The best way to skin "fleece or felt" Puppets?

[daddycartoon]

Hi guys.. I'm new to the forum, but have been making puppets for a while. However I mostly make Plastifoam puppets. I just now started using polyfoam and fleece. The medium is much more affordable to work with and a lot more fun. I have used many techniques for fleecing my puppets, but I never seem to get it right.
I am using the techniques dictated in the foam book. For some reason though my skinning never looks right. The only thing I have not tried was skinning the puppet before assembly. Do you think this would be a good idea?
When I skin my puppets with Pine Fleece, the edges of the fleece seem to look ugly around the mouth especially. Should I skin head before putting the mouth piece in?
I guess it is hard to explain without showing you. I can say that my puppets look a lot like Scooter with eyes instead of glasses. Right where the mouth piece and the head join is where my problems seem to be dominate.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks

 

[ravagefrackle]

well are you pattering your pupet?generally after you have assempled the foam puppet(wether its finished or just a final mock up, you need to make a patteren, drapping the fabric to fit you piece, then its a matter of sticking it togother, not sure how to write down directions for that its just something i learned to do by watching, and thru trial and error

 

[daddycartoon]

Well.. I have tried it a couple of ways. A few times I cut out my foam, then cut the fleece a 1/2 inched wider than the foam. I tried onces attaching the foam on top of the finished head, and I also tried attaching the fleece to the head before assembly. Neither seemed to work well. I even tried no pattern at all. I just draped the fleece over the puppet and tucked and tacked it where needed. Suprisingly this worked the best, but was very wasteful. I guess there is no right way to do this. Maybe I am doomed to make lame puppets. I really wanted to make the next generation of fragil.

 

[ravagefrackle]

the drapping method you described is what i was talking about, drape the puppet in something like muslin, and work out were your seems are going to go,doo all your gathering and pinching in muslin first, find the center on your puppet and work all the way down, so you sort of have a half coverd half foam puppet, be sure to mark your muslin were you will need to gather areas, and attach the different pieces,

then remove the muslin, and lie it flat, trace it on some sturdy papaer, like the brown stuff grocery bags are made out of, (they sell it in rolls at home depot, be sure to get the stronger kind, )

now you have a pattern, trace it on your fabric and make sure that the stretch on your fabric goes around from front to back, not up and down, this wil help eliminate drooping and sagging later on after lots of use ,

then stitch it togother, i normally hand stitch heads and necks, but machine the bodys and arms(and sometimes the hands, )

good luck, it takes a lot of practice to get it right, and to learn the best ways to make a even pattern

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Maybe I am doomed to make lame puppets. I really wanted to make the next generation of fragil.

Don't be discouraged, it just takes practice.

 

[Iokitek]

Right just keep at it. And especially don't let others discourage you.

 

[daddycartoon]

Oh wow.. You guys use real stitching? I was using a glue gun to put my fleece on. I can't sew at all because I am scared of needles. Is this part of my problem? Do you really need to sew?

 

[ElijahTheSane]

i haven't really been doing this too long myself, but i have tried sewing and hot glue guns and the sewing looks alot cleaner, and i don't even really know what i'm doing... actually i accidently sewed myself to a monster the other day without really noticing... but i suppose that could have been avoided if i wore a thimble

remember kids always wear protection while sewing

 

[ravagefrackle]

Oh wow.. You guys use real stitching? I was using a glue gun to put my fleece on. I can't sew at all because I am scared of needles. Is this part of my problem? Do you really need to sew?

well its a lot like any thing if you want it to look right you have to do it right,

sewing is the best way to get a real proffesinal finish for your puppet, glue gunning is fine for somethings but if you are gonna do it right you need to stitch the skin, so i suggest you start practicing your hand sewing , there is a recent thread about the "henson"stich, so look at that , there are some great detailed instuctions about sewing a good puppet stitch., maybe a thimble will help u to get over your fear of needles,