Felted Fox Bag
I have this thing about foxes: I find them awfully cute and have been contemplating about how I could make a fox inspired bag. So this is the result of hours drawing cute fox pictures and finding photos on Google. This is another free pattern for a felted crochet bag, – again with Plötulopi yarn from Istex, which felts really great.
Materials
Yarn Istex Plötulopi, 100% wool unspun, 100 g-3,53 ounces/300 m-328 yards. 2 skeins in heather (brown), 1 skein in white and 1 skein in dark brown. You can also use leftover yarn from your stash that felts well for the white and dark brown color.
Hook 8 mm US: L
Tapestry needle and sewing needle
Sewing thread in heather
1 Snap Button
2 Enamel Beads in black
Glue
Finished size
Width 27 cm/10½ inches, height 18 cm/7 inches after felting.
Skill Level
Beginner
Gauge 10 cm x 10 cm, 4 inches x 4 inches = 8,5 stitches x 5 rows
Free Crochet Pattern
The bag is worked with 2 strands of yarn held together.
It is made of 3 pieces: A front piece, a back piece that ends with the fox’s head and a long thin rectangle, which is both bottom panel, side panel and handle.
Front Panel
Chain 20 with heather colored yarn.
Row 1 Chain 3, 20 dc across.
Row 2 (Increase with 3 dc on each side in this row.)
Chain 6, start crocheting 3 chains from hook: 23 dc across, now increase with 3 dc by inserting the hook through the lower part of the last stitch made – 3 times.
Row 3 (Increase 1 dc on each side.)
Chain 4, start crocheting 3 chains from hook: 27 dc, increase with 1 dc by inserting the hook through the lower part of the last stitch made.
Row 4 (Increase with 1 dc on each side.)
Chain 4, start crocheting 3 chains from hook: 29 dc across, increase with 1 dc by inserting the hook through the lower part of the last stitch made.
Row 5 Chain 3, 30 dc across.
Row 6 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 26 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Row 7 Chain 3, 28 dc across.
Row 8 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 24 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Row 9 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 22 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Row 10 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 20 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Row 11 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 18 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Weave in ends with tapestry needle.
Back Panel
Work as front panel with heather coloured yarn and continue crocheting as follows:
Row 12 Chain 3, 20 dc across.
Row 13- 17 Work as row 12.
Row 18 Chain 3, decrease next 3 dc together, 14 dc, decrease next 3 dc together.
Row 19 Chain 3, decrease next 3 dc together, 10 dc, decrease next 3 dc together.
Row 20 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 8 dc, decrease next 2 c together.
Row 21 Chain 3, decrease next 3 dc together, 4 dc, decrease next 3 dc together.
Row 22 Chain 3, *decrease next 2 dc together*, repeat twice between **.
Row 23 Chain 3, 3 dc.
Row 24 As row 23.
Row 25-26 Change to dark brown yarn and crochet as row 23.
Weave in all ends with tapestry needle.
Ears
Work 1 ear on each side of head. They are placed between row 13 and 14.
Start crocheting with white yarn and pulling yarn through fabric by skipping 1 stitch from edge. This way you have space to make the dark outer part of the ear and the ears will be placed exactly at the edges of the bag.
Row 1 Chain 2, 3 sc.
Row 2 As row 1.
Row 3 Chain 3, decrease next 3 dc together.
Cut yarn and darn in ends.
Switch to heather colored yarn to make the outer brown edge of the ears:
Start at the lower part of the ear. Chain 3, work 5 dc to the top of the ear, 1 treble crochet, work 6 dc to the lower part of the ear.
Cut yarn and sew the ears close to the head, so ear and main body fabric will felt together in a smooth way.
Repeat this for the other ear.
Bottom and Handle Piece
Chain 10
Row 1 Chain 3, 10 dc across .
Row 2-38 As row 1.
Row 39 Chain 3, decrease next 2 dc together, 6 dc, decrease next 2 dc together.
Row 40 Chain 3, 8 dc across.
Row 41-65 As row 40.
Put the 3 pieces into the washing machine at 60 Celcius/140 Fahrenheit. The fabric will felt quite a bit with this process.
Sew the bottom/side panel together with the front and back panel using sewing thread. The wider part is used as bottom and side panel and the narrower part as handle. The seam will be slightly visible from the outside. Don’t turn the bag inside out after sewing, because the bag will look bulky this way.
Sew the handles together.
Detail of the handles:
Sew the enamel eyes onto the face and also glue them onto the fabric.
Sew the snap button.
Note: This pattern is written with US crochet terms.
If you are not familiar with these, see my tutorial Crochet Terms in US, UK, German and Danish.
Abbreviations
dc = double crochets
sc = single crochets
Isn’t he just cute:-)))
Pattern as PDF
You can download the pattern as a PDF. Click the button below.
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Copyright 2011 Birgit Tüchsen. All rights reserved. This pattern is intended for personal use only. Photocopying or reproduction of this pattern is not allowed in any form including electronic. It is not allowed to sell this pattern. It is also not allowed to sell items made from this pattern. All text, images, graphics and other materials on this website are subject to the copyright and intellectual property rights of the owner.
If you could give me the number of stitches I’m suppose to have at the end of each row of this pattern I think I could get it from there.
Love this! Great design. I linked to it on my blog this morning, if you want to check it out! http://www.mooglyblog.com/fantastic-crochet-fox-patterns/ Thanks for sharing your pattern!
Hi Tamara,
I loved the other fox patterns you show on your blog. Foxes are just too cute :-))
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I LOVE this bag, it is so cute!! It makes me want to figure out knitting patterns for a whole zoo of felted animal purses… I’m going to look on Ravelry and see if anyone has already done it. Or maybe enlarge some mini-mochi? Thanks for being inspiring :)
Hi Chickadee,
Thanks for the compliment! Since I write down the gauge for the pattern, you could find out how many cm/inches I crocheted to make the front panel, back panel etc. Then you could knit the same size and felt it afterwards. Be aware that different yarns felt differently.
Can you do youtube video on this pattern as I do not understand your pattern?
If you could give me the number of stitches I’m suppose to have at the end of each row of this pattern I think I could get it from there.
Any luck with internet yet? Looking forward to crocheting this bag.
Are you using the chain 3 as a stitch or not from the looks of the start your not but than it looks like you do.
Hi Brooke,
I am using the first chain 3 as a stitch. Hope this is a help for you.
This project really depends on using a yarn that felts well.
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Hi Lorette,
I love the thought, that my patterns are used for charity work:-)
Feel free to contact me, if you run into problems with the patterns.
Call me a new lover of foxes this is so very cute!!! I love it, You are so creative in all of your designs and patterns look very easy to follow, I have just been doing some experimentation with felting,,,I knit and crochet for charity and I just want to thank you for your generosity in sharing your patterns , Lorette
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Hi Julie. Thank you for this great tip! I will be felting items in the future and will look into that technique. If you felt at 40 Celsius the wool will felt A LOT. So it would be convenient to have a crochet technique, where the stitch definition isn’t so prominent and you could felt at a lower temperature.
This is so adorable! Thank you so much for writing out the pattern. And to address something Patrice mentioned about seeing stitch definition when you felt crocheted fabric, I have another hint for that. If you work your stitches in one loop only, for example row 1 you work in front loop only, row 2 in back loop only, and keep alternating that way, one side of the fabric will be quite smooth when felted. I learned this from a book called Crocheted Pursonalities.
Good to know, Julie. Thanks for the tip!
how sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This bag is absolutely adorable. I love to felt and am sure I’ll try this one at some point. I also like that there is no stitch detail after the felting process, something I’ve found difficult to achieve with crocheted items that I felt. Would you attribute that to the yarn you used, the water temperature, length of time in the washing machine??
Until now I have only felted with this Plötulopi yarn from Istex, so I don’t have any other yarn to compare with. The yarn is unspun, so this might be the reason, why it felts so well and you see no stitch definition in the felted result.(You can import the yarn from Iceland fairly cheap). I am not that experienced a felter, but have observed, if I felt something by putting it into the washing mashine with a lot of clothes in it shrinks much more, because there is so more friction going on in the proces. I guess a lower temperature would show more stitch detail. I would crochet small swatches with the yarn and compare the results.
Yes, I can see how an unspun yarn would felt well. I appreciate your feedback. I’ll have to look into the yarn.
This bag is absolutely adorable. I love to felt and am sure I’ll try this one at some point. I also like that there is no stitch detail after the felting process, something I’ve found difficult to achieve with crocheted items that I felt. Would you attribute that to the yarn you used, the water temperature, length of time in the washing machine??
Hi Dana,
I also think he is damn cute;-)
This is a great piece!
Very clever idea. Congrats.
Thanks:-)
What a cool bag, I love it!
Thanks Janette! – And it was fast and easy to crochet.
Hi Brooke,
So far I don’t have a video channel on Youtube.
I will have a look at the pattern, if I should rephrase certain things. I don’t know when I’ll have the time for that though.
It is hard for me to give you any specific advice, since you write very general, that you do not understand the pattern. Where do you get stuck?
Hi Brooke,
My internet connection is not working right now, – it should be up around August 28th.
I will have a look at the pattern around that time. (Sitting at the library now – sigh…)