To start making a fox, first you must find the right sweater. Grey wool sweaters are easy to find. Foxy coloured ones are among the hardest. Here I am haggling with a vendor in FRANCE because I spotted an orange sweater.Unfortunately it was a designer label sweater and the vendor would not budge on the price, even though it had a hole in it, which I am showing him in the picture. At Value Village, they give 50% off for a hole! That is my daughter looking on, she is an au pair in France, we were visiting her.
Back home again, I found a suitable sweater buried in my stash. Here I have cut out the fox body, head and snout and tail pieces. I cut out 4, but I am only finishing one today.
Next comes the sewing machine, where I sew the legs, nose and ears.
The tail is made by sewing through small squares of fabric, then trimming them into a tail shape.
After that, I cut out the ears. They are cut from wool felt and sewn onto the head by hand. In the background is my well worn rotary mat cutting surface. It is imbedded with fuzz from countless sweaters.
Next, I stuff the head and sew it shut, then stuff the body. Stuffing is actually one of the most difficult steps, it has to be done carefully or the fox could end up lumpy or with a weak leg. To get into all the hard to reach areas of most of my little creatures, I use a pointed dowel. I stuff with clean, carded wool fleece that I get from a local supplier. She actually dropped off 4 bags this morning.
Now comes the reward for the previous steps. I embroider the facial features onto the head, securing the knots at the back, where they will be hidden. The eyes have to be straight and spaced properly. Too far apart and the animal looks like an alien. Too close together and it starts looking a bit too sneaky.
Here is the finished fox, ready for packaging. This particular fellow is going all the way to New Zealand. It is a privilege for me to be able to offer my work to friends near and far!
