10.12.2023

Talk to the Hand and Monday's Maven

My goddaughter's birthday was yesterday, so we spent the day in the hometown of Bruce Springsteen (Google it if you really want to know) eating pumpkin pie and jumping in a bounce house.

I mentioned that I sewed some puppets for her birthday, to go along with a cute handmade wooden puppet theater I picked up at Ten Thousand Villages.
Here it is, still in the wrapper. It has a sweet little red curtain with tassels on it too! I didn't pick one up for S, since we have a giant puppet theater that I inherited from the art museum after one of our kids' gallery installations. But I'm tempted to go back and get one (only $19 on clearance!).

If you've never been to one of those stores, you're missing out. They're amazing, especially for fairly-traded, handmade goods from around the world.

I was too busy playing and eating yesterday to even bother to whip out the camera, so no photos of SoJo hopped up on sugar snacks. But I'm sharing some photos of the puppets. It was meant to be somewhat of a tutorial, but as per my usual routine, I tend to procrastinate. Which meant that I was sewing these together a mere 30 minutes before the trek out to Jersey.

They are two-sided, one side has animals on them (bird, cat, dog, polar bear, which was quite random). And I think the dog looks too much like Homer Simpson.
The other side has people. I tried to make them "international" types, but I'm not entirely pleased with them.
I'm extremely picky about my work, and am not too happy with the machine sewing I did around the edges (so don't click on the photos to get a larger view!). My friend and many of the guests loved them, but I consider these a prototype for better puppets of the future. I'm hoping to sew some more for her each year.
They weren't too difficult to make. I drew a pattern on a piece of paper (using SoJo's hand to make it more kid-sized)
Then I pinned the pattern to a half-folded up piece of felt. That got me two identical pieces, which would become the front and back of the puppet.
I embroidered faces and clothes onto the puppets, and even added a scrap of silk that I dyed, to serve as a sari-like cloth over my puppet-man.
Then I stitched them together on the sewing machine. Since felt doesn't fray or unravel, I just stitched them together on the outside rather than the inside and having to turn them inside out. I also added yarn for hair sandwiched in between the two pieces, then stitched right over them.

So what do you think? Should I sell these on Etsy?

On another note, I'm featured over at I Never Grew Up as Monday's Maven. Woohoo! Thanks Vanessa. Please head over and leave a comment, so I don't look too pathetic. You might even learn something interesting about me.


10 comments:

Faith Imagined said...

Love the puppets! I think they will sell like hotcakes! BTW, congrats on the feature!

blueviolet said...

Those are so cute! Asbury Park (and I only know it because I lived out in NJ)

JamericanSpice said...

You inspire me darling. And this is a great idea to get for my children!

You my dear are so creative. I want you to be my kids teacher!

You say no click on photo and I click. It's the thing in us to do the opposite :)

Congrats on being featured. I'm going to read up on you some more :)

*hugs*

Eliza Welch said...

You should DEFINITELY sell them on Etsy!

I just started a new blog and would love for you to stop by!
Eliza’s blog

Joanie said...

Adorable! Love the puppets and YES! Sell them on Etsy!

Back about a million years ago, I used to make Noah's Arc sets. The only thing sewn by machine was Noah (made of muslin). Everything else was done by handstitching felt pieces. Especially if the set was going to a real child and not just someone's collection. The different stitches for certain animals was fun to learn and made them special. Also gave me something to do while watching TV.

And yet, none were as smart as yours with having two sides! I wish I'd thought of that.

CanCan (Mom Most Traveled) said...

I think they look awesome; this is the best gift. I wish my friends and relatives had the same gift-giving values.