Looking for some advice. I just received a new puppet in the mail today and below are a few pictures of it. All the fleece seams are glued and ALOT of them are popping open. The ones that aren't popped they have hard glue residue all over them. I've bought many puppets from different builders like Luna's Puppets, Nutty Puppets, Jarrod Boutcher and others. But I've never had an issue with any of these guys puppets. I guess my question is that is gluing seams common practice? Honestly in my opinion the puppet is unusable. Just wanted to check before contacting the builder.

Thanks for any help you could offer.

I have never seen glued seams before, but more important, it does not seem to work on this puppet. What a shame I hope they will help you resolve this problem.

I would say that is not common to glue the seams of fabric.  Foam yes fabric no.  Normally you sew fabric.  I would contact the builder. 

I've not heard of seams being glued before, but that shouldn't make any difference regarding contacting the maker. If the puppet is falling apart, it doesn't make any difference whether standard practices were used, or not. What is important is that the puppet is falling apart.

I've not heard of seams being glued before, but that shouldn't make any difference regarding contacting the maker. If the puppet is falling apart, it doesn't make any difference whether standard practices were used, or not. What is important is that the puppet is falling apart.

This. Ask for a refund, or a replacement. If this were a DVD player and you opened the box to find the parts coming off, you wouldn't care how they made it, you'd just want a refund. Same thing here.

Hope you checked their refund policy before buying.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have contacted the builder and he was very sorry and nice about it, he has offered a full refund and shipping cost to send the puppet back. This was only one of the two puppets I commissioned him to build and to be honest I'm a little worried about the other puppet falling apart now after a little use. The other puppet is a mummy so their was little fleece used and I'm not seeing a lot of glue residue like the one that is falling apart.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have contacted the builder and he was very sorry and nice about it, he has offered a full refund and shipping cost to send the puppet back. This was only one of the two puppets I commissioned him to build and to be honest I'm a little worried about the other puppet falling apart now after a little use. The other puppet is a mummy so their was little fleece used and I'm not seeing a lot of glue residue like the one that is falling apart.

Glad to hear it's all sorted. If you're worried about the quality of the 2nd one, maybe you should just ask what their repairs policy is? When I was selling puppets I offered a free repair service (shipping to be born by the customer though). I always felt like it was a good idea to do that even if it ended up costing me time because if anything fell apart it was mostly my own fault for not making things durable enough. It depends on how other people approach it I guess, but in this case you've already had to return one puppet so asking them to cover future repairs may be a fair way to deal with any potential problems on the other.

The other suggestion might be to politely request the second puppet to have the seams oversewn with invisible stitches so that if the glue doesn't hold then at least it shoudn't come apart.

Again not sure about how they approach their policies and quality assurance... so YMMV.

I have seen gluing of fabric...but mostly around the mouth area and hair and accessories, as it's quicker and easier than sewing, but it almost never lasts. I recommend sewing wherever possible, even little things like pupils on eyes. When designing, I also look for sewed methods over gluing. Another plus in sewing, is that if you do have to do repairs, it will all come apart cleanly, and go back fairly well afterwards. This weekend I actually handed over a 'repair' job. The owner had the puppet's pants fall down in the middle of a show... embarrassing for them, but instead of using safety pins, they wanted a shape rebuild. Since they were friends (and still are), I did it for them, and now I have a better shaped pattern, and am making another companion for their Character. I know a guy who used to glue around the mouth. He  lost a lot of customers through it, I think he  may  have  followed the  sewing advice as I think he still sells the  occasional puppet. I hope  your  puppet  builder  learns the lesson.  If the  puppets you  bought were  good looking enough for you to buy them in the  first place, he may  do well, if he  gets his   sewing methods sorted.

The owner had the puppet's pants fall down in the middle of a show... embarrassing for them...

Embarrassing for the owners, yes, but how much more so for the poor puppet! 

Hi Bebo, I would also be concerned about the 2nd puppet holding up. To be honest, I was extra shocked when I learned that this puppet was a custom commission! I agree with na's advice though and would press him a bit to ensure you receive a quality puppet.