Kitsune the Fox Girl Free Crochet Pattern

This cute crochet doll of Kitsune the Fox Girl—an amigurumi fox girl— is a free pattern on my blog!

Read below about the inspiration, design, and the perfect yarn I chose for this amigurumi fox girl or scroll to the end for the free pattern. If you’re in a hurry and need to take it offline, grab the ad-free, inexpensive PDF pattern here!

The Inspiration: Amigurumi Fox Girl

As you may have noticed (*cough* the little prince) I have a huge love of tiny amigurumi dolls. Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox, which I thought was fitting given her chibi proportions and overall anime-like quality. I’ve been really wanting to get more into the world of miniature characters and I think that she’s a great companion to the little prince!

I also adore animal costumes, so I came up with the idea of creating a little girl dressed like a fox—an amigurumi fox girl. I’m really satisfied with the result, not in the least because orange is my favorite color (maybe you could tell from my blog) and I’ve been dying to make an orange-themed amigurumi!

Actually, I love how Kitsune turned out so much that I feel compelled to create a whole series of animal themed dolls—how cute would it be to see them all standing in a row?

Beginner friendly and customizable

This pattern is great for anyone who wants to branch out into amigurumi dolls—Kitsune’s small stature makes this project much quicker than larger scale dolls out there. I finished her body and head in a day!

Although this amigurumi fox girl may look complicated at first glance, it’s actually just because there are lots of basic components added together with a simple construction.

If you can believe it, the only stitches that are used are the basic single crochet and half double crochet! That adorable wavy skirt is all made up of half double crochets, and the hair is made up of chains and single crochets.

The result is a complicated looking doll that’s sure to wow but is actually rather simple in its makeup. It’s versatility like this that makes me amazed at what crochet can do!

Kitsune’s outfit is also entirely customizable. I decided to make her skirt match her fox hat because I thought that uniformity would look cleaner, but you definitely have the license to go wild with whatever your favorite color is.

You could even change the color of her hat into a dark gray to make her into a wolf girl! Of course, a simple color switch would also render her hair color into anything you could possible imagine.

How to add hair?

One of the challenges I faced when designing this amigurumi fox girl was how to create her hair. There are many different ways of crocheting doll hair out there, but honestly, none of them are a perfect solution. The method that I ended up going with looks more realistic but requires glue.

Although some might think that the glue is a nuisance to work with as I did at first, after trying out so many different ways of adding hair, I’m now firmly in the “glue-is-best” camp.

The reason is because alternative methods of adding hair often involve threading individual strands of yarn through the head or a cap of hair, which can take hours and also doesn’t quite look the way I want it to. Of course, this is my own opinion, but I find that using glue is a much quicker and painless way of attaching hair!

Perfect for any occasion!

Kitsune the Fox Girl is great as a gift to an animal-loving child. You could even change the color of her hair so that it matches the recipient—who wouldn’t love a mini me? To go one step further, you could customize her outfit to match a real life version.

Aside from gifting, Kitsune is so cute that she could definitely be a great home decor item or centerpiece—she is sure to bring a smile to all faces (at least she certainly does to mine!).

Yarn and Substitution

I used Schachenmayr Catania sport weight yarn for my doll, so that I could make her as small as possible. If you want to make her slightly larger, you can definitely size up on yarn and corresponding hook size! However, I love how she looks at 4 inches tall 🙂

A note on yarn substitution: there is a lot of variation between brands of yarn that are categorized as sport weight. The best way to compare skeins from different brands, fiber contents, and origins, is to look at the yardage per gram. This can be found on the yarn label on any ball or skein of yarn.

When blending yarns within one project, try to make sure that two given balls of yarn differ no more than 0.5 yards per gram from each other and that the gauge is similar.

Pattern: Amigurumi Fox Girl

• If you’re in a hurry, get the inexpensive, ad-free printable PDF copy here!
• Pin this project to your boards for later here!

Description:

Kitsune the Fox Girl is an adorable miniature doll dressed like a fox. She’s perfect for gifting to children or as home decor. Basic stitches combined together make for a complex-looking but easy to make doll!

Yarn:

• I used Schachenmayr Catania (sport weight) in orange, light brown, beige, and white
  • When I was writing this blog post, the yarn was out of stock, but click on the link to check it again! If you can’t find it there, this yarn is also available on Amazon, but only in bulk. If both those methods don’t work, I would suggest just using any sport weight yarn you can get your hands on!

Supplies:

• Size E (3.5 mm) crochet hook
• 6 mm safety eyes
• pink embroidery thread
• tapestry needle
• polyester fiberfill
• stitch markers (optional)
• buttons (optional)

Abbreviations (US):

• Sc: Single crochet
• Ch: Chain
• Sl st: Slip stitch
• Yo: Yarn over
• Hdc: Half double crochet
• Dc: Double crochet
• Inc: Increase
• Dec: Decrease
• Sts: Stitches
• FO: Fasten off
• (…) x: repeat stitches within parentheses … times
• Sk: skip one stitch
• FSC: foundation single crochet (tutorial here)

Technical Notes:

• Crochet in continuous spiral rounds unless otherwise specified, and use a stitch marker or piece of yarn to keep track of the last stitch in each round.
• When filling with polyester stuffing, pull apart each large chunk into many smaller chunks. This ensures an even distribution of firmness within the amigurumi.
• Stuff the head and the body firmly at the openings so that the neck is stable upon completion.
• To avoid large holes in the crochet fabric, increase tension until the holes cannot be seen, or choose a crochet hook a size down.
• Use sewing pins to secure limbs of the amigurumi before you sew them.

Head: (in beige yarn, or any skin color you wish)

• R (round) 1: sc6 in MR (6 sts)
• R2: inc6 (12 sts)
• R3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
• R4: (sc2, inc) x6 (24 sts)
• R5: (sc3, inc) x6 (30 sts)
• R6: (sc4, inc) x6 (36 sts)
• R7-14 (8 rounds): sc all around x8 (36 sts)
• R15: (sc4, dec) x6 (30 sts)
• R16: (sc3, dec) x6 (24 sts)
• Begin stuffing. Put 6mm safety eyes roughly in the middle of the head, around R10, with 7 stitches between the eyes.
• R17: (sc2, dec) x6 (18 sts)
• R18: (sc, dec) x6 (12 sts)
• R19: (dec) x6 (6 sts)
• Cut yarn, leaving a short tail, and using a needle, thread the
  yarn through all 6 stitches in the last round. Pull it tight so that the opening closes like a drawstring bag, and then finish off. Sew blush onto the doll head with pink embroidery thread to the bottom of the eyes.

Legs: (in beige yarn) x2

• R1: sc6 in MR (6 sts)
• R2-5 (4 rnds): sc all around x3 (6 sts)
• Make two identically, but do not cut the yarn on the second leg. Switch to white yarn and single crochet around second leg, then connect yarn to first leg and single crochet all around (12 sts)
  • For a rough video guide, click here. This is not a tutorial for this pattern, but should provide an overview of the technique to connect legs.

Body: (continue in white yarn)

• R1: (sc2, inc) x4 (16 sts)
• R2-7 (6 rounds): sc all around x6 (16 sts)
• R8: (sc2, dec) x4 (12 sts)
• Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Stuff.

Arms: (start with beige)

• R1: sc4 in MR (4 sts)
• R2: (sc, inc) x2 (6 sts)
• R3: sc all around (6 sts)
• switch to white yarn
• R4-7 (4 rounds): sc all around x4 (6 sts)
• Lightly stuff, using the back of the crochet hook to push fiberfill filling down.

Hair : (in brown yarn)

• R1: sc6 in MR (6 sts)
• R2: inc 6 (12 sts)

This is the center circle piece from which you will crochet the hair strands. In round 2 of the center circle there are 12 total stitches, which you will work 2 strands into (see chart below) for a total of 24 stitches.

To crochet 2 strands:

• Strand 1: Off the side of the center circle, chain 15, turn, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, work 14 single crochets. Slip stitch into the next stitch on the center circle (the first one out of the 12 total stitches), securing the strand of hair.
• Strand 2: Then, chain 15 off the side again, turn, and beginning from the second chain from the hook, work 14 single crochets back. Slip stitch into the same stitch you slip stitched into before to secure the second strand. Now you should have two strands of hair anchored to one stitch on the center circle (as shown in chart)
• Repeat this process 11 more times on the 11 remaining stitches on the center circle, for a total of 22 remaining strands of hair.

After making the hair, pin it down onto the head and glue in place. Place the front two strands over the other hair to create a pinned back look.

Dress : (In orange yarn, worked in joined rounds. Begin by picking up stitches on the 5th round of the body from the top of the legs, or the 5th round of white colored body. The hook should be pointing towards the legs.)

• R1: sc in orange all around, slst (16 sts)
• R2: ch1, inc all around, slst (32 sts)
• R3: ch2, hdc inc all around, slst (64 sts)
• R4: ch2, hdc all around, slst (64 sts)
• R5: ch2, hdc all around, slst (64 sts)
• Invisible finish off and weave in end.

Suspender Straps: (in orange yarn)

FSC 8. Make 2 and sew suspender straps onto the body with 4 stitches between the 2.

Fox Hat : (in orange yarn)

• R1: sc6 in MR (6 sts)
• R2: inc x6 (12 sts)
• R3: (sc, inc) x6 (18 sts)
• R4: (sc2, inc) x6 (24 sts)
• R5: (sc3, inc) x6 (30 sts)
• R6: (sc4, inc) x6 (36 sts)
• R7: (sc5, inc) x6 (42 sts)
• R8: (sc6, inc) x6 (48 sts)
• R9-12 (4 rounds): ch2 (doesn’t count as a stitch), hdc all around, slst to first stitch (48 sts)
• Invisible finish off and weave in end.

Ears: (in orange yarn)

• R1: sc4 in MR (4 sts)
• R2: (sc, inc) x2 (6 sts)
• R3: (sc2, inc) x2 (8 sts)
• R4: (sc3, inc) x2 (10 sts)
• R5: (sc4, inc) x2 (12 sts)
• R6: (sc2, inc) x4 (16 sts)
• Finish off and leave a short tail to sew to hat.

Assembly:

1. Attach hair to head with glue
2. Sew body to head
3. Sew on arms
4. Sew on suspender straps, being sure to attach them to the body at the top of the dress as well as at the tops of the arms. You can also attach buttons onto the bottoms of the suspenders if you like!
5. Sew fox ears to fox hat
6. Place fox hat on doll

Thanks for making Kitsune the Fox Girl! If you enjoyed it, please check out my other amigurumi doll pattern, the little prince!