I’ve created this DIY fox sewing tutorial to accompany the felt stuffed fox pattern. The digital pattern bundle includes the felt sewing pattern to make this 7″ long felt fox, and includes the pattern, tutorial, and cutting files for personal cutting machines.
Recommended Tools And Supplies:
- Felt Fox Sewing Pattern
- felt fabric such as Copper Kettle or Dragon’s Gold wool felt
- toy stuffing
- doll eyes or embroidery thread
- wire or pipe cleaners
- needle and thread
- small scissors or Cricut Maker
FOLLOW ALONG WITH VIDEO…
Sew Your Own Stuffed Woodland Fox!
Begin by cutting all of your felt pieces as directed by the last page of the pattern. The easiest way to cut felt by hand is with a small sharp pair of scissors. For the greatest precision you could choose to trace the pattern pieces onto the felt, iron some wax paper to the felt then trace onto that and cut, or tape the pattern pieces to the felt with some wide clear tape, cutting through both tape and felt simultaneously when trimming out your pieces.
Match the tip of the tail, front muzzle, and socks all in place onto the main body piece of felt. Stitch each of these pieces into place onto the fox’s body. Match Brown and white ears together and sew along top edges. Leave the outer edges raw. For example, as shown in the pic, I’ve sewn only the top edges of the “socks”, tail, and muzzle. Flip the pieces over and trim the excess felt from the body that lay beneath the feet and tail.
Add some eyes to the fox! These can be sewn in with embroidery felt, or install doll eyes. To install safety eyes as I’ve used with this fox, simply poke a hole where you want the eye to sit. Insert the back of the eye post into the hole and push the washer over the post from the inside of the felt. Trim the end of the post off. The next step is completely optional, but recommended if you are to skip using a wire armature for this stuffed animal. Trim gussets into the felt at the top of each leg. To do so simply fold the leg inward and trim just a hair from the top of each leg. After trimming sew the openings together again. This makes for a leg that folds downward rather than sticking straight out.
Match the Under-body piece to one of the main body pieces, pinning at the legs. Begin stitching at the rear of the body where the underbody meets just under the tail. Continue stitching until you have reached the chest. You may choose to switch thread colors when sewing across the feet and chest.
Match the opposite Fox body piece to the opposite Under-body piece, once again pinning at the legs.
Begin sewing at the back topside of the tail moving towards the end of the tail. You may want to switch thread colors when you reach the white part of the tail. Sew to the tip of the tail, then continue on sewing up the underside of the tail and down the back leg. Keep sewing the two body pieces together, moving past both legs and up to the chest.
Once you’ve reached the chest continue on until you reach just under the chin. Match the middle face piece to one side of the head and continue stitching in place. Continue stitching until you reach the end of the middle face piece. Go back and sew the opposite side of the face into place, stopping just past the neck.
Now to add some wire armature! This step is optional. I like to add wire as I feel it add some stability and pose-ability to the felt creature. If you would like to forgo wire armature, I recommend that you sew in darts along the top of the legs
Hold a piece of pipe cleaner up to the foxes flattened under-body. Fold in about a 1/4 – 1/2 inch at the ends where the wire will fit into the feet. Trim off any excess.
Bend the wire at the top of the legs so that the fitted wire will fit inside of the fox’s body. Insert the wire into the body down into the legs. Repeat so that you have a set of wire fro the front and back legs.
Begin stuffing the fox’s legs using very small pieces of toy stuffing at a time. Push the stuffing into place with a toothpick. Stuff the legs full to the tops. Embroider a nose! Use some dark embroidery thread to stitch on a nose. I like to knot the end of the thread and send it though from inside of the head. Place several stitches on top of each other at the end of the face until you are satisfied with the look of the nose. You could also create a mouth.
Stuff the rest of the fox full, using a dowel or chop stick to push the stuffing into the face. Once completely full sew the last opening shut.
Now to sew on the ears! You can choose to optionally sew together two different colors of felt together to create the ears, or simply sew on color of felt ear into place as-is. I like to sew together a deep chocolate brown or black with a white felt for the inside of the ear. To sew them together simply sew along the top edges and leave the bottom edges raw.
Pin the ears to the fox’s head. You will want play around a bit to get the right placement. I like to bend the ears a bit so thy sit on the head sort of rounded towards the front. Stitch the ears in place then remove the pins. Exit the last thread through the back behind the ear to hide the last stitch.
