My first Muppet... Kermit!

[callmemilo]

Hey all, I'm a long-time lurker, and have found all of this creativity REALLY fascinating. I'm a costumer regularly, and an animation graduate, and have always loved the Muppets.

I've been working on this fella for the past day or so. Gone through a couple attempts making the head so far, but I feel like I've got the technique and sizing sorted now. Unfortunately I'm not using Antron fleece, just regular anti-pill fleece I got on eBay, but with the correct stitching technique it can still work nicely. I might see if there's a way to disguise the more obvious seams by practising some ideas on one of the older head attempts.

I'll keep you guys posted with progress pics, etc, but lemme know what you think of the work done so far. As a relative newbie to Muppet-making, I'd really appreciate your feedback and advice. Thanks! Now let's "get things started".....

 

[callmemilo]

That's certainly a good idea, although the pattern I used is slightly curved along the bridge of the nose. I've still got my first attempt here at my disposal, so I may try a few different techniques. One I'm kinda interested in trying is shaving some spare fleece, and gluing the resulting fluff into the seam. Kinda filling and bridging the trench that makes the seam visible. I'll experiment with it at some point and see what results I get.

 

[TSSD]

Wow, this looks really good so far! Good job!

 

[KermieBaby47]

He's beautiful so far!! I could already tell you were doing a great job just by seeing your avatar in the "what's new" post listing, before I even opened up the thread! As others' have said, the shape is perfect, it's all Kermit. Looking forward to seeing the finished work!

Anthony

 

[Melonpool]

Are you hand stitching or machine stitching? If you're hand stitching, the ladder stitch will help hide those seams. You don't want any kind of seam allowance at all and you want to butt up the two pieces while sewing. Even regular fleece will work using this technique. A good tutorial on how to use the ladder (or Henson) stitch can be found on the project puppet website, but they seem to be down right now.

 

[callmemilo]

I'm handstitching, and you're right, I probably should've used a ladder stitch. Luckily a friend showed me that by using a needle to free some of the trapped fibres, I can hide the seam pretty well. I'll post pics of the newly hidden seam when I get around to doing the eyes. The tongue and throat are now in place. Need to find the right colour felt for the collar too.

 

[Melonpool]

It's back. Here's the tutorial:

http://www.projectpuppet.com/servlet/Page?template=useful-stitches-tutorial

 

[callmemilo]

Oh yeah, that tutorial! Thanks for the link Melon, very helpful.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF6ux6SqKQU

 

[callmemilo]

After a long time leaving Kermit on the backburner (so to speak), I've come back to him, aiming to finish in time to take him to Dragoncon

The seams on the head are blended almost invisible, a foam-padded torso with sleeve and felt collar attached, and half the seams on that are blended now! Next step for me is getting the ping pong balls sprayed up gloss white, while making the hands and arms. I think for now Kermit will be without legs, but when I get back from Dragoncon, I'll almost definitely wanna make some for him, just because.

Here's the only pic I've got for now.

Quick question for you guys though. For attaching the arms to the body, would the Henson stitch be best?