It’s almost that time of the year! With winter and Christmas approaching soon, it’s time for some magical projects. Thread your needle, get your free embroidery pattern and let’s stitch together this cute fox tote bag!
Let me show you how to embroider this beautiful woodland-inspired pattern! Once done, you’ll end up with a shopping bag with personality or you can use it to gift your Christmas presents in it! Your friends and family will love it!
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Watch Video Tutorial
PROJECT SIZE: 38 x 42 cm
STITCHES USED: Outline Stitch, Split Stitch, Lazy Daisy
About a year ago, we made a conscious decision not to use plastic bags at all. I know, it’s a bit late but better late than never! Since all our shopping bags are cotton-based I thought why not give them a bit of personality? Shopping bags shouldn’t be boring and it’s so much fun stitching them too!
This cute woodland-inspired pattern is super easy to stitch, and would also make a great gifting bag, especially in the winter season. Because I wanted it to look fluffy and wintery, I stitched it using all 6 strands, creating small raised fox shapes.
Watch my video tutorial on how to stitch the pattern and scroll down to find out everything you need to know from transferring the pattern to finishing the embroidery piece. Enjoy, friends!
Tools and Materials
Let’s have a look at the materials that will accompany you throughout this tutorial. For this pattern I used an already made tote bag, but if you love stitching you can even create your own from scratch.
If you decide to go the easy way and use already made tote bags, I totally recommend the Westford Mill Brand. I usually order mine in different colors, they are good cotton quality and really affordable. True to their colors, great for embroidery or screen printing, I’m really pleased with this brand.
Download the embroidery pattern from my Free Pattern Library. To get access to the Free Pattern Library fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password. You can read more about my Free Pattern Library here.
Preparing the Fabric
Before tracing the pattern onto the tote bag iron it to remove any creases.
For this project, as I mentioned before, I used a pre-made cotton bag. If you wish, you could first soak it in cold water, then iron it to remove any creases. Washing your fabric before embroidery prevents shrinkage, color bleeding and removes any unwanted chemicals used to treat the fabric.
Download the Free Embroidery Pattern
Download the Fox Tote Bag pattern from my Free Pattern Library. To get access to the Free Pattern Library fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password. You can read more about my Free Pattern Library here.
Once you have downloaded the pattern, print both the Top Pattern and Bottom Pattern files on A4 paper.
Since most home printers can’t print in a larger than A4 format, the pattern is split into two A4 landscape files. The bag is larger than an A4 sheet, so you will use both A4 sheets when tracing the pattern onto your bag.
The pattern you have downloaded is full size, you only need to have the Landscape and Fill Entire Paper options selected when printing.
I am using the HP ENVY Photo 6230 Printer, and I absolutely love it and recommend it to everyone. I believe it’s the most economical printer on the market. I never have to worry my ink is running low and never had any issues with it.
Transferring the Pattern onto the Fabric
When transferring patterns onto dark fabrics the normal transferring methods will be hard to work. You might get away with using the Lightbox technique, only if your fabric is light enough to see through it.
My go-to method to manually transfer patterns onto dark linen blend or cotton fabrics is to use white carbon transfer paper. Let me show how easy it is to transfer your patterns onto black fabric.
To transfer the Fox embroidery pattern manually using white carbon transfer paper, you can use this simple method:
1. Place on landscape 2 sheets of white carbon paper (face down)
2. Secure them with masking tape
3. Place the printed or traced pattern on top of the carbon paper. Place the two A4 patterns using the left bottom labels: “top pattern” and “bottom pattern”.
4. Secure the 2 sheets with masking tape and start tracing the design onto your tote bag using an HB Mechanical Pencil.
If you feel you need to reinforce the traced pattern you can go one more time over the already traced pattern with a white gelly pen. I am using the SAKURA – Gelly Pen Basic White.
5. Go very gently one more time with the gelly pen over the traced pattern. Use gentle moves and don’t put too much pressure on the gelly pen. You want your outlines to be thin, especially for delicate patterns like this one.
Mounting the Bag into the Hoop
When stitching this project I just used an embroidery hoop as I would normally do with any hoop embroidery pattern. Because the design is scattered all over the tote bag, you will have to move your hoop a few times when done stitching each shape.
1. Place the inner hoop under the side you’ll be working
2. Push the outer hoop down and tighten the screw
Color Palette and Thread List
This pattern uses a bold complementary colors combo, orange for the foxes in contrast with the blue background, and of course green for the botanical elements.
For the entire work, I used DMC stranded cotton. It’s your choice if you prefer one brand over another, both DMC and Anchor manufacturers offer good-quality stranded cotton in a wide variety of colors.
NOTE: Please bear in mind that a perfect color match between brands is not really possible.
The Fox embroidery pattern was stitched with all 6 strands of thread. You don’t need to separate the thread.
Use a large eye needle to allow you to thread the six-stranded cotton easily. I used the John James Tapestry/Cross Stitch needle – size 18-20.
1. Use all 6 strands of cotton thread
2. Cut about 30-40cm of thread
Stitching the Pattern
FOX: Fill the foxes’ tan areas with Outline Stitch using DMC 739 (Tan Ultra Very Light). For the orange areas fill with Split Stitch using DMC 606 (Orange Red Bright)
PAWS: Fill the paws with Outline Stitch using DMC 310 (Black)
LEAVES: Outline the stems with Outline Stitch and the leaves with Lazy Daizy. Use DMC 936 (Avocado Green Very Dark).
Work each shape at a time and move the hoop around as you progress.
1. Fill the tan/cream areas with Outline Stitch using DMC 739 (Tan Ultra Very Light)
2. Fill the orange areas with Split Stitch using DMC 606 (Orange Red Bright)
3. Fill the paws with Outline Stitch using DMC 310 (Black). Fill the nose with a few small Straight Stitches.
4. Outline the stems with Outline Stitch using DMC 936 (Avocado Green Very Dark)
5. Fill the leaves with Lazy Daizy using DMC 936 (Avocado Green Very Dark)
I’d love to see your progress! Tag @makenstitch on Instagram and hashtag it #makenstitch so I can see your magic!
Finishing the Embroidery
One thing to consider when embroidering tote bags is to work neat enough so the back of your embroidery looks decent enough and you don’t end up with thread carried away from one shape to another.
When done, iron the back of your embroidery to remove all creases.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed this tutorial!
I really hope you enjoyed the tutorial and please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or suggestions about stitching the Fox Tote Bag.
I would love to see your progress and how you decided to use your bag. Don’t forget to tag @makenstitch on Instagram and hashtag it #makenstitch so I can see your work!
You can download the Fox embroidery pattern from my Free Pattern Library. To get access to the Free Pattern Library fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password.
The downloaded pattern can only be used for personal projects. You can read more about my Free Pattern Library here. Happy stitching!
More Embroidery Projects
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