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Puppetbubba asked about patterns that include a torso with shoulders that would be easier to dress.  I recently made one up based on a picture I saw from Dr. Puppet somewhere.  I'm going to try to share it with you.  Hopefully this will work out.  I downloaded a pdf file into my gallery album that I think you can download and print.  Here is a picture of the torso made up in 1 inch foam:

Go to gallery, then user albums, choose Puppetlady, see PPDr.Puppet Torso Hybrid2, click on "no thunbnail", click "download document"

The pattern is two sheets that must be lined up using the registration marks to create one half of a symmetrical pattern. So in theory, you could print the two page pattern out twice to get the whole pattern piece in four pages if you flip two of the pages over to get the mirror image side.  The foam is glued on the shoulder seams, in the waist area and on the back.
Hope this is helpful.

Pam

That looks like a great pattern. Much better than mine

Wow I was looking at your art gallery and I wondered about the torso. I does look easier to dress but what size is it excatly do you know
/ either way thanks a bundle

I haven't used this torso yet in a puppet.  I'm thinking it will work with the Forma size puppet head and wear baby clothes, maybe size 3 months to 1 year.  Baby clothes don't usually have sleeves long enough to cover the length of the arm so I'd buy short sleeved garments and plan to have some arm skin show or chop off any long sleeves to make short sleeves. 

I usually end up altering larger clothes down so the head fits easily through the neck opening.  If I come up with a shirt pattern I like, than I'll share that too.  A shirt pattern could be easily created by using the torso pattern as a guide - add maybe two inches of ease in each side.  I personally like to take a larger size T-shirt and cut it down so I don't have to sew a neck opening.  I do that for my own T-shirts that I wear.  I buy x-tra large and then tailor it to fit me in the shoulders and sides.  It looks so much better that way since T-shirts are made from a knit tube for the torso and most woman aren't tube shaped.  We have curves.  The T-shirt can be tailored for your puppet in the same way - use the neck hole from the shirt and cut off the sleeves and down the side.  Recut the side seams to follow your puppets lines adding a few inches ease then cut the new sleeves from whatever T-shirt excess is left from the old sleeves or the bottom edge.

This might be a good tutorial.  Would you like a photo tutorial on tailoring down a shirt?

Very nice pattern shape!  From this point, it would be very easy to adjust the darts on the sides to make a defined hour glass shape for female characters. 

Well done thats pretty close to one of mine. the pattern is totaly different though which I love! I think its great to see someone else solve a problem thinking about it in a different way. Well done really!

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I added a shirt pattern for this torso to illustrate using a kid's t-shirt and cutting it down to make a puppet t-shirt.  I started with a size 14/16 kid t-shirt so I would have a nice big neck hole.

For the pattern look in the gallery under user albums, puppetlady, see Torso Hybrid Shirt Pattern, click no thumbnail, click download document.  It's a pdf file.  I revised it some to have deeper arm holes and more ease in the sides than the one in the photo tutorial.  For a more boyish torso and shirt, the waist curves can be elimated in the foam torso and in the shirt pattern.  Draw a straight line from the lower armpit edge to the lower shirt edge on the shirt and eliminate the waist dart in the foam.

Here are the directions in pictures:

Excellent!!

I just watched Dr. Puppet's (Jay's) video on covering the body.  It's that curvy David Tenant body that he covers that inspired my torso pattern.  If you buy his video he shows you a nice variety of variations of shouldered body types that would come in handy for different characters.  Although Jay's pattern looks more complex than mine, you could modify mine to get a variety of body shapes that Jay shows made up in foam.  All four types he shows are for male characters, but they could be used for female as well if you add breasts (with the botbellied male turning into a pregnant female or the skinny fellow a young female adolescent.)  It's a gold mine of ideas for $5 if you are interested in bodies with shoulders that both support a costume and convey a character type.

Thanks Puppet lady...I am making a video on building bodies next and will show different ways I was taght and some of the ways I make them. As well as making the actual tennant body. Yo are completely right about making the bodies into woman I sometime taper the waist more but its not really nessessary.

Great job puppetlady thanx for sharing your work

Thanks for sharing all these great ideas......I love and will be getting all the video's in the next few days.

Thanks to both of you for sharing your little tid bits of info....it helps the community.

Daryl H

When drawing the pattern for shirts, an easy way to draw the ease, exactly parallel to the body pattern is to use a washer.
 Just put the washer next to the foam pattern (before having glued it), a pen in the hole of the washer and draw along the foam. You will have a parallel line as separated from the foam as the width of the washer. Fishing line or surgical tape reels are very good for this.

There is also a program called proposter to re-size images. It has a free evaluation  version. Using this version you will see the text "evaluation version" or something like that, but it would not be a problem for drawing patterns

ProPoster looks interesting.  I thought folks might like the link to the program.

Thanks guys.  I downloaded ProPoster.  Another toy to play with:)