Paw print fuse bead pattern

About this design

Four rounded Brown toe pads sit in an arc above a large main pad, all inside a black outline. The toes are joined to the main pad by the outline, so the piece stays in one part after ironing. Change the Brown to match a pet, or to a team colour for a badge.

Bead counts: 91 Brown and 70 Black, 161 beads in all. Buy a few spares of each colour, because the odd bead always rolls away.

Placing the beads

One large square pegboard (29 × 29 pegs) holds the whole 17 × 13 design. The toes are joined to the pad through the black outline; place the outline first to see the shape. Check each row against the chart before you move on, as one stray bead is hard to fix after ironing.

Ironing and finishing

With an adult at the iron, fuse the front under ironing paper on a medium setting until the holes start to close, then flip it and do the back. Cool it under something heavy to stop it curling. The finished piece is roughly 8.5 × 6.5 cm and works well as a pet’s collar tag, a magnet or a card.

Colour plan

Perler 80-19012 Brown does the most work, 57% of the 161 beads, followed by Perler 80-19018 Black at 43%. Every colour is used at least 70 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. 27% of the grid is left empty.

Working notes

All the beads touch along a full side, so it irons into one solid piece.