the two stitches in between the embroidery floss tails so that they come up in the same hole. Tie a knot and weave the ends into the head.
And now you’ve got an adorable little sloth buddy!
Thank you for following along with this pattern!
If you made a little sloth of your own I’d love to see how it turned out! Post a picture on social media with #lifewithbubbins or tag me on instagram @lifewithbubbins so I can see what you’ve made!
