Festive Fox Applique – Free Christmas Sewing Pattern & Tutorial

First, I copied my applique template onto some Heat and Bond Ultrahold. This is easiest to do by holding it up to a window or putting a light under a glass table. If you don’t want to trace it this way, just cut the applique pieces out to draw around.

I roughly cut my pieces and bonded them to scrap fabrics with the heat of an iron. I prefer to press the iron in a static position for a couple of seconds rather than moving the iron so that I’m less likely to move my pieces before they have fully bonded. The pattern has been made in reverse so if you are using something other than heat and bond, you can just trace your pattern pieces out directly onto the back of your fabric scraps.

I cut all of my pieces out then peeled off the papery backings. I then arranged them together on my background fabric. If you want to make yours into part of something bigger like a cushion or a bag panel, then make sure your background fabric is big enough to do that.

I used my iron to press all the applique pieces in place so that the adhesive bonded all the pieces to the fabric. As well as fixing the pieces down for easy sewing, this also will stop your fabric from fraying.

I used a water-soluble fabric marker to mark on the face, branch, bush and markings in the snow. You can use the PDF pattern to copy these.

I used some tear-away stabiliser under the fabric to give my fabric more structure. Although not essential, this helps to give it a better finish. It helps the fabric to hold its position better as you twist and turn with the sewing machine. If you want even more stability, you can use iron on stabiliser or if you’d prefer not to use stabiliser, you could hoop your fabric instead. I just glued my stabiliser in place around the edges after rather than removing it.

I used a free-motion sewing machine foot. If this is a foot that you haven’t used before, then have a look at our tutorials for how to use a free-motion sewing machine foot.

White Thread:

Although the heat and bond is strong enough to hold all the pieces in place for making a Christmas card, I think it looks cute to outline all the pieces. You could skip it and just sew the fun bits if you are short on time. For something washable like a cushion though, I would recommend stitching around the edges to make it more durable.

I followed around the edges of the face, inner ears, body front and tail tip. I added zigzag lines across the tail and body to give a more fur-like feel.

I like to snip threads between colours so that they can’t get tangled up in the next colour and cause problems.

Orange Thread:

The orange body parts were sewn down next. I cut the top of the tail and body parts separately so that I could change the fabric direction to give it more of a feeling of fur movement.

Turquoise Thread:

I stitched down the scarf around the edges, then added extra stitches at the end of the scarf to look like tassels.

Brown Thread:

I stitched down the outer ears, nose and legs around the edges. Then I stitched the branch. I stitched forward and backwards a few times to give it a slightly uneven thickness and appearance of texture for a more branch-like feel.

Mid Green Thread:

I stitched around the leaves. If you wanted a more complete look, you could also add in the veins of the leaves.

Red Thread:

Stitching around in small circles makes a great berry shape. If you want a more textured look, you could use embroidery floss and hand stitch some french knots.

Light Green Thread:

To balance the picture and add a little scenery, I stitched a bush in the background, a little like a rosemary bush. I stitched a straight line upwards then worked my way back down moving diagonally outwards and back.

Blue Thread:

I stitched a swirl in the snow at the front and a few wavy lines up to the bush. If you wanted to make it feel even more fun, they maybe consider using glittery or metallic threads, or stitching on snowflakes.

Remove the water-erasable fabric marker before ironing it flat. If you iron it before removing it, some water-soluble fabric markers can set and become more difficult to remove.

Your applique is finished now if you want to use it for something else, or you can turn it into a Christmas card with me.

To turn this applique into an embroidered Christmas Card, I folded an A4 piece of card in half and cut out the centre from half, leaving a 1.5cm border (just over 1/2 an inch). I like to use PVA wood glue as it is strong enough to make a strong yet flexible bond.

Place your applique into your card, making sure you have secured your stabiliser. I also glued in a layer of A5 card over the back to hide the stitching.