I think I an going down the doll joint route for attaching the legs to a puppet is this a good idea? Also how do you hold trousers/pants on a puppet without stitching them on so they don't fame down all the time.? Do you literally cut a hole in the trousers/pants and put your arm through there or is there a better way?

No real need for doll joints on legs for hand in mouth puppets.  All you need to do is attach the legs to the front of the body via stitching them in or you can use Velcro so they can go on and off.  Yep you would open up the crotch seam of the pants so you can have access.  I would say if you are having issues with the pants staying on then just put a couple of stitches to hold them in place on each side. I think some folks may actually stitch the pants to the shirt so that it is kind of like a kids jumper. You can make something like this and then put a list up the back with Velcro so it can go on and off your puppet.

Thank you very much for the reply I did wonder about Velcro and I never thought about stitching the clothes into a onsie thank you sir

We tend to have sets of legs that have a couple cloth tabs that we safety pin to the body, under the cloths, so we can add or remove them readily. The pants I do split the stitching up the back side to send your hand through. Depending on the action, lightly stitching the cloths helps to keep things in place.

I use tiny clear baby buttons with elastic thread loops on two or three sides to hold pants up.  I make a thread loop for shoulder straps so they won't fall down similar to belt loops on ladies dresses.  You make loop of thread with your hand and then pull a loop thru that to make a tiny chain of thread until you get the length you need, kind of like crochet, but with your hand.

The stitch that Snail is talking about is called a "Swing Tack".  It is really useful for many things and pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it.



You can even sew a snap or button to the end of it to have it connect to something. It is often used in costumes to connect parts of the garment that you want to have some movement but to still keep something in a specific spot. For example say you have a ruffle around a collar and it is large enough that if the performer is dancing it would bounce up into their face. You still want it to move some but not get in their face. A short swing tack on the underside connected to base of costume will take care of things. It is used in tutus for ballet dancers between the different layers of tulle.

Thanks Shawn and Snail, that´s a new one for me. It will come in very handy.

I love all the stage uses, never thought of using something to stop motion at a certain point, you can do so many more things for a show that you don't usually do in regular garment making.  I love to hear your perspectives Shawn.