When I learned that The Little Prince had come to Netflix, it took me less than a week to watch it. After making my rose, I didn’t even make it another week before watching it again. This time was more productive however, as I watched and sewed at the same time. I needed my own fox friend, to me unique in all the world.

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean — tame?”

“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”

“To establish ties?”

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m borderline obsessed with this story and its beautiful movie adaptation. If you are like me, and need your own fox to tame, he can be sewed with little difficulty.

To complete the fox, you will need:

A sewing machine – Janome MC 3000

An iron and ironing board

100% Cotton fabric quarters in orange (Rust Solid FQ #12375929), white (White Solid FQ #5960141), and black (Black Solid FQ #5960620), pictured below, available at Joann’s

White thread [Amazon Affiliate Link]

Black embroidery floss [Amazon Affiliate Link]

Buttons for eyes (mine are from Joann’s, but they can be found many places)

100% Polyester Stuffing [Amazon Affiliate Link]

Tissue paper, access to a printer, pen/pencil

Other normal sewing paraphernalia, like needles, scissors, probably a seam ripper if you make mistakes like I do

Before using the fabric, it should be washed and ironed, so that when you wash your fox in the future after he is dirty from love, he won’t shrink. Even though the fabric I bought said not to prewash on the sticker, I did anyways. After ironing the fabric, leave your iron out, as you will continue to use it throughout the sewing process.

I started by sketching out the pattern for cutting the fabric, which you can download here:

Fox Sewing Pattern by Colorful Christine

If you print this pattern out on 8.5″ x 11″ paper, it will be true to the size I cut. For the body piece, it was longer than one sheet of paper, so the two pages will need to be taped together so the arrows line up. Once the pages are printed, lay a sheet of tissue paper over the pattern, and trace the bold lines. After cutting the tissue paper, pin it to the fabric, as shown below, then cut the fabric to the size of the tissue paper. Some sizes will need to be used twice, and you can either reuse the tissue paper (which is what I did), or trace multiple of the same pattern.

Once all of the pieces are cut, you will have a lovely pile of fabric, which should include:

In orange, 1 body piece, 4 leg pieces, 2 large ear pieces, 2 tail pieces

In black, 2 nose pieces, 4 feet pieces, 2 large ear pieces

In white, 1 body piece, 4 small ear pieces, 2 tail tip pieces

If you arrange your patterns carefully, you will be able to get all of these out of a fabric quarter in each color, but the orange will be close.

Once you are ready to sew, you will sew in the following order:

Start with the ears, which are each made up of 2 small white ear pieces, 1 large black ear piece, and 1 large orange ear piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t take enough pictures of the ears, because I kept making silly mistakes and having to rip out stitches.

For each ear, line up the white pieces, then machine sew around the outer edges (not the bottom) leaving a .25″ margin. Once finished, you can turn them right-side out and iron them. Once ironed, they can be sewed on top of the outer black ear, keeping the margin as small as possible. You can see in the picture below that I initially sewed the white with a larger margin, but it did not seem as secure, so I re-sewed closer to the edge. The two lines of stitching are not necessary, only the one closer to the edge is, but it was not worth it to take rip out the inner stitches as they didn’t cause any trouble.

Once the white is sewn to the black, the orange and black ears can be sewn together. Look at the picture below, because the right ear (in my hand) is correct and the left ear is NOT. When lining up the orange and black to sew, make sure the white inner ear is between the black and orange, not on the outside. Then, machine sew the black and orange as you did the white, not closing the bottom and leaving a .25″ margin around the outside. Once sewn, flip in right side out, and iron (It is at this point that the correct ear below is shown). Also, tuck the bottom edges inside about .25″ and iron them down. The ear can then be stuffed and sewn closed. Repeat for the second ear, and then set them aside until the end.

After the ears are done, work on the tail. First sew the white tail tips to each tail piece, being careful to not sew them on the same sides, as the completed tails won’t match up. The picture below shows the correct orientation for sewing. Sew the edge of the white to the orange, and then flip flat and iron. Line up the tail pieces with the right sides facing each other, sewing around the outer edges but leaving the bottom open. When I sewed my tail, I was not careful to line up the seams between the white and orange together, and the line is not perfect. If you care about this, make sure to note when lining the pieces up to sew. Once sewn, turn the tail right side out through the bottom opening, and iron. Once ironed, stuff the tail and set aside for the end.

Next, work on the legs. First sew the black feet to the bottom of the legs, as you did with the white tail tip. Once sewn across, iron the feet flat. Then, again with the right sides facing in, sew down the edge of the leg and the tip of the foot. Once sewn, turn the legs right side out, iron, and stuff. They can be set aside. The photo below shows two completed legs, once still inside out (bottom) and one turned right side out (top).

The final part of the assembly is the body. First, sew the nose pieces to either end of the body, one to the orange and one to the white, as you did the feet and the tail tip. Once sewn, iron them out flat. Then, with the right sides facing of the orange and white body pieces, starting about half way up the side, sew down the edge towards the nose, around the nose, and back down the other side, stopping half way. If I were to make mine again, I would attach is front legs (arms) higher up than I did, so about half way down the body length, attach the arms, one at a time, making sure the legs are going to be on the outside. While sewing, they will be inside the body. After both arms are attached, sew the rest of the way down the edges, and then at the bottom corners attach the back legs as you did the front legs. Once the whole body is sewn besides the bottom edge, the body can be turned right side out. Once turned right side out, iron the body and stuff it. When ironing the body, tuck the open bottom .25″ in, both the orange and white, ironing that edge flat with the raw edges inside the body.

Before closing the body, attach the ears and eyes. The ears are not exactly the same, but are mirror images of each other, so keep this in mind when selecting which ear is the right and which is the left. Also, make sure you do not sew them upside down. Line up the ears so that the front corners are touching in the middle and the back corners are at the seam between orange and white. Sew along the top orange edge, being careful to only go through the orange, as shown in the three pictures below. Then, using the embroidery floss, attach the eyes.

Finally, making sure the fox is stuffed well (but not over stuffed), hand sew along the bottom edge, securing the tail in the middle of the base. Your fox is now ready to tame and love. He is unique in all the world, because he is your fox.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince