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Taught myself to sew this weekend...sort of!

So I searched everywhere for little outfits for my puppets. I specifically needed basketball uniforms and I thought I would find them in the way of doll clothes, baby clothes, etc. No such luck! Geez it's hard shopping for puppets! So I decided I would try to make my own and I went to Joann's (craftstore). I found the perfect material and I bought a little handheld, "on the go" sewer for repairs and whatnot. It was like $14. It works like a champ! I made 7 basketball jerseys! I didn't have a pattern or anything. I just made my own. Then I found some cheap iron on felt letters and numbers and did that tonight. They look great! I just have to make a couple of them shorts now! I am realizing this puppet show is ALOT OF WORK!!! My house is a wreck, I haven't even watched LOST last weeks or this weeks episode!!! But it is so much fun and I'm learning alot!!! I'll keep you guys posted and post some pics later too!

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Comment by David M on February 10, 2010 at 10:50am: Rock on! I love learning as you go. I'm in the middle of creating a robe and crown for a king puppet. Pictures please! Would love to see how they turned out.

Comment by Lois Sprengnether Keel (LoiS) on February 10, 2010 at 9:44pm: Love it, Ann, & can really relate to it. When I made my bloodhound puppet into Sheerluck Bones I had to devise my own Sherlockian deerstalker hat & a related coat. Puppets can really lead into uncharted -- & messy! -- territory. No LOST, eh? Sure hope you taped it as you'll be LOST otherwise. Oh, that's right you can also watch it online.

Something I've found that lets me shop for puppet outfits is getting my puppet outfits from Build-a-Bear types of places & have puppets from unstuffed critters from there or of similar size. Even found outfits that size at Joann's. That size puppet works well with my storytelling. I have 2 outfits for Buzz my LabraNewf puppy puppet that are on my page's photos. The Lifeguard shirt came from Joann's. Buzz was a dog to stuff at a place like Build-a-Bear & his bee outfit started as a ballerina costume purchased there. I don't have a picture of his Christmas sweater, but I found it at Michael's (another craft store). Sheerluck is also there in my photos.

Really look forward to seeing those baseball jerseys. So many of my puppet outfits have been to fit library Summer Reading themes & I can imagine baseball sometime there.

Comment by David Francis Morgan on February 23, 2010 at 1:36am: How you doing Anne, read your post...only just joined puppet hub.
In relation to clothing what I find useful are 2nd hand clothing stores, you can pick kids stuff in all styles and sizes, perfect for puppets. As I am not a brilliant machine sower (I do get buy and I ask friends to help out on costuming every so often).
Old Cheap clothing patterns, like Butterick's are helpful too as a guide and to use to practice.
I so agree about the mess, I just came off a music video clip, where I was the set designer and maker. Paint every where!

Comment by David Francis Morgan on February 23, 2010 at 1:37am: Or is that Budderick's??? You know what I mean.....

Comment by Ann Kennedy on February 24, 2010 at 1:40pm: Thanks all for the inspirational comments! David, I actully found a jacket I needed for one of my puppets at the thrift store just now! Woot woot! Do you do set design for a living? That would be so cool to do something like this for a living! So far my favorite things have been making the clothes and designing the set. Now I'm about to get into the filming and perfecting my green screen!

Comment by David Francis Morgan on February 25, 2010 at 12:51am: No worries, I wouldn't say that, however I have done work in this field for semi-professional Theatre and film.
Interesting you mention sets, as I finished only 2 weeks ago the set design and set dressing for the music film clip of band "Entropy Within"... (a very talented band from my home town).
I sure did drink a lot of coffee to get through this one! The filming was at night in a factory warehouse and I was on set non-stop for 24 hrs...
I much prefer puppet making, as it is my personal passion.
D.

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