snake-E Tutorial

My 2 year old, my "little buddy" has been talking a lot about snakes (He calls them snake-E's). I mentioned making one for him and he got really excited. So I made this snake for him in about 45 minutes. It will probably take less time for you-since I made a few dumb mistakes. Here's a tutorial if you are interested, read all the instructions before you start (I usually don't and end up with problems-just a bit of advice).

Step One: Cut peices out of cotton or other material of your choice.
Top: 3" x 21.5"
Head: 3"x 4"
Bottom: 3" x 25"
small tongue out of felt (mine is 1.75" x .5")


Put bottom and head together and use round object (a cup or lid, etc) as a stencil to round the head. cut out.

Step two: pin and sew wrong sides of top and head together using a 3/8" seam. (that's the edge of my presser foot). iron seam open.

step three: SEW button EYES ON SNAKE. Then, pin wrong sides of top and bottom together, centering tongue inside the two pieces. (see image below).
Step four: fold tail end in half (hot dog style) at bottom. pin.

Step five: measure in 3/4 inch and make a dot: see below (I only did 1/2 inch, but I think 3/4 would work better because I had to change my seam allowance at the bottom to 1/4 inch)
Step six: measure across the top 4 inches and make a dot, connect the dots using a ruler and a fabric marker. Cut along line.

Step seven: unfold and pin together. Sew almost all the way around the snake using a 3/8" seam allowance and a close stitch length. Leave a 2 inch unsewn space for turning right side out and filling snake.
step eight: Turn right side out and fill snake with rice, or batting or dry beans or whatever you want to fill it with. I used rice. I also made myself a little funnel out of a piece of cardstock. I left about four inches of the snake empty so that it could bend and move and not be too full of rice. It seems just right.
step nine: sew opening together. I did it by hand so it was hidden, but if you want to sew it on the machine, it would be a little faster probably. If you do sew it by hand, make sure you use small stiches so the rice doesn't come out.
YOU are finished and have one happy snake-E for someone to play with! If this was confusing or you have questions let me know!