Puppet mouth shape question

[ToodlesTeam]

Howdy howdy, folks. I have a rather specific question that I was hoping you all might be able to help me with. You see, I'm currently in the process of creating a custom puppet. (Actually a puppet of the "Toodles" that is referred to in Toodles Team.)

I'm working on designing his head as it were, and I want him to have a mouth somewhat like Ernie's, where there's a "dimple" of fabric that sort of bunches up at each end of the mouth, like in this picture:

On my previous puppets I've usually just used the same pattern for the foam head and the fleece covering, but when I do that it pretty much sits flush and doesn't bunch up at the mouth like that. Any ideas for how to achieve the desired effect? Thanks!

 

[Muppetlab]

The dimple will occour naturally if you round off the corner of the mouth in the pattern.. Instead of a sharp corner where the top lip meets the bottom lip, round it off a bit..if that makes sense

 

[ToodlesTeam]

Aha. That does make sense. Thanks! I'll have to give that a try...

 

[Muppetlab]

Or failing that, add a few stitches that run at 90 degrees from the corner (upwards to the top of the head)

 

[ToodlesTeam]

Gotcha. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Slackbot]

I'm looking for an answer to this same question. I've got a design in mind that would involve these kinds of corners on the mouth, and I'm not sure how to go about accomplishing that. Rounding off the corners in the pattern would seem like the way to go, except that wouldn't take into account the lip and inside of the cheek.

Does anyone have a skin pattern that will create these kinds of mouth corners? I don't want to copy the pattern, just to see what a pattern that works looks like.

 

[D'Snowth]

I've done this before, but it's a little difficult to explain in words... basically, whenever I fabricate a puppet, I don't pattern the fabric before hand, I pin the fabric to the foam head, and cut the pattern from there. Whenever I attach the fabric to the mouthplates, I tend to tug on the fabric in the corners of the mouth a bit, and sort of tuck the top fabric into the bottom fabric, and that creates that sort of "dimple" look you're wanting.

There used to be a video on YouTube that demonstrates this, not sure if it's still up or not.

 

[Slackbot]

That sounds like a good technique if you build puppets by nip & tuck. However, I stick with patterns, so I'm hoping someone will help me plan it out.

 

[ma0298]

I made a pattern recently(the first one I made ) anyway, the edge of the pattern, (basically the side of the pattern) where the mouth ends is extremely narrow its about an inch and a half in thickness, and it looks to be the same with Ernie. So, possibly you have to make he pattern "thin" at the end I hope that's not confusing.

Edit: I was implying that my puppet has that "curved fold"

 

[Slackbot]

Um...I'm afraid I don't understand.