I have no idea what it’s going to turn in to, but it’s a fun puppet. It’s based on a very simple puppet pattern, but I got to work on my sewing skills while building it, which is awesome.

As simple as this puppet is, it has some tricky parts for a self taught sewer like me. The hands involve sewing tight curves on the sewing machine. It takes a bit of practice and patience not to end up with square fingers. There’s also some hand sewing, albeit a simple whip stitch. Anyone who has done hand sewing knows that it takes some practice to get the stitches even. The trick for this puppet is not to makes the stitches too far in so they’re visible when the puppet is turned right side out, but also not to make them too close to the edge so they rip out as soon as the puppet’s finished.

If the sewing is off, or the pieces aren’t lined up right, the puppet can feel awkward to manipulate. Sometimes the mouth will be too stiff, the neck will feel twisted, or the passageway between the head and the neck will be too narrow for the puppeteers arm. I’m pleased to report that didn’t happen here. This puppet feels pretty good!

This is the last day of puppet experimenting. I will post videos of the puppets I created this week soon. It’s been a fun week and it’s by no means the end. I will keep working on these creations and others. I want to thank @patthedogpdc for giving me a week to practice my building craft and to experiment and also everyone who followed along on the adventure.