Oh ok ! I get what was being explained now that I see these examples. I actually thought I was being told to do some thing more complex in cutting.

Thanks every one for trying to explain this to me *hug*.

I think I should explain the little fear I have of making the wrong cuts, where that came from. I made a massive puppet last summer that was my first case involving foam. While the concept seemed sound, it became a bit unmanageable because of design flaws that didn't hit me at first. Foam pieces cut for it, that for some thing not meant to be moved around could have worked.

Editing in for having forgotten this.

Angel in Tx- What does "HTH" mean?

HTH means "hope this helps".

Hey guys thanks for chiming in and helping while I was busy! Snail your image illustrates exactly what I was talking about. The V on the center line is the one that makes the front shape of the body so if you wanted it could be lengthened some which might help create more of the shape in the pictures in the first post. Also something to remember is that you can actually combine V's so to create football darts. Envision if you well the turning a V upside down and then putting another one right side below it. This is actually the concept behind the wedge pattern in Billy's album that Andrew created.

In fact if you look at the larger images of the above you can see dotted lines in the image. I often take a piece of paper and fold it in half the over so it is quartered then do a cut to get different football wedges.  A football is often uses in garments under the arm or in the crotch to give more room for movement which is when I resort to the folded paper.

The beauty of using the paper is that is it cheap. Once you get a pattern/shape you like then you can increase the size to fit your project and cut in foam. It many not be 100% effective if you are doing something complex but works well for simple shapes.

Looks like angel and I make the same body, she cuts the v's before gluing back seam, I do it after! I have made a lot of different ones, depending on what I'm doing. Sometimes add a piece to front to give the puppet a belly.

Oh here is another thing that might help folks visualize.  I big request on a body is for the traditional hour glass look. If you take what Angel drew out and then take the Puppet Building wedge and put it running vertical instead of horizontal right below the V's about mid way down (Yes they would need to be reduced in size) then glue those, you get the hour glass shape.  I think someone actually has this uploaded to their Gallery Album.

Ahh... found the post I was thinking of. http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,6599.0.html I realize this strays a bit from the shape you want for this puppet but down the line someone may be looking for this and end up here.  Also it really helps illustrate how darts work.  Going to go ahead and embed the image that is over on that post here also.

When I took Strech and Sew lessons long ago they made patterns from a product called Do Sew, it was thin, see thru fabric like interfacing.  You could see the fabric through it to match lines and prints and it held up better than paper.  You could even sew it like fabric.  I don't know if it is still available but it was great to make patterns.

Yep looks like Do-Sew is still out there. http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/do+sew+pattern+tracing+material+10yd.do#  Most likely you can find something like it at our local sewing store. http://www.joann.com/pattern-tracing-material-46-wide-50-yards-white/prd34796/  Do be aware that there is also tracing paper that is not sew-able. Your looking for a product that has polyester in it. Do-Sew is 100% but others are often lower percentages mixed with other materials.