Hello!

I bought the Melonhead pattern 3 months ago. Yesterday I had the time for the first time to spend all the day making the puppet. But I think I did something wrong and I appreciate your advice.

The melonhead pattern example (on the projectpuppet website) looks more "Stuffed" (maybe more fat?). Mine looks as if the "skin" is too big for the foam skull and mouth. I tried to pull as far as I could the fleece, but it didn't help. Also, the head of the puppet shows a kind of "ears" of the head sewing. What did I do wrong?

I am attaching you some pictures so you can see.



Looking forward for your response.

Kindest Regards,

Chewie49

It looks to me like the fabric skin is too big. Did you use their pattern for the skin?  If you enlarged thier patterns is there perhaps the chance that you used a different ratio on the foam pattern then you did on the fabric one? 

Looking at the seam on front that runs under the nose I am detecting a bit of bulk in the fabric at the hair line. Something that can give you a clean look at your seams is to make sure that the seam allowance is not too much and that you press the seams open from the inside. Seam allowance on a curve can be a bit tricky to press open but you can do it if you use the tip of iron and work you way along the curve. Clipping small wedges of fabric out of your curves or even just "slits" (make sure to not get to close to the sew line) can help curves lay neatly.

It appears that you are using polar fleece. With the simple series puppet patterns you can do things one of two ways. If you are real good at sewing straight lines you can cut the pattern straight from the cloth. If not may I suggest that you trace the pattern on to the fabric using a light colored extra fine tip marker , or a fabric pen. Then sew along the line..... Then cut it as close to the seam as possible to get a smooth clean look. Polar fleece if you sew off the line just a bit will bulk up like that. I would  just add ears on the sides to hide that mistake and as Shawn said take in a bit in the area of that bulk. Did you use the pattern as is or enlarge it at all?

Billy D.

Thanks!

I enlarged the pattern. It is 125% of the original size. But I enlarged everything, I took all the sheets to a copy machine and enlarged the fabric and the foam patterns.

Yes, I am using Polar Fleece. This is my first time EVER I sew anyhting. I even had to learn how to thread the needle.

Maybe the problem was the seam allowance. When I enlarged them, obviously the seam allowance grew too.

First off I think you're doing OK for your first puppet.  There is a huge learning curve when you make your first puppet and running into difficulties is to be expected.  I think you're going to have a very nice puppet when you're done.

It's hard to say what went wrong in the fabricating process but I'll throw in my two cents for ways to tighten up the skin.  What I would do is pull all the excess to the sides of the puppet's head.  Stretching and pinning the fabric until it is stretched tight of over the whole head.  If you do it carefully you can draw all the excess to one straight line so that you can cut it away and then hand stitch it together using a ladder stitch.  If you take your time and do it carefully you'll have a very smooth nearly invisible seam.

I used a similar process in the fabrication process of my Junebug puppet.  You might read that and look at the pictures to give you a better idea.  Here's a link to that tutorial if your interested: http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,2882.30.html

Add some ears and hair and most of that seam is covered.

Don't give up, you'll get the hang of it.

I would just take notes on the problem areas and with a led pencil make adjustments on your copies of enlarged patterns that way you can make necessary adjustments the next time. Just remember practice makes perfect. I think you are doing a great job   You will figure things out more the more you work with the pattern.

I haven't tried enlarging them yet

Billy D.

It seems that you hand sewn it? 

This can be tricky to do the first time.  Things you have to keep in mind when you are sewing is to keep the seems at a 1/4 inch everywhere.  This is the average seem line for most things you sew.  So if this is the problem then this can be easily fixed.  Take all the foam out and turn your puppet inside out and go back measure the seems with a ruler.  from the edge of the fabric to your sew line.  If they are larger or smaller than 1/4 inch then you probably have  a problem with the the seems.  If you have a sewing machine lying around or know someone who has this makes the process for these puppets a lot easier.  However if you don't then the next puppet keep the above information in mind and stick to making sure the seems are all the same.

Hope this helps......

Daryl H

Maybe the problem was the seam allowance.

You are correct there. While the dimensions of a pattern need to "grow" the seam allowance needs to stay pretty much the same.

Use straight pins to gather the fabric that is too loose. You can take the foam out of the puppet's head, turn him inside out re pin the seams and resew. The "ears" are most likely from the dart, when you sew this you want to curve the end rather than end in a straight point. I used the melonhead pattern enlarged to 125% to make my rabbit and didn't have any problem with the pattern. This is what the head looked like before I added features. He is made from fleece and fur.
You've done a good job for a first puppet. Keep working.
Sue

Now that I compare your puppet with jommama's that used the same pattern I believe even more that it is the seam allowance.  To be specific I and see on jommam's puppet the outside of the ears are set a slight angle in the pattern.  More then likely your center seam under the nose is not sewn "on the line" so it has widened the fabric from the front. If the same was done with the side darts/seams then your fabric would be a bit large front to back which would make it not fit tightly over the foam. 

Hope that makes some sense.

P.S.  Since your puppet is already put together jommama's suggestion of turning inside out and pinning the extra fabric should work very well for cleaning things up.