Well I've started covering the body as I figured it would be easier than the head and give me more practice in glueing and stitching the fleece.

I started by gluing the front down with spray fabric glue - boy does that stuff go everywhere! I'm using this from Hobbycraft which seems to be fairly similar to contact adhesive in that you need to apply to both sides and then wait for it to go tacky. I've also used a little hot glue on the inside for ease.

I think I cut the back a little too short as I would have preferred more inside, but never mind for now:

 
I have managed to position the seam for the shoulder just to the back side, and here is my Henson stitching:


Boy does the hot pink colour mess with your eyes!  Having a tea break before doing the other shoulder now!

(Apologies if I'm posting too much - just thought it might be helpful for other beginners to see how my project is progressing)

No need to apologize!  It is great that you are posting the process and you are right that it will help others. What may seem to be an obvious step to someone who has been doing it for a while may very well not be to a new builder and thus it is great to see what you are doing and the steps you are taking.

Quick note on the spray glue. I am not familiar with the brand you are using but imagine it is the same as most. If you spray only one part of what you are gluing you can get more of a temporary bond. This can be helpful sometimes with say the face where you may have to reposition the fabric. I normally spray the foam and leave the fabric dry.  It is not as lasting a bond but often is fine for when you are working with it. Ultimately it is the stretch and stitching that holds it all in place. If you have a spot where it is not holding well enough (i.e. in a crease or fold like around noses or facial features) you can use your glue gun in that area like you did around the neck. Be careful with the amount of glue gun you use... too much and it will bleed through the fabric and show.

Definitely not posting too much for all the reasons Shawn cited.

I must admit, I have yet to glue the skin to the foam. As Shawn said ultimately it's the stretch and seams that hold it in place. On the body, my puppets usually are wearing clothes, so even if a wrinkle should exist, no one ever sees it.

I ended up only using the spray glue on the front side of the body and a small amount on the back at the sides - as you say the stitching and stretch hold everything in position anyway. So here is my almost finished body piece I have left the bottom end just pinned under on the inside and also not glued down the inside top as I may decide to sew on a bit more material there. As you can see I have cut a hole in the back for operation like a ventriloquist dummy too.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, even if the seam up the back isn't as invisible as the shoulder ones!


Next step is the one I've been putting off - covering the head...
I've started by draping some cheap cotton fabric to try and get a pattern and work out the best positioning:

I have tried to minimise the seam in the middle at the front - it starts part way up rather than running all the way to the mouth. Hopefully I can add an allowance to tuck into the mouth as the lips. The other thought I had was to cut out a hole in the fleece for the mouth fabric, glue it on and then work out from there (in the same way as the StiqPuppets frankenstein tutorial) but that seemed quite difficult on the round head.

I'll probably put this off for a bit longer while I work out my favoured method!  

Good job on the body cover. Back seam is not really that important since it does not show.

Looks like a good start on your pattern for the head. Something to remember is that cotton does not have stretch and your fleece most likely does. Like you I normally do a draped pattern out of cotton but the advantage of using StiqPuppets method is because of the stretch you can often avoid some seams.  You might play with the fleece some and see how it "drapes" without actually cutting or gluing it. If it stretches only one way try changing the direction of that to see which works best. Yep you want some seam allowance at the mouth so you can wrap it around and glue to or sew to the mouth plate.  If I know my pattern works then I often cut a piece of black the shape of my mouth plate and machine stitch it to the head fleece before I apply it to the head. Makes for a fast easy clean seam. Some folks prefer though to hand stitch or glue.

It's looking tremendous so far, what excellent work. To help hide the seams you can try picking it a little, if you haven't done so already. Darryl (Stiqpuppet) demonstrates this on YouTube.

Darryl's video is about doing the Henson or Muppet Stitch, but he demonstrates the picking starting at about 6:20 into the video.

Quick note on the spray glue. I am not familiar with the brand you are using but imagine it is the same as most. If you spray only one part of what you are gluing you can get more of a temporary bond. This can be helpful sometimes with say the face where you may have to reposition the fabric. I normally spray the foam and leave the fabric dry.  It is not as lasting a bond but often is fine for when you are working with it. Ultimately it is the stretch and stitching that holds it all in place. If you have a spot where it is not holding well enough (i.e. in a crease or fold like around noses or facial features) you can use your glue gun in that area like you did around the neck. Be careful with the amount of glue gun you use... too much and it will bleed through the fabric and show.

That is some very helpful information there. I have just made my first ever puppet and I have tried to pull the fabric over it and not too happy about its finished look. I using the first ever puppet to learn from and am not too worried about its appearance at this stage and basically one for the Grand kids to play with.

I didn't have a pattern and have basically made it on the fly as a first attempt, testing and trying out gluing and covering methods. I just have to learn how to add a photo to this comment box to share or I will put mine photo in the gallery.

JonathanB did you have a template? Mine I have carved from some old foam and I am waiting on some 1/2in foam to start making another one. Your puppet is looking good.

I just have to learn how to add a photo to this comment box to share or I will put mine photo in the gallery.

Once you have uploaded an image to the Gallery you can insert it into a post via the small camera icon at the top of the post screen.

Looks like a good start on your pattern for the head. Something to remember is that cotton does not have stretch and your fleece most likely does. Like you I normally do a draped pattern out of cotton but the advantage of using StiqPuppets method is because of the stretch you can often avoid some seams.  You might play with the fleece some and see how it "drapes" without actually cutting or gluing it. If it stretches only one way try changing the direction of that to see which works best.

Still playing with this before committing - I have tried pinning the fleece all the way around the mouth plate when opened flat and can't get a decent drape in either direction really. Looking like I'll have a seam down the middle, just hoping I can get a better job than the seam on the back of the body!

Looking like I'll have a seam down the middle, just hoping I can get a better job than the seam on the back of the body!

And if you have a seam, remember that won't bother the audience one little bit.