Hi Guys! As they say here in Ireland, I'm totally 'green' when it comes to sewing. I haven't a clue...Luckily my missus does and she's gonna help but I need to find the answers to two questions first and the rest I'll muddle through. Firstly, what brand and model would you guys recommend as a good, basic sewing machine for sewing together simple patterns/materials? Last question and this is the one I'm really stuck on and also the one thats most likely gonna make me look like a dunce: One thing I dont get...Ok so you've made the body and head out of foam and you've got your patterns and fabrics sorted out...Do you literally sew together a 'skin' that then fits over the foam puppet or do you cut out the right shapes and simply stick the fabric directly onto the foam? If you sew a skin then what if you have a really complex design with features etc would you sew those seperatly then hand stitch them together when they are in place?

Sorry and thanks in advance
This site is a virtual bible for everything puppets I love it. Please dont chuck me out for being stupid ;-)
Tim

i've found the that site project puppet offers some great patterns and instructions on how to make puppets, They also have a section on tutorials on some of the things you  mentioned... www.projectpuppet.com

Hey Tim,
your not stupid for asking this question, and the answer is quite simply YES, you really do just make a skin and put it over the foam puppet, but, unless you are a veteran puppet maker with years of experience, you usually just build the basic puppet and then add the facial features on later by making them, covering them with fabric and sewing them on!!!

however, you dont have to cover the foam puppet, pasha at projectpuppet makes alot of puppets that are just the raw reticulated foam and they look awesome, he has a few tips and tricks for this on his site.

regarding sewing machines, it depends on what is being sold where you live, but i have been using an old 'singer' sewing machine for many years and it was fairly cheap and very robust.

one the flip side tho, regarding really complex puppets, where you make the puppet with features already on it, you can just drap the fabric over it and spray glue it on as you go, i have been doing this aswell for quite some years and its a great way to make really fantastic, professional looking puppets that are covered in detail, but beware its not that easy to do and will take some practice and a few experiments to get it right, but if you need some advice on this very method, asks one of our members called 'Dr Puppet', as this is a technique he uses quite alot and also has a web site where he sells tutorial vids for about £5, there are some great vids including one that explains the draping of fabric over a foam puppet head and spray gluing it on!!

hope this helps a little, but remember that there really are no rules for making puppets, if it works for you, then its fine!!

Ben.

Top man Ben! Great advice! I like the idea of no sewing and just glueing on but yeah I can see there being an art to that.

Well when you are draping and gluing the fabric there is still going to be sewing involved. At some point you get to a point where you have to cut and make seams and tucks in the fabric. That is where things get complicated.

Along with the suggestion of Project Puppets patterns and Dr. Puppets videos I would also suggest having a look at Daryl's (aka StiqPuppets) videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/StiqPuppets If you can afford it buying one of the patterns from Project Puppet is a great way to start.  They are tried and true patterns that result in a nice end product.

When beginners ask about sewing machines I always suggest getting something inexpensive. Singer is a good brand and you can often get them for a good price.  There is also Brother and Janome that are lower end machines that will more then likely be even less then a Singer.  Try to avoid machines that are computerized.  If you go for the cheap one in the store then it won't have all the fancy stuff and you don't need all that at this point. While I do have an old Singer at home which is great, I also have a really cheap Brother that I use to take with me to jobs.  Does just fine, it is just a bit noisy. Once you get the hang of sewing and if you really start to build a lot of puppets then you might want to look at a higher end Singer or Bernia.

Thanks Shawn, as always great advice!

Shawn do u know if 10ppi reticulated foam is good? There seems to be loads of different densities of this type of foam. 100ppi was the most porous they had.

You know I have to say that the numbers are all Greek to me.   Also I don't use the reticulated foam. Billy is good at knowing the densities by number. In fact I am pretty sure he has mentioned them in a post before. If I can find it I'll post.  I normally just pick it up and go yep that will work or know that is to flimsy.   

I'm the same too Shawn. We only get 4 or five densities, and I also go yep that will do... or, yep that will HAVE to do...I'll MAKE it do...GET IN THERE YOU....rrrrr...ah, that will do.

Project puppet patterns are very good and easy to understand, always give a good end product. Can't say that about all the patterns I have bought. I really like Elna's low end sewing machine it sews like a dream very user friendly and does not break down or have those pesky tension problems breaking the thread. Good luck to you.