Little Fox Drawing with a Crayon Cross Stitch Pattern

About this fox cross stitch pattern

The fox stretches out on its belly with its tail flicked up behind it, concentrating hard on a scribbly crayon drawing. It’s a wide, landscape design, so it fits the space above a desk, a bookshelf or a playroom art table, where a tall piece wouldn’t sit right.

The childlike drawing is part of the charm: a kid who loves drawing will spot themselves in it straight away. It sits well next to the Baby Raccoon with a Cookie in a playroom, and our fox round-up compares the foxes.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 20“ x 16“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing); cut it landscape.
• Thread: 15 DMC colors, about 18 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 740 Tangerine (3,056 stitches), 951 Tawny – Light (2,995) and 310 Black (2,671).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate. The fox’s coat runs on two colors, Tangerine and Tawny – Light, outlined in black, and those big blocks move quickly. The detail is in a few small places: the eyes, the crayon and the drawing.

At 13,674 stitches, expect roughly 140 to 230 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Cut the fabric the right way round. The design is wide rather than tall, so check your piece is landscape before you start.
• Stitch the drawing after the paper. The scribble is 246 stitches of 3849 Teal Green – Light, with 16 stitches of 964 Seagreen – Light worked into it. Fill the paper’s cream first so the teal sits on top cleanly.
• Tick off the smallest color. 08 Driftwood – Dark is only 4 stitches, in the drawing area, and is easy to skip on a first pass.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 14.0“ x 9.1“ (35.6 x 23.1 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 12.2“ x 7.9“, and on 18-count at 10.9“ x 7.1“. For the 14-count version, a 12“ x 16“ frame hung landscape leaves room for a mat.

A bright frame in green or teal picks up the sweater and the crayon and suits a child’s room.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida