Oh I got one of those for Christmas!  It's so great!!

When I'm doing construction seams, stuff on the inside that no one will see, I'll use plain black, white or grey thread and save the colored thread for hand sewing and details. Since I go through so much of those three colors, I'll wind up three or four bobbins of each. When one bobbin runs out, it's simple to drop the next one in.

Don't forget that some machines will actually wind a bobbin while you sew. This normally a feature on industrial machines but make sure and check your owners manual to see if you can do it with your own machine.

BTW: The Brother you are getting does not do this just in case you where hoping.

I'm still overwhelmed at all the friendly support here! WOW!

Would that Henson stitch work with polar fleece? I feel like the seams would look messy because of it not being as... I don't know, easily brushed to make invisible?

Not sure what you mean by that but I wonder if you are talking about flocking.  Flocking is what is used on Miss Piggy now.  They take a raw foam form of her head and then flock that to make it look like fleece.  It is a process where you spray the foam with an adhesive and then cover it in "bits" of fabric.  That is the simplified version of how it is done. The process is currently being discussed in this thread. http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,7290.0.html

Doh! Sorry, I didn't finish that sentence, although the link you sent me was very cool! I meant to say " Anyone know how to make the fleece that attaches to the mouthplate neater?" Whenever I hot glue it to the mouth plate it seems to always get all gross and really just makes the puppet look bad, I know it's not necessary right now, but I'd like to know it for future reference.

Thanks!

I know you said you are on a budget............. if you get a chance Jay (a member here)from Dr.Puppet has some excellent tutorials at only $5 each and is very much worth the money. He has some great techniques with sewing.
http://drpuppet.com/video_tutorial_page_1.html

You may have seen these videos if not enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/user/stewart1973/videos

Polar Fleece comes in different weights, or thicknesses. Some are heavier weight, for heavy-duty outdoor gear, and some are very thin, for things like jammie pants. (If you're technical, it's micro, 100, 200, and 300 weights)

If you choose heavier weight fleeces, there's more fluff to fluff up around the seams, but the heavier it is, the less flexible it is. Lighter weight fabrics have less fluff, but are more flexible. Heavier weight fleeces cost more too, so buy the heaviest weight that works for your project.

If you look at the edge of the fabric, it's a little like a sandwich cookie. Fluff, a knit base in the middle, and more fluff on the outside. If one side is more heavily fluffy, use that side as your "right" side to maximize your fluffability.

Fluff!

Glad we're being helpful!

You could try and hand sew your mouth plates in. Might give you a cleaner edge.  You can also sew then to the head via machine wrong side out and then turn them. This works best on a puppet like you are doing now that has a softer mouth plate.  I know we have said it again but with practice and patience you'll get better at this.

You are having to gather the edge of the face fabric into that of the mouth plat since it is "larger".  In the sewing world this is called "easing your fabric in".  It takes time and finesse.  You could try running what is called a basting stitch around the mouth on the face fabric. A basting stitch is large running stitch that are easy to take out.  They let you gather the fabric up on the thread so you can even out the gathers and distribute them evenly and nicely along the area you want to attach it to. So you would do this and then pin the fabric to your mouth plate making it nice and clean. Then use the ladder/henson stitch to sew it down or if you prefer you can glue it down a bit at a time. The only problem with this is that if you glue it then you may not be able to pull your basting stitch out which is what you normally do once you have it sewn down. 

Hand Sewing Stitches : How to Sew Basting Stitches

Another tip when putting your mouth in is to at the very least pin it at the corners and centers at the very least before you start sewing or glueing.

Just wanted to add something about basting stitches. You can do them on the machine and when you do that you can actually run two of them right next to each other about a pressure foot width apart. Then when you draw up your basting stitches you get a really neat clean gather that can be worked into wherever you are working.

This a good video for when you get your sewing machine

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?dbQnuAOlGwc" target="youtube">YouTube Video</a>

Okay Billy, that was a very cool video! There are so many different and interesting approaches to making puppets. Love this guy. Seems a bit like a Kiwi version of Jim Henson.

Okay Billy, that was a very cool video! There are so many different and interesting approaches to making puppets. Love this guy. Seems a bit like a Kiwi version of Jim Henson.

If you like that one check out these other ones he created. http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,5459.msg65636.html#msg65636

Wow. I missed that those were the same guy. Haven't watched those other videos yet but I certainly will.

I love the one where he makes the scroll saw from scraps, I want to live next door to this handy guy. He has a serious CAN DO attitude.

Awesome! Okay - So I got the Foam Book, my sewing machine, and some 1/2 inch polyfoam in the mail today. I'm ready to get down to business  . Hopefully I'll have some pictures later.

The polyfoam seems a little thin. I hope it can hold the shape of the puppet... if not, crap, I ordered the wrong stuff! D: