How To: Making A Stuffed Furry Snake

Yesterday, I didn't do a lot of crafting, but I did manage to get a few projects done. As Christmas draws near, I am looking to shore up the Christmas stash, and find gifts to make for people that are both frugal, and nice. One of the things I did yesterday, was make a stuffed furry snake out of left over fake fur boa. I used this in re-fashioning a sweater for Gillian. Sadly, I have no before photos of this project.

The fur was already sewn into a tube shape, and since I had cut a section off, it was a long skinny open tube, perfect for a pet snake. I made eyes out of black & white felt I picked up over the weekend, and a long red tongue out of red felt. I sewed the eyes on first, then stuffed it, added the tongue to the opening and sewed it shut.



When it was "done", it just felt too bare, so I glitzed it up a bit. Using some sparkly green costume fabric, I fashioned a bow. Now, while this may seem like the easy part, let me explain just why it wasn't.

I love glittery, sparkly, slippery, shiny fabric for costumes. However, my sewing machine has never, ever agreed with it. It doesn't matter the settings or needle, the machine balks at sewing it. I only buy it when it's a remnant, but it's still an impossible dream for me.

In order to fashion the bow, I used hot glue. I folded the ends to the middle, width wise (narrow), then put a strip of glue on one side, and folded it together again, making a long skinny strip. Once that was done, I folded it into a simple bow shape, and was actually able to sew down the middle to secure it, before cutting the loose ends off.

I attempted to sew the middle together, to gather it, but that was a failure. Instead, I used a regular needle & thread to go through the fabric once, then I just wound the thread around it, over and over, and tied it off. Lastly, I hot glued a purple flower shaped rhinestone to the middle and called it good.

I also added rhinestones to the eyes, so it's a pretty, sparkly furry snake. It obviously is not good for small children prone to eating things, as the rhinestones can pop off, but it'll make a good gift for the 7-8 year old range my family is swamped with. Counting all 3 sides of my family, there were 5 little girls born from August 2001 to August 2002. Actually, I think there were 6, come to think of it.

Anyway, these will make a cute little add in. I am toying with the idea of a cute, removeable skirt. I have some various laces that make for a quick, easy, & dressy skirt.