Every strip of fur on this squirrel is drawn as a separate closed shape, from the flame-like points along its back to the spiral of its tail and the acorn held up to its mouth. The free printable PDF gives you that outline on one US Letter page, ready to use as a scroll saw pattern or a cut-out template, and you can also print it as a page to color.
When I drew the fur, I gave each strip a direction. On the body, the strips run upward toward the head. On the tail, they turn and follow the curl of the spiral. Because of this, coloring the squirrel feels a little like brushing its coat: your pencil naturally moves along the strips in the direction the fur grows. The outline shows two kinds of areas. The large shape between the lines is the squirrel’s body, and the 51 smaller closed shapes inside it are the light strips of fur, together with the eye, the ear, the toes and the pattern on the acorn cap. You can color the body in warm browns and leave the strips pale, or you can reverse the idea and fill the strips with autumn oranges and yellows, so that the coat looks lit from inside.
A Squirrel Cut-Out and Scroll Saw Pattern from One Outline
The outer line of the drawing is one continuous contour around the whole squirrel, so the page also works as a cut-out template. For a decorated cut-out, color the squirrel first, including the inside shapes. After that, cut along the outer contour with scissors or a craft knife, and leave the interior drawing on the paper. The finished squirrel can stand on an autumn bulletin board, hang in a window, or be glued to a stick as a puppet for a story about animals preparing for winter.
The same outline is also a fretwork style scroll saw pattern. On a scroll saw, every one of the 51 inner shapes becomes an opening in the wood, and the outer contour becomes the edge of the finished piece. Attach the printed pattern to your board, drill a small starting hole inside each inner shape, thread the blade through, and cut the openings one by one. Cut the outer contour last, so that the board stays stable while you work on the delicate interior. Around the whiskers and the acorn, the lines sit close together, and this is where a scroll saw gives you a choice that a machine does not. As you cut these openings, you can stay slightly inside the line of each opening, so that a little more wood remains between them and the squirrel keeps its fine face. If you are new to scroll saw work, printing the pattern larger on an A3 sheet gives you more room in these areas while you practice.
The bold, flame-like fur also gives the squirrel the character of a woodcut, and for that reason the outline can serve as a tattoo idea and a starting sketch to bring to a tattoo artist, who can size it and adapt the finest strips to skin.
Download the Free Printable Squirrel Outline Template PDF
The download contains one PDF page with the complete squirrel outline.
- Format: PDF, one page
- Page size: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches
- Drawing: black vector outline of the squirrel with its 51 inner shapes
- Printed size at 100 percent: about 190.6 × 235.5 mm (7.5 × 9.27 inches)
Download the squirrel PDF and print it at 100 percent, or choose fit to page if your paper is A4. Then decide whether the page will become a coloring sheet, a cut-out or a scroll saw pattern, and pick your pencils, scissors or board accordingly.
Looking for other formats of this design? Our full collection includes SVG, PNG, DXF, DWG, CDR and STL files. You can access them all on the main collection page.
License and Usage
These files are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for strictly personal, non-commercial use.
You are free to download, cut, and modify these designs for your personal projects. However, you may not sell the digital files or any physical products manufactured from them. If you share a modified version of this design, you must credit FreePatternsArea and distribute it under this exact same license.
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