Little pig, little pig....

In a later post, I'll be documenting a doorway puppet theater (held in place by a spring tension rod).  The puppets, however, are tonight's subject.

Since the embroidery extravaganza of purses went over so well, I am in the process of making next year's Christmas presents.  The plan is to make puppets for all the kids, in a variety of characters, and making a puppet theater for each family.  Each puppet will be a combination of embroidery and sewing - embroidered features, outlines, etc and basic stitching for assembly, with some hand stitching thrown in to keep me honest.

After a few of the puppet designs are completed, I will be sharing and/or selling the embroidery files.  If there are beta testers who are willing to provide some test data (reports on the stitchout, assembly process, etc), send me an outline of your review procedure & machine details and I will choose a few to receive free files.

The pig ears, tail, and hooves are stitched out first (with the option of stitching the hooves directly to the pig body or making stand alone hooves).  Then, the face is stitched in the hoop, attaching ears and the back of the head last.  The body is regular machine sewing with a hem around the bottom.  Finally, the heads are stuffed with fiber fill and the body is attached with hand stitching.  Hooves, tail, and the bow tie were hand stitched to finish them off.

Approximate fabric usage is 1/3 yard of 54" fleece. (Get remnants, it's not worth paying cut prices).  Fleece, anti-pill fleece, soft minky fabrics and terry cloth would all be good choices.  Felt would be okay, but I don't like how felt wears with heavy usage and washing.

--Mickey