Fred the Snake

I've been working this weekend on my 3rd, count 'em 3rd muslin of Simplicity 4076 - View A. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting the sizing in the bust area right, among other things. So many others have done well with this pattern - it's getting a bit disheartening not to have it turn out right.

In the meantime, I came home from WalMart the other night with 3 yards of a snakeskin buttermilk knit from the $1 table - strictly to be used as muslin material.

DS took one look at it and said "Hey, I want to make a snuggle snake." "A snuggle snake?" says I. A snuggle snake.

So I decided to make this a "learn a little something about sewing" kind of project.

First, I had him draw his snake out. I used his drawing for the pattern.

Then I cut the snake out for him. I found some pink fleece scraps from an earlier project and made a tongue for our little buddy. I basted the tongue on one side. Then I had DS help me pin the pieces together. And then we sewed it.

Of course, big sis couldn't stand it. She had to get into the action.

Once we had the snake sewn almost up, we stuffed it (I had tons of polyfil left over from making Bessy). Then I hand sewed the opening up and put some eyes on.


For now, the snake's name is Fred. He's kind of lumpy, and his tongue is on crooked. But DS likes him a lot and the kids and I got to do a nice little Sunday afternoon project together. Who could argue with that? Update: The snake is "Freddie", not "Fred". I stand corrected.