Red Hen Home: Lucy’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, pt. 2

Before I get to the staircase reveal, I thought I ought to finish up the Very Hungry Caterpillar project! If you missed part 1 (the creation of the fabric picture), you can find it here.

Part 2 was the creation of the Very Hungry Caterpillar stuffed toy…which turned out to be SO big he’s more like a body pillow! I will admit that the way he turned out was not the way I originally envisioned him, but it must have been the way he was meant to be.

There is no pattern for this, so I can only share with you what I did! If you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me and I will try to help as best as I can.

I purchased the wonderful soft “minky” fabric for my caterpillar. Not knowing what I was doing beforehand, I purchased amounts that “looked right.” I think I bought about 1/3 yd of red and 1/2 yard of the green polka-dot.

When I got home, I realized that I had fabric to make a far bigger head than the body would support! I had to dust off my long-neglected math skills to figure out how to make the best use of my fabric to make the biggest caterpillar possible.

There were ratios involved.

I had to figure the circumference of a circle.

I think I even worked in two equations and two unknowns.

It was a hairy business, folks!

Suffice it to say…I cut off a third of the green material (lengthwise), cut that piece in half (also lengthwise), stitched the halves together, and added that new piece (widthwise) to the remaining green material so I could have a nice, fat caterpillar (that piece because the “belly panel”). Clear as mud? I hope so.

I scientifically traced a circle for the caterpillar’s head (thank you, Tupperware), and then I also cut a long strip of red fabric (I think I had to piece this) to be his “neck.”

I curved one end of the caterpillar’s back for his tail (top right picture), and also tapered the belly panel (bottom left) before I stitched the pieces together. Then I ran a gathering stitch width-wise all down the caterpillar’s body to create his “sections” (bottom right). If I were to do it over again, I would stitch in a narrow piece of elastic, as the gather stitches un-gathered more than I would have liked.

The caterpillar’s feet, face, and antennae were created out of felt. I actually liked having the “belly panel” as it was an ideal place to insert the feet (bottom left). I left his “tail” open so I could stuff him…he didn’t always appreciate it (bottom right)!!

Finally I stitched his tail closed…it was a moderately painful process (for me, not him…I kept pricking my fingers!)…and then I invited my beautiful girl to “test him out.”