Barry the Under the Bed Monster: Your Complete Guide to This Adorable Crochet Pattern by Allison Cleavertitle

If you’ve been scrolling through crochet communities lately, you’ve almost certainly stumbled across Barry. With his big expressive eyes, his slightly scraggly silhouette, and his uncanny ability to make grown adults squeal with delight, Barry the Under the Bed Monster has become one of the most talked-about amigurumi patterns in recent memory. Created by the wonderfully imaginative designer Allison Cleavertitle, this pattern takes something that once made children pull their feet up off the floor at night and transforms it into the most huggable thing in the room. Whether you’re a seasoned amigurumi maker or someone who has just discovered the meditative joy of crocheting stuffed creatures, this post is your deep dive into everything Barry — the pattern, the process, the designer, and all the reasons this little monster deserves a spot in your project queue right now.

Who Is Allison Cleavertitle?

Before we get into the details of the pattern itself, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the creative mind behind it. Allison Cleavertitle is an independent crochet designer known for her ability to take whimsical, slightly offbeat concepts and turn them into patterns that are both charming to look at and genuinely satisfying to make. Her design philosophy tends to lean into the idea that craft should tell a story. Her patterns don’t just produce an object — they produce a character. Barry is perhaps the best example of that instinct at work.

Cleavertitle’s patterns are beloved in the amigurumi community for hitting a sweet spot that’s surprisingly hard to find: they’re detailed enough to look impressive and distinctive, but they’re written in a clear, accessible way that doesn’t make you feel like you need a degree in construction engineering to follow along. She has a gift for anticipating where crafters might get confused and heading off those moments with well-placed notes and photographs. For many people, a Cleavertitle pattern is the kind you come back to and re-read after finishing just to appreciate how well it was put together.

What Is the Barry the Under the Bed Monster Pattern?

Barry is an amigurumi — a crocheted stuffed toy — designed to look like the kind of monster that, according to childhood lore, lives under the bed. But here’s what makes Barry so irresistible: he doesn’t look scary at all. He looks worried. He looks like he’s been having a rough week. He looks like the kind of monster who would apologize for startling you and then offer you a snack.

The finished Barry typically measures somewhere in the range of eight to twelve inches tall depending on the yarn weight and hook size you choose, making him a satisfying, substantial project that doesn’t drag on for months. His body is rounded and slightly lumpy in all the right ways. He has long, slightly uneven limbs that give him an endearingly awkward posture. His eyes — safety eyes set at a slightly asymmetrical angle — are responsible for most of his personality. And his fur-like texture, achieved through a combination of loop stitches or a brushed yarn technique (depending on which version of the pattern you’re working), is what transforms a basic crocheted form into something that looks genuinely monster-ish.

The pattern includes instructions for his main body, his arms, his legs, his horns or ear-like protrusions (there’s some creative flexibility here), and his face embellishments. It also covers the finishing steps, which is where a lot of amigurumi patterns fall apart in terms of instruction quality, but where Cleavertitle characteristically shines.

What Skill Level Do You Need?

This is one of the most common questions about the Barry pattern, and the honest answer is that it sits comfortably in the intermediate beginner to confident beginner range. If you’ve made at least one amigurumi before — even a simple round ball or a basic bear shape — you’ll have the foundational skills to tackle Barry without feeling overwhelmed.

The core stitches you’ll need are magic rings, single crochets, increases, decreases, and slip stitches. The loop stitch or the brushed yarn technique adds a slight wrinkle (pun intended), but Cleavertitle walks you through it in a way that makes it approachable even if you’ve never done it before. If you’re brand new to crochet and Barry is the pattern that’s calling to you, it might be worth spending an hour or two on a simpler round project first just to get the feel of working in the round and closing seams neatly. But if you have even a basic comfort level with a hook and yarn, Barry is absolutely within reach.

More experienced crafters will find the pattern enjoyable for different reasons — it’s the kind of project where your skill shows up in the finish work, the yarn choices, and the personality you give the finished monster through small customizations.

Materials You’ll Need

One of the pleasures of Barry as a project is that he doesn’t require a massive yarn investment. The pattern calls for a relatively small amount of the main body color, a contrast color for any detail work, and a set of safety eyes. Here’s a general overview of what to gather before you cast on:

Yarn: The main body color should be a medium weight (worsted) yarn in whatever shade you imagine Barry to be. Classic choices in the community include dusty purples, deep teals, mossy greens, and murky grays — all very under-the-bed-appropriate. That said, some of the most charming Barrys made by community members have been in coral pink, sunshine yellow, and even a particularly alarming neon orange. Barry is not a creature who judges your color preferences. If you want to achieve the full furry texture, either choose a brushed or fluffy yarn (like a mohair blend) or plan to use a loop stitch with a smoother yarn. Some crafters do both, which results in truly spectacular texture.

Hook: The recommended hook size will be specified in the pattern based on the yarn weight, but most worsted-weight Barry projects use something in the 3.5mm to 5mm range. You want a slightly tighter gauge than you might use for a regular project so that your stuffing doesn’t peek through.

Safety Eyes: Cleavertitle recommends a specific size in the pattern, but the community has experimented with everything from 10mm to 18mm eyes. Larger eyes tend to push Barry further into the “adorably anxious” territory; smaller eyes can give him a more mysterious quality. If you’re making Barry for a child under three, embroidered eyes are recommended as a safe alternative to safety eyes.

Stuffing: Standard polyester fiberfill works well. Some crafters add weighted pellets to Barry’s base to help him sit more sturdily, which is a nice touch.

Yarn Needle and Scissors: For finishing and weaving in ends — the less glamorous but deeply important part of the process.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

The amigurumi community has been making Barrys long enough that there’s a solid body of collective wisdom about what makes a great finished project. Here are some of the most useful tips:

Use stitch markers religiously. Working in a continuous spiral without markers is a recipe for losing your place, and losing your place in amigurumi means pieces that don’t line up or body parts that end up the wrong size. Mark the first stitch of each round and move the marker up as you go.

Stuff as you go. Don’t wait until you’ve closed your pieces to add stuffing. Fill Barry’s body gradually as you work, which gives you much more control over the firmness and shape. A well-stuffed amigurumi holds its shape and photographs beautifully; an under-stuffed one looks deflated and sad (and not in the charming Barry way).

Take your time with safety eye placement. This is where Barry’s personality lives. Before you commit to a position, pin the eyes in place with straight pins and look at the result from a few different angles. The slightly asymmetrical positioning that Cleavertitle recommends is key to his expression, but slight adjustments can make him look more worried, more curious, more mischievous, or more sleepy. It’s worth spending a few minutes getting this right.

Don’t rush the seaming. Attaching limbs in amigurumi can feel tedious, but it’s one of the most visible aspects of the finished piece. Cleavertitle’s instructions for attaching Barry’s arms and legs are specific for a reason — the angle and position of the limbs is a huge part of his overall posture and charm.

The loop stitch takes practice. If you’ve never done a loop stitch before, work a small swatch to get the feel of it before diving into Barry’s body. The loops should be consistent in length for the best texture effect.

Why Barry Has Become Such a Community Favorite

Scroll through Instagram, Ravelry, or any major crochet Facebook group and you’ll find Barrys everywhere — perched on bookshelves, tucked into gift boxes, photographed dramatically under beds (obviously), sitting next to cups of coffee on kitchen tables. The pattern has developed a genuine following, and it’s not hard to understand why.

Part of it is the concept. There’s something universally resonant about the under-the-bed monster. Almost everyone had some version of that fear as a child, and the cultural memory is rich enough that a well-executed monster toy carries a kind of nostalgic weight that a generic bear or bunny doesn’t. Barry acknowledges that history while completely subverting the fear — he’s so clearly harmless, so clearly in need of a hug himself, that he reframes the whole mythology in the most wholesome way possible.

Part of it is also the photography potential. Barry is incredibly photogenic, partly because of his expressive face and partly because his texture catches light in interesting ways. He inspires creative photographers within the crochet community, and those beautiful images spread the pattern further.

But the biggest reason Barry has built such a following is probably simpler than any of that: he’s a joy to make, and he produces a result that feels genuinely special. He’s the kind of project you hold up at the end and feel proud of. He’s the kind of thing you make for someone and know they’ll actually keep.

Barry as a Gift

Speaking of making Barry for others — he is an exceptional gift object. He works for children who are old enough for safety eyes (or for any child with the embroidered eye version), for adults who love whimsical décor, for anyone going through a hard time who needs something soft and slightly absurd to keep them company, and for anyone in your life who has ever mentioned childhood monster-related anxieties, which is most people.

He makes a wonderful gift for new parents — not for the baby, but for the parent, who probably needs something to smile at during the long nights. He’s a great housewarming gift. He’s an ideal project for craft fairs because he photographs well in a booth display and appeals to a wide demographic. He’s been given as a get-well gift, a graduation gift, a “thinking of you” gift, and apparently at least once as a wedding gift, which is a choice the crochet community has fully embraced.

Customizing Barry

One of the great pleasures of the amigurumi community is the culture of customization, and Barry has inspired some truly creative variations. Some makers have given him a little knitted scarf or a tiny crocheted hat. Some have added extra eyes for a more classically monstrous look. Some have changed his proportions — longer legs, shorter arms, a rounder body — to create sibling monsters for Barry to stand alongside. There’s a whole subgenre of “Barry family portrait” photos in the community that are absolutely worth searching for.

Cleavertitle’s pattern is written with enough structural clarity that these kinds of modifications are accessible even for crafters who don’t have a deep background in pattern design. If you understand how the pieces fit together — and after making one Barry you definitely will — you can start experimenting with variations on your second or third go.

Where to Find the Pattern

The Barry the Under the Bed Monster pattern by Allison Cleavertitle is available through the designer’s usual channels, including her Ravelry page and Etsy shop. It’s a paid pattern, which is absolutely worth supporting — independent crochet designers put enormous work into their patterns, and Cleavertitle is particularly deserving of that support given how thoughtfully her patterns are constructed. The cost is modest and the quality of the written instructions makes it well worth the investment. If you’ve been burned by poorly written patterns before, a Cleavertitle pattern is a refreshing experience in exactly the way a well-written recipe is refreshing after a series of disasters.

Final Thoughts

Barry the Under the Bed Monster is more than a cute crochet project — though he is absolutely, undeniably that. He’s a small creative act that engages with childhood imagination, reframes something that once felt scary into something comforting, and produces an object with genuine personality and charm. Allison Cleavertitle has given the crochet community a genuinely wonderful character to bring to life, and the pattern is crafted with the care and precision that makes the making as satisfying as the result.

Whether you’re making Barry for yourself, for a child, for a friend, or for the pure joy of spending a few evenings with a hook and some yarn and seeing a personality emerge, this is a pattern that delivers. Add it to your queue, clear your schedule for a weekend, pick the most gloriously murky and monstrous shade of yarn you can find, and introduce yourself to Barry. He’s been under the bed this whole time, and he is thrilled to finally meet you.