Izzy Puppet Pattern

Here is Izzy. It took me a few days to figure out a design that worked. I thought Captain Hook would be the hardest puppet to come up with, but he proved to be easy compared to Izzy. My daughter, Cosette, kept rejecting my designs telling me, "She looks funny." I can now proudly say that she has been approved by my 4-year old.

Materials:

• 1 sheet yellow, dark pink, dark brown, black, brown, and white felt.
• 2 sheets pink felt
• 3 sheets tan felt
• Dark brown, dark pink, and pink floss (You will use 3 ply unless otherwise stated in the instructions)
• Pony Bead Lacing about 1 foot (I found it in the beading section for kids.)
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Needle
• Pom poms to use as pixie dust.
• Pins
• Fabric marker
• Pattern (located at the bottom of this page)

Cut out all your pieces. With dark brown floss, sew wrong sides of mouth and face together with a running stitch. (Running stitch is made by making a stitch, leaving a little space and then making another stitch. Try to keep your stitches and spaces the same length.) Sew the wrong sides of mouth and chin/neck together. Put aside.

I worked on the embroidery of the hat next. Using a fabric marker, draw the design on the hat as seen below.

Using the pink thread backstitch the loops all the way across. (If you have never backstitched before, instructions for the backstitch are given below with the shirt.) When reaching the other side, go back and add a french knot between each loop. If you have never attempted a french knot before, then I have added instructions to the pictures below.

Push needle from the back of your fabric the spot you want you knot to be. Wrap your thread around the needle 4 times.

Holding your thread tight, turn your needle and insert it close to the same hole as you started with. Pull the thread through and pull tightly.

Ta Da!

Once you have finished the fun design on the hat, pin the front and back of the hat together. Glue the back side of the front part of the hat to the front of the head. Then glue the back side of the back of the hat to the back of the head. (Note: My pictures don't show the hat glued first, but I believe that this way will be a little easier.)

Use a fabric marker to mark the ear lobes as noted in the pattern. Using a backstitch, stitch the area you have marked. (Just backstitch on the front of the right and left ears.) When backstitching is completed, stitch the front and back of the ears together using a running stitch.

Pin the ears to the side of the puppet in between the front and back of the face.

Starting at the bottom of the neck, and using the dark brown thread, sew the front face/neck to the back of the head using a running stitch. When you get to the ear, make sure you are sewing through all thicknesses. Continue with the running stitch with the brown over the top of the hat and then down along the other side of the face to the bottom of the neck. Make sure you sew the other ear in place as you go along.

This is what it will look like when completed, except yours will have the hat as well. Sew the arms together with a running stitch as shown.

Now it's time for the shirt. Mark the design on the front shirt using your fabric marker. Using the backstitch and the dark pink thread, stitch the design along the bottom of the front shirt.

The Backstitch
Push the needle out the length of the stitch you desire.

Push the needle through the same hole as the last stitch made.

Repeat.

Pin the front and back shirt together. Pin the arms into place at the sleeves. Continue the backstitch along the side through both thicknesses of the shirt. When reaching the sleeves, don't forget to add your little loopy designs and make sure you sew your arm into place as well. Once you reach the shoulder area where the neck goes in (imagine a straight line from the armpit), stop sewing both sides together. Continue backstitching along the front to the other shoulder. When the other shoulder is reached, continue backstitching both front and back together. Don't forget to sew the other arm into place. Continue down the side until you reach your beginning stitch.

Shoulder area of shirt

You only need to backstitch one more thing, or two, but you're almost done! Backstitch the hair ties with the dark brown thread. 

Now for the fun part. It's time to put her all together. Okay, I just realized that I lied a little. You still need to stitch in the nose holes with the brown thread, but this will just take a few minutes of your time. And while you are doing that, you can be warming up the hot glue gun. See! I just saved you time wasted twiddling your thumbs while you waited for that to warm up. You're welcome.

Alright, start wherever you like, but I'll show the face first.

I glued all the pieces of the eye together first before I glued it to her face, starting with the outline and whites of her eye. I worked my way up to the reflection of the eye. I know the reflection isn't in the pattern, but all you need to do is cut out a tiny piece of white. When your eyes are glued together, place all your pieces on Izzy and move them around until you like what you see. Glue into place.

Glue the hair to the back of the hair tie. Glue the hair tie into place below her jawline. Do not glue her hair into place. Glue the right arm to the back of her shirt. (Your right, not hers.)

Now it's time to stuff your little bag with "pixie dust." I used little pom poms that I had lying around. I then tied a knot around the outside of the bag using the bead lacing tube. 

Tie a knot at the end of each side of the tubing. Make a little slit in her neck, behind her hair on both sides of her neck. Be careful to not cut through the back side of the puppet. Push the knot through the hole and then glue into place.

Now "Pixie dust away!" (I have no idea what that means, but I have heard it so many times that it will forever be ingrained in my mind.) Congratulations! Izzy is completed.

Pattern:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0o9QMnEgqetSGxncFFCcnlnTEU/view?usp=docslist_api

Captain Hook Puppet

Well, I've done it. I've survived half of the summer! Unfortunately, there have been moments that I have wanted to ship my kids off to Grandma and Grandpa, or Timbuktu... So, I came up with the bright idea to make them some puppets. Then I came up with an even brighter idea and asked the kids what they wanted. Tayce, my son, immedietly requested Captain Hook, which then led my daughter, Cosette, to request Izzy. (I should have just not asked and stuck with the monkey and elephant I was planning on.) Well, since I didn't have the heart to wipe the hopeful and excited looks off their faces, I committed to make it for them.

The kids did enjoy going to Hobby Lobby to pick out the colors for the puppets, and I will never complain about having to go to a craft store. It is my happy place. (It's a happier place if my children are not in tow, then I can wander the aisles for as long as I like, but beggars can't be choosers.) Here is a list of all the supplies needed for this project:

• One sheet of white, gray, gold, black, purple, brown, red, dark red, peach and pink felt
• Glue gun 
• Fabric pen
• Scissors
• Fabric scissors
• Pins
• Red, peach, black, dark purple, and brown floss (You will be using 3 ply throughout the project unless otherwise stated.)
• Needle
• Feathers
• Pattern (available at the end of the blog)

Back at home was when the fun really began. I started off with a rough sketch.

Then I had to ponder how in the world a puppet is put together in the first place. This was a trial and error process, as I will explain along the way, but I hope that I have it smoothed out for you. I drew all the pieces out seperately, cut them, and then outlined them onto the felt using the fabric pen. I enlisted the help of my husband somewhere along the way in the cutting process. Thanks, honey!

I started by pinning Hook's coat together and using the red floss (3 ply) to whipstitch the sides together. Do not whipstitch the top and bottom, unless you enjoy pulling out stitches. Tie a knot at the end of your thread and start it on the inside of the shirt. Whipstitch the outside of the coat and fasten it off when you get to the end of each shoulder.

I didn't take a close up picture of the whipstitching of the coat, but this gives you an idea of how I work. I got so excited to put it together that I didn't bother cutting out everything else until later. (That's where my husband's help came in.)

Next, get white thread and the left and right ruffle cuff felt pieces.Tie a knot in the end of the thread. Start towards the end of the ruffle and use a basting stitch (see below) across to the other side. Pull the thread tight to bunch up the ruffle and adjust the felt to where you like how your ruffle looks. Fasten off with a knot. When both ruffles are completed, you can start attaching your cuff to your coat. It's easier if you start whipstitching the cuff together on the side of the cuff, moving down to the bottom where the ruffle is placed. When you get to the bottom, place the ruffle between the two cuff pieces and stitch the ruffle and the cuff together. Continue to work along the side. Once you get to the top, place the cuff where you like it on the coat (see picture below), and whipstitch the cuff onto the coat. (Side note - when I say right cuff, I mean your right, not Hook's right.)

Left cuff

Right cuff

The neck comes next. Match the two neck pieces together and whipstich the edges together. Slide it into the coat, about 1/4 inch down. Pin it in place and sew the neck to the coat, making sure that you don't sew the neck completely shut. I used the peach thread, but you can use the red one if you like that look instead.

This is where things don't start lining up quite like I have in the pictures, but believe me, this will be easier this way. Grab the pink mouth piece and fold it in half. Line it up with the back side and bottom of the face. Pin into place. Using peach thread, whipstitch from fold to fold. 

Fold the top of the chin over and line it up with the bottom side of the mouth. (Wrong sides together.) Now pin it to the front side of the chin. I decided that I wanted the chin to move while Hook is "talking." Stitch through all three layers to the other side. 

 

Back view. I didn't make hook's chin long enough to line up with the fold, so I just worked with what I had. I adjusted it in the pattern I made, so it should work out, giving you plenty of chin to see.

Front view

Intermission: I discovered this as I was going through my pictures and thought it was kind of funny how similar Hook's mouth was to Elayna's big smile. :)

Alright, moving right along now. It's time to finish the hair and face. Glue the front hair along the sides of the face. They should match up with the back hair when finished. 

Pin the back hair to the front hair. Whipstitch the sides and top together. When completed, glue the neck inside the head, being careful not to glue it shut. (I thought about stitching it together, but it gets a little tight on the inside of the puppet, so why make things difficult?) Now you have the body of the puppet done. Time to decorate!

Baste stitch the neck ruffles, gather, and play with it until you like what you see. Knot off.

The hand requires a little bit embroidery. Wait! Don't panic if you have never embroidered before. I will walk you through it. This is called the backstitch.

Using the brown, tie a knot and starting a little below the dip, push your needle from the back to the front.

Put the needle in as close to the edge as you can, and push all the way through to make the stitch. For the next stitch, go below the stitch just made, the length of the stitch just made.

Put needle in the beginning of the first stich. Continue down the hand.

Using 1 ply, make fingernails by making little boxes. Admire your work. :)

Now it's time to put it all together. This is the way I suggest glueing the pieces on the coat: purple pants, gold strip, brown strap, hook, cuff ruffle, hand, cuff ruffle, bottom neck ruffle, top neck ruffle.

For the face, I placed everything where I wanted it and then glued into place. (Glue the mustache pieces on before the nose.)

Hat: Cut along the line as shown in the pattern. Using the same stitch (backstitch) you used for the hand, embroider around the hat as shown in the pattern. Glue the feathers into place. Place the hat on the top of his head through the slit and glue into place. 

I didn't have dark purple embroidery floss, so I just mixed pink and black.

Hand it to your child and enjoy the reward of their smile, and maybe a few minutes of peace.

Stay tuned: Izzy is next!

Link for Captain Hook Pattern puppet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0o9QMnEgqetODBybmdRZDVtY0U/view?usp=sharing

American Flag Wreath

I do realize that we are close to the July 4th holiday, but I created this wreath this week and decided that if there are anymore procrastinators out there like me, then you still have two days left. Plenty of time! Or just think of how on top of things you are for next year.

This idea came about because I was looking around at all my neighbor's patriotic decorations and realized that our house was sadly lacking. This is the 2nd wreath I have ever made, so believe me, I kept this simple.

Here is my supply list:

• 18 in foam wreath
• 10 wooden stars (I used different sizes.)
• White acrylic paint
• Hot glue gun
• 50 yard white tulle
• 24 yards navy blue glitter tulle
• 53 yards red tulle
• 26 gauge beading wire
• Wire cutters

The first thing I did was paint my stars white. I gave them a couple of coats, but with acrylic paint, it dries quickly. (I did try an oil paint pen at first, but it was not as white as I would have liked and the wood was drinking it up like the blood thirsty mosquitos just waiting for me to step outside my front door. So, I just went for the acrylic instead.)

The next step is a little time consuming: cut each color of tulle into strips 18 inches long. Believe me, it takes awhile. When that is completed, start tying the navy blue tulle in knots around the wreath. I staggered the blue starting from the top of the wreath along to the bottom, but did not tie it to the back side of the wreath. 

If you found the navy blue glitter tulle, then prepare to be glitter bombed. I now have glitter all over my house thanks to this tulle, but I believe it's well worth it. This part of the wreath is just over 17 inches along the outside of the wreath. I marked the rest of the wreath with a pencil, each 3 inches apart to mark the 13 stripes.

My little unhelpful helper

Once all the marks are made, start tying the red tulle along either side of the blue. Tie it in a knot and continue all the way to the mark you made. Do not stagger the knots. Change to white. Continue around, switching colors when you reach each mark. There will be 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes.

Now it's time to cut some wire. I didn't measure my wire exactly with each one, but it ranged from 12-18 inches. The 26 gauge wire is a little flimsy, so if you would like your stars to stand up a little higher and be a little sturdier, then get a smaller gauge number. Cut 10 or however many stars you decided to use.

Wrap the wire around a pen or a pencil to make it springy. Then glue the wire to the back of your stars. Allow the glue about five minutes to completely dry.

Now place the stars throughout the blue tulle. I poked the wire through the tulle and wound it around the tulle. Add some glue for a little extra support. And Wala! You are done! Now head out to your front door and hang it proudly.