Monkey Marionette

This is the mouth assembly in cardboard. This shows my design process. This is the side view.
Mouth cut out ready to sew together. I will be tacking it all by hand and sewing on the lines then taking it to the machine for final finish.

Monkey Marionette

The monkey will be having an open mouth. This is is a first for me. The pattern pieces for the upper jaw to be connected to the head top piece, the pieces are all connected to each other and lastly the jaw is connected to the lower head front. the head and back will then be sewn around together leaving an opening in the bottom for the neck. This will be a half a covered piece of toilet roll tube covered in fabric which then will also be in the body too. ladder stitched into place.
The limbs will be simple tubes of fabric, lightly stuffed and the feet and hands added on after. The tail will have wire to bend it up and defy gravity.
This monkey is going to be a puppet with strings.
The hands and feet have a back side in dark fabric and a light side too. Just make sure you have a left and a right for each. The hands will have an opening at the wrists for the arms to be sewn to and the feet are going to be sewn all around, then cut out, make a slit on one side of the fabric to turn through and that is where the legs will be ladder stitched onto. After turning out the right way top stitch in the fingers and toes. Lightly stuff the hands and feet. then sew them to the limbs.

Monkey Marionette

Just like my previous projects i got out my designing tools of cardboard, scissors, pen and masking tape i got to work.
Having studied the picture i decided that the monkey was divided roughly into thirds. The head being 1 third the body 1 third and the legs 1 third.

The eyes are made of felt. The whites are on doubled felt, template sewing (sewing on the line). snipped on one side and turned through, remember to snip the edges to make it smooth. Repeat these steps with the blue felt, and they will be ladder stitched together. Finally the whites of the eye, single layer of felt for highlights. Make sure that you make both eyes the same, especially the positioning of the highlights.
The nose is on doubled fabric, template sewing leaving a gap for turning and stuff lightly. Ladder stitch opening closed.
This picture shows the body pieces (dark brown)and the breast piece (beige).
Both back and front of this monkey's body is the same. The chest piece is appliqued on after it is stuffed.
This is wool roving i have had for some time, just waiting for the right project. This will be his dreads. Also shown is a felting needle and piece of foam rubber. More on that later.

Bag Giveaway

Nome's Brag-a-long has a cute giveaway on her blog to celebrate her 50th post. Some very funny reading here, so have a look. If you would like a chance to win this bag then give it a go! The owl is so cute!