I am embarassed to show you this crude puppet I made in a few hours from scraps when I was in a pinch, but it might give you an idea of how you can use a people puppet pattern head and attach a fish type body. Made a whole head and stitched the sides onto the head. I don't think this rounded head will give you that squarish whale head you are looking for. For the fins I did not use foam but 2 layers of thicker fabric sandwiched between outer spandex then sewed the lines to give that veined look.

Embarrassed? That's a darn cool fish if you ask me.

LL, thank you for explaining the gusset and it's method. Being new to puppets and all things sewing this was fresh information for me. Really interesting stuff that may inform my future builds.

Snail, great fish, I love the detail of the scales.

Thanks again for all this rich information everyone.  Snail - nice fish!  I see how you basically sewed a fish body to a puppet face - interesting.  I do enjoy the texture of your fish and it's got me thinking about texturing the whale's skin rather than just spray painted foam. 

I will post photos of my whale once it's completed for those interested.

KKaracters - how did you make that saxophone?!

I didn't make it, it's a pic of Zoot from the muppets, I just pulled it from the web.

Toys R Us used to have a great plastic gold sax, light weight and perfect puppet size. Looks like there are a lot more toy instrument options on the web too.

agreed na.

free fish pattern

On another Thread Na found pinterest link and this free fish pattern link was on that page.  It is not a whale but it might help you get started.

free fish pattern

On another Thread Na found pinterest link and this free fish pattern link was on that page.  It is not a whale but it might help you get started.

I love it when I happen on something and it ends up helping others. That's a great pattern!