This is the little guy who was destined for the the picot / prairie / pioneer points. The picots are the spines on his back. He really likes thread for a bedtime snack, so if you make one, watch out!

Materials

Leftover Minky from your son’s baby quilt

Buttons or other embellishments, with contrast thread for the pupils. I used embroidery floss.

Fabric for inside of the mouth

Scissors

Sewing machine

Beverage  or sugary vice of choice (skittles for me)

Start by cutting out two pieces for the top and bottom that are an inch or so wider than your hand, all the way around. You might want to cut the top a little big, because inserting the picots shrinks the top / back a little. Fold the fabric for the mouth in half, right sides together. Stick it in between the layers to the depth you’d like the puppet’s mouth to go, and trim the fabric to a circle. I used my hand to measure this depth so the mouth would be just my size.

Cut a slit up his back, and tuck the points between, right sides together. Pin, and sew.

I left his tail sticking out, and shmooshed the bottom up around it to hem. If you don’t want the tail to be awkward like that, match a good picot-cutting-point to the end of his back so you can hem easier.

Next, fold your inner mouth circle in half, and sew in the tongue. I just cut a little red reptilian thing out of some felt.

Ta da!

Now sew on some eyes, and any other embellishments you wish. I was thinking little stuffed horns would be fun, or some white yo-yos under the eye buttons, but I am eight months pregnant, and a girl can only do so much in my condition.

Next, lay it out with the mouth in place, right sides together, and pin from the edge of the mouth down to the bottom of the puppet.

Then you can take the mouth out, if you like, and sew those two seams. I left the mouth in while I sewed (NOT as pictured below), in case my pinning was not perfect. It wasn’t.

Lay out your inner mouth, right side up. Place the right side of the outer mouth on top, like so:

Pin, and sew a C on each side. At this point, I turned my puppet right side out to admire, and he had a serious underbite. So I went back and sewed another C inside of the first one on the bottom jaw to straighten him out a little. See:

Trim the extra, clip your curves, and give that minky monster to your delighted child. She will have a hard time being in the sun for the picture after all the bad weather recently, and will pretend to be a pirate. At least, that’s what mine did.