Guys I had a look at Dr Puppets technique which is tricky but do-able...My question is that my puppets head is made up of both fleece and fur. It has a fleece face with big fur hair..Is it easy to hand stitch these two very different materials together and if so do I only do it at the seems or can I have an overlap and then stitch...Alternatively do I cover the whole head with fleece first then stick on the fur and hand stitch where they meet?

Sorry I'm just full of questions...

...I guess what I'm trying to say above is, when you add hair to a puppet is it simply stuck down or stuck down and stitched?

I usually do a wig - make a skull cap using the fabric you use to skin the puppet, sew the hair to that, then attach the cap to the puppet. You can 'tack' the wig in place, or pin it, and then you can remove it if you want to change something later.

I'd go with this option first:

Alternatively do I cover the whole head with fleece first then stick on the fur and hand stitch where they meet?

Thanks Na! Say there's more fur than fleece would you do it the other way around...as in cover with fur and then stick the fleece section on and stich it in?...Although they'd be a lot of hair under the fleece section especially in my case I'm using long pile fur...I suppose I could trim the fur right down where the fleece section would be

With fur I wouldn't do the skull cap thing. Just stitch the fur on top of the fleece covering.  No if the base of the puppet was all fur and you where adding fleece in as hair don't make a skull cap out of the fur. Too thick.   In fact in that case I would do one of two things. Either I would cut away the long pile of the fur where I wanted the fleece and then stitch it on or I would pattern things out so that you sewed a seam between the two types of fabric. Let's say that you have a puppet that the body is fur but the belly was going to be fleece. That would perhaps when I would pattern it out so that you where seaming things together.

Skull caps can be a great thing but I normally use then when I want to make hair out of something loose like yarn or yak hair. That way I have something to attach the loose material to on the sewing machine and then hand stitch on to the puppet. A skull cap is also great if you want to be able to change the hair down the line.

Really? I'd just run the cap/fur through the sewing machine to sew it together - but you wouldn't do that?

Sorry to jump in so late in this. Hopefully I'm not misunderstanding what you re going for, but heres how I handle it.

Okay, lets say you have a fleece skin puppet you want to add fur hair to such as a person puppet.  I cover the whole head with fleece. Then, cut the fur into the size I need whether it's the whole hair or just a left and right piece that I will join in the middle.  Sometimes I sew, lets say the part down the middle, but other times I might join the part when attaching it to the head. 

Attaching: assuming I'm using a left and right hair piece with the nap of the fur to brush towards the back of the head....draw a line on the face where you want the hair line to be as well as the middle if you have the hair cut in left and right pieces.  Turn one piece over wrong side up and hot glue a small 'seam' to finish the edge of the fur that will be the front hair line. Basically you are making the front side look as if it hasn't been cut.  Repeat with the other side of the head piece.  You don't need to fold the other edges because the nap of the fur will lay against the fleece and finish the edge.  I then hot glue the fur 'hair' pieces to the head.  You could sew as well, but find it's faster.  Just move slow and be aware of hot glue thread getting into the fur.  . See side of their heads.

Second example...when part of the head or body needs to be fur while the other part fleece.  On the foam piece draw a line where the fleece stops and the fur begins.  Glue the fleece onto the foam up to the line, then add the fur in the same manner as described above.

If I'm joining fleece to fleece then most of the time I sew, but not always. It depends on the look, price etc.  also, the only time I would use a skull cap is for a real hair or costume wig since they bottom of the wig is usually very thin and does not give a good base to sew or glue on.

Hope the helps.  I'll try to take photos of anything specific you need if you ket me know if you don't understand my ramblings.

Julie

Thanks for the info guys...Still a bit confused as to what exactly a skull cap is though. Is it a a piece of fleece sewn to the wig/fur which acts as an underskin which can be glued or sewn easier to the head?

Yes.

Hi Guys! I eventually adopted Dr Puppets and Stiqpuppets technique of sticking the fabric on and handstitching. Yes you're right it is tricky but enjoyable. Here is my first puppet Dave. He's playing a Morlock in my Time Machine production.