Puppet, part three

I've done it! I've actually made the hands! No crazy French mime white glove substitute. Here's how I did it!

Step Thirteen

I first enlarged the template from last time to a lot bigger, and then cut out two of those for each hand.

Once that was done I sewed them together round the edge using a sort of double running stitch to make sure it was secure. I know I could have used the Henson stitch as before to make it less visible, but I started it on another piece and where the pieces were quite small it began to fray in places. When I'd finished those, I just turned them inside out...

Instead of using the whole of the hand of foam I had previously cut, I carefully removed the fingers leaving the palm. I then took stuffing and filled the fingers gently as to not overfill them. I then took five covered paperclips (by which I mean they're not just exposed wire) and unwound them.

Taking these, I pushed one into each of the digits. Then I took the foam palm and put that in the corresponding part of the hand. To fill out the rest of the flat areas I just placed loads of wadding in the areas that looked deflated, until it looked like this:

To attach the hands to the wrists I just used the Henson stitch again which just gave the look of a wrinkled wrist. I could also adjust and readjust the hands and fingers as I wanted due to the wire in the fingers. 

Step Fourteen

Never have I felt more awkward than when I went strolling round the Primark children's department full of buggy-pushing mums. But that is where I found this bargain (part of the 'Rebel Range' I'll have you know) for just £1.99.

However, the body I have is extremely round so didn't look great with this just draped over the top, so I had to make a few adjustments to it. I started by taking in the shoulders, and then I took in the sides. 

I knew that even with this done, I would need to stuff the body anyway because my foam is only a quarter of an inch. So in order to create a cavity to stuff, I made an inner tube that would go essentially round the arm of the person using it. 

I cut a piece of felt that's top edge was the same as the t-shirt collar, the height (the black Sharpie line) the same height as my body, and the bottom the same as the bottom rim of my foam body. I then sewed the two sides of this together with an overcast stitch:

This I then attached to the collar at the top and sewed inside. The photo below shows the t-shirt inside out. 

I then put the tube inside the foam body, and the t-shirt on the outside. The bottom of this can be seen below.

The space between the foam and the felt I then stuffed with more wadding until I was happy with the shape. 

Here it is without the arms.

..............

And that's where I shall leave it for now. Next time I shall explain how to make the hair (which I am still trying to decide), attach the arms and the arm wire. Thank you to the two people that actually come on here, and keep your eyes peeled for the next post!