Lil’ Singa the Lion

Who is this chubby golden lion wearing a red T-shirt? I’m sure he is definitely a familiar face to everyone here in Singapore. Meet Lil’ Singa the Lion! Don’t you just love those chubby cheeks and his big bright smile? :)

For those who do not know who he is? Singa The Lion (also referred to as Singa the Courtesy Lion) is a mascot used for various public education campaigns in Singapore. It was created to educate the public on courtesy, graciousness and eventually kindness. A public education campaign featuring Singa the Lion was launched in 1982 under the National Courtesy Campaign with the slogan, ”Courtesy is part of our tradition, it’s so nice to be courteous.” Since 2009, Singa the Lion has been adopted as the official mascot of the Singapore Kindness Movement. You can read more about it “Here”.

Singa soon became a familiar face with regular appearances in community events and advertisement campaigns. He has been made into a host of items ranging from badges, stickers, posters and banners, puzzles, plush toys, magnets, t-shirts, pamphlets and now, a CROCHETED AMIGURUMI! 

How cute! It wasn’t a difficult decision to choose Lil’ Singa the Lion as my crochet project of the month. He is just irresistible. I am even tempted to crochet his whole family too. I might just do that in future. :)

Making Lil’ Singa the Lion was a big challenge for me. His head shape is different from what I normally do. Usual amigurumi’s head is round, but his head is a “flower-like” shape. Besides the head, I have never make amigurumis with connected legs before. All my past creations are individual parts and were sewn on to the body later. I also want to attempt making fingers, which I have no idea how to go about doing all these. Nevertheless, I took up the challenge and went on making him, knowing that I will learn many new techniques along the way, which makes me even more excited.

Here are some of my Work-In-Progress pictures:

The pictures above was taken during my first try making Lil’ Singa’s head. Making the head was a little similar to the normal round-shape amigurumi heads we usually do. Just that I’ve added extra stitches on both sides, increasing and decreasing gradually as I go along. It was a little confusing keeping track with the number of stitches and ensuring that both sides look balanced. It turned out pretty ok don’t you think? 

The picture above is a little collage of how I made the body (or the red T-shirt). I started the body piece with chain method instead of magic ring since it will be sewn onto the head later. I want to see if it’s easier to assemble the body to the head piece when there’s a hole on top of the body.

On the last row of the red shirt, I’ve crocheted only on the front loops and crocheted Lil’ Singa’s skin color only on the back loops (both on the same row). This is my first time trying out the front and back loop method. I’m happy that it looked as if Lil’ Singa is really wearing a red shirt.

As for the legs, I used the number of stitches that the body has and divide it by 2. (that is the number of stitches for each leg) I crocheted half way along the body, did a chain and connect it back to the starting point of the leg. Then I finish working on one leg before proceeding to the other. For the 2nd leg, I attached a new piece of yarn and work my way down to the feet. 

I’ve learnt a new method a few weeks ago through PlanetJune’s tutorial on Ultimate Finish.  This method is amazing as it gives all amigurumis a very neat and seamless finish.  I used this method for both of Lil’ Singa’s feet. Click “Here” to read more about this method.

P.S: You should really check out June Gilbank’s blog if you have not done so. She has the most amazing amigurumi/crochet tutorials and many other lovely creations,etc. I’ve learnt a lot from her blog. :)

I did the front and back loop method for the sleeves and a bubble stitch as the thumb. I’ve learnt how to bubble stitch through one of my past crochet project: Lil’ Clumsy Smurf. You can read more about him “Here”. Wanted to try making all 4 fingers for my Lil’ SInga but I realized that it look quite cute with just the thumb. I’ve closed up the hole at the front of the ‘fingers’ with the ultimate finish method.

Here’s a little snap shot of Lil’ Singa’s ears, tail and his red felt hair. I’ve decided to give him red hair instead of his normal orange skin tone hair because I feel it will add more contrast and his red hair will match well with his red T-shirt too.

I’ve got all the parts done. Now it’s time to piece them together!

As usual, I always find it a little challenging to sew the parts together (especially sewing the head to the body). But the way I crocheted the body this time with a hole on top had made the sewing process a little easier. After attaching all the parts together, it’s down to the final step - Creating Lil’ Singa’s facial expression!

Making the facial expression for Lil’ Singa the Lion is fun yet a little tricky since I have to make it look similar to the real Singa mascot. Above are some of the pictures I took while trying to give Lil’ SInga the ‘perfect’ face. I went with option #3 because I really love his signature big wide smile. The other 2 just didn’t look like Singa. It look more like a cat.

I glued Lil’ Singa’s funky hair onto his head, cut out tiny pieces of oval white and black felt for his eyes and nose. After gluing the felt onto his face, I used black scarp yarn for his big smile. Then I sewed the black scrap yarn onto the face with the help of a yarn needle. On the right picture, you can see that his smile is a V shape. I added a little bit of glue to both sides and stick it to his face to make his smile rounder. 

I proudly present to you Little Yarn Friends version of Lil’ Singa the Lion! What do you think? I definitely did not regret making him. It really brings me so much satisfaction seeing him slowly come together stitch by stitch and piece by piece. Best of all, he is of great meaning to my wonderful country. :)

Look how excited Lil’ Singa is! He just couldn’t contain his excitement that he had to pop his head so near the screen just to say a big welcome and Hi to you.

He loves Singapore so much that even his Mentos has to have a “I love  SG” caption on it. Haha. He couldn’t wait to share with you some fun facts about his lovely country! Are you interested? 

Oh History of Singapore Books!! Looks like Lil’ Singa is diving right into them. :)

Ops! I guess he is more into the fun and colorful stuff. *giggles* 

Stay turned as Lil’ Singa the Lion shares some fun facts about Singapore everyday of this week. Let’s get to know a little bit more about this tiny red dot. 

Even Twinkle (my little puppy on the right) gets a little love from Singa the Lion. And I really love the caption by Joseph Joubert in this picture. First fun facts coming right up! 

Crochet with Love, Rachel H

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