Making some Fraggle Puppets, and I could use some help/wisdom

[Melonpool]

You know, your Wembly isn't that far off at all! On one of the Fraggle Rock documentaries on the Season sets, one of the builders says that there's a plastic ball in Wembley's nose to keep its shape. That might help fill it out better, with very little adjusting to your current pattern!

Good job on both!

 

[BoxGhost]

Thanks!

I actually saw that little documentary on the season 4 dvd. I've been studying it and that's pretty much how I've gotten so far with this! I took pictures of it and then traced over it in adobe illustrator to get the shape right.

I have a ball that I wanted to put in the nose, but my original idea to get it in there didn't work. I was going to insert it through the mouth, but the passageway to the nose was too small for it. I'm going to have to leave the bottom of the nose open, stick the ball in, and then sew it up by hand or something!

The one that's pictured in my previous post is stuffed with polyfill just to help me see if I'm even CLOSE to getting the pattern right. I still have no idea what I'm doing with foam, but I'm working on it.

 

[puppetsmith]

You can stitch the opening you leave in the nose (to insert the ball) closed with a ladder stitch - Useful Stitches. That should keep the seam barely visible.

Great job so far!

 

[BoxGhost]

You know, I've been on project puppet like a thousand times and I never clicked the link about the stitches. That's very useful information! Thank you!

 

[CoOKiE]

BoxGhost... you're not messing around! Thats really great work.. and i'm really not just saying that.

Have you been building puppets for awhile? When you said you're new to sewing i wasn't expecting them to turn out THAT good. Their not perfect, but alot better then alot of puppets i've seen for someones first time.

As for Wembly'snose, with antronfleece fabric, i think its strechy. So, if you plan on making these for practice, then using the real stuff, i think you may not have that hard of a time... BUT dont take that from me, because i havn't worked with antron yet.

That fabric you used for their fur... Was that bought at Joanne's? And did you use the RIT dye on the white fabric? I ask because i seen a very similar fabric, but have been afride to test it out with dye

 

[BoxGhost]

I really am new to sewing, I promise you that. I learned how to hand sew things in high school, but everything I ever made just fell apart. On the 4th of july weekend, my husband and I were bored and this summer has been very rainy, so there was no chance of swimming or anything. So, we went out and got a sewing machine, some fabric and a puppet pattern from Project Puppet. We literally taught ourselves how to sew in a day.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's the sort of thing that I do. lol. I get these ideas in my mind and then just go out and do them. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed, but it's always fun to try. ^_^

As far as the fabric goes, I haven't purchased any antron fleece yet. I am using polar fleece (something like that) that I got from Joann Fabric. These are just prototypes for now, until I get the shape right. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what in the world I'm doing when it comes to that sort of thing.

The fabric for the fur that I used for boober's body... DO NOT under any circumstances use that sort of fabric, unless you are prepared for two things.

1. It is not going to take any sort of RIT dye. You could soak it for one hour or seventeen hours, and it's not going to take it. I did something really unorthodox to get the color I needed for the body, involving mixing vinegar with the dye bath, and taking it out of the dye bath without rinsing it. Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that boober can't ever get wet. Dying that fabric was an absolute NIGHTMARE though. I've heard antron fleece dyes a lot better with RIT, but I haven't tried it yet, either.

2. Once you cut that fabric I used for the body, it sheds more than an Afghan dog. I have little green fur all over my house every single time one of my friends starts playing with that puppet. lol.

I did get that fur at Joann Fabric, but you'd be better served to look on ebay and see if you can find fur that is already close to the color you want. I've heard that Faux Tibetan fur works good for a fraggle body, if you can find some.

I hope that helps. I'll answer any question anyone has about this because, quite honestly, I had a heck fo a time finding out this stuff, and if I can help someone not make the mistakes I made, I'd be really happy! ^_^

 

[CoOKiE]

Well once again, congrats on picking up a new hobby and finding new talent.

I used that fur before, thats how i knew it was a Joannes... But i Used blue. So yes i know how much fun it is to clean your house up and down and still manage to find fur 4 months later.

When i first started cutting it, i did it inside... but since, i've been going outdoors lol.

ANyway i didnt think that it would work with RIT dye... hence why i asked.

But, did you boil water with the RIT and vinegar? Thats all it took?

 

[BoxGhost]

My sink down in my basement can produce water that is pretty close to boiling. I have no idea why, and there's probably something wrong with it, but it was really good for using the dye. I followed the instructions on the package pretty much exactly the first time, and nothing happened. The dye didn't do anything to the fabric.

The second time I tried it, I did a test patch, adding vinegar to the water. I used very little water, mostly vinegar, and a LOT of dye. That's what produced the result that you see on the boober puppet. I didn't wash the dye out like you're supposed to, though. I just took it out and let it dry. It dried a LITTLE patchy, but it wasn't horrible. I'm pretty sure the moment it gets wet, though, all that dye is going to come off. hah hah.

All in all, the dying was a very frustrating experience. I learned a valuable lesson about dying fur though. Pretty much anything that is synthetic will dye much lighter than what the package says, but stuff like fleece apparently will die wonderfully.

I hope that helps. sorry for writing a novel.

 

[dwmckim]

Okay - here are my suggestions:

1) Gather together every single trashbasket you have in the house

2) Dump the contents all together in a pile in your basement.

You asked for help/wisdom, so since i know doing that won't be much help, it will at least give your Fraggles some wisdom in the form of their very own trash heap!

 

[BoxGhost]

The trash heap has spoken. NYAAAH