note: I am able to share many of the vintage doll clothes patterns on these pages because of the loving care my mother gave to her pattern collection.

This site is also, in large part, Great-Grandmother's Dollhouse.                          

Thanks, Mom.

puppetssock

Sock Puppet DRAGON

Make sure the sock is clean and the color you want. Green for dragons? Thrust your hand inside the sock, as shown, keeping the fingers together to form the upper part of the mouth, the thumb lowered to form the lower jaw. Poke the toe of the sock back into your hand to form the mouth. Sew across the fold at each corner of the mouth to hold it in place. The mouth can now be lined with red cloth or felt. A tongue, forked, flat or flappy can be added. Because your thumb is not in the center of your hand, you might want to add wadded cloth or felt stiffening beside it to keep it in balance. You will find that with a little practice you can make the flexible mouth grin comically, smirk and turn down grumpily. Eyes are buttons on discs of paper or felt. The dragon’s crest is cut from felt and sewed along his spine, which is the back of your hand and wrist.

THE PERKY PUP Sock Puppet

Use a brown or black or speckled sock and add the pup’s floppy felt ears. For droopy eyes, first sew on bright black buttons, then cup a half circle of felt over them and sew it down. For a nose add a little bulb of black cloth or a big button.

OLD JOE CROW Sock Puppet

This bird has a bill of cardboard in two parts. The sock is first prepared as before, with the folds at the corners wrapped, then the upper and lower bills are glued in place. Use quick-drying household cement and glue the bill on with your hand inside the sock, holding it firmly in place until dry. For eyes, use buttons, sequins or the eyes used on stuffed toys.

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Here’s a goggle-eyed, gleaming monster made out of a tissue tube and aluminum foil. Construct his head as you did Miss Muffet’s, then wrap it in aluminum foil. By pinching and pushing the foil this way and that you can get the most gruesome features. Cut the large parts of the eyes from paper and stick them to the head with silver-headed thumb tacks, which then make the pupils of the eyes.

Robert’s right hand can be cut from foil in the shape shown, A, which is then fitted around the little finger, over-lapped and glued or pinched in place. For his left hand, fit the same shape to the thumb. Simpler mitten hands can be made from paper or foil as for Goldilocks. Longer lasting wrap-around hands, as in A, can be made of felt, leather or cardboard. Soft wire twisted in the shape shown, B, can be covered with cloth or paper and then fitted to a paper or leather cuff.

The Basic Body
Here is the pattern, C, for the basic puppet skirt or body. Two pieces are cut and sewed together down the sides, leaving neck, wrists and hem open. You will have to experiment to get the proper size for your hand, large enough to allow free movement, but not so large that too much material gets in your way. Once you have discovered the right size, make a pattern of cardboard and keep it.

With a little experimentation you will discover ways of padding out your skirts to make characters fat or broad-shouldered or bosomy. The method shown (D) has the hands attached by rubber bands to a little pillow, which fits in the palm of your hand under the skirt. This has the advantage of also holding the hands firmly in place on thumb and little finger.

puppetsrobot

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PAPA BEAR

Make the gruff old bruin exactly as you made Goldilocks, using the basic head shape shown, A. The features are glued on in the same way: eyelids (for Mama Bear), nose, neck piece. Cup the ears, B, forward when gluing them in position. Paint eyes and frowning eyebrows. A straw hat can be added, if you wish, C.

MAMA BEAR

Her basic head shape might be a bit smaller than Papa’s. She need not have such a fierce frown. Add a pink bow between her ears and an apron to her dress to give her that feminine look.

BABY BEAR

He’s just a little fellow, of course, but made just like his papa. He can wear a beanie of crepe paper. The bodies of all three bears can be made of brown paper, wool, felt or actual fur. Their paws, D, are made just like Goldilock’s hands.

A Ready-Made Play

Now you have all the characters you need for a complete play about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There is no need to write out a script; everybody knows the story. Just go through it once or twice, talking it out as you go along and having fun until you are ready to present it to a little group of friends or parents. In this way you can make plays out of many other folk tales and nursery rhymes that we all know; Sleeping Beauty for instance. (The Prince would have the same basic head shape as Goldilocks, but without the braids!)

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Paper heads are fun and fast to make with construction paper and glue. On pink construction paper draw out the large shape, A, about twice the size shown. Cut out along the solid outside line. (The features are shown only to show you where to glue them.) Bend this piece around, overlap and glue at dotted line to make the basic head shape.

Now copy out the features and cut them out: lips, B; nose, C; and eyelids, D. Light blue paper is good for the eyelids, pink for the nose, red for the lips, yellow for the hair. Bend the two little tabs of each eyelid under and glue them in position, not perfectly flat, but cupped outward like a real eyelid. Eyes and eyebrows can be painted on or also cut out and glued. Lips and nose are glued on in the same way.

Braid the long side tabs of the hair piece, E, and curl the bangs so that they fall over the forehead when the piece is glued on top of the head shape. (Crepe paper is best for this wig.) Roll the neck piece, F, around your first finger so that it fits snugly down to the second joint, then glue. When it is dry, glue it up inside and against the back of the head shape to form the neck. Roll and fit the hands, G, to fit your thumb and little finger.

Use an instant body, a glove body, or the simple puppet skirt described here. You can use this same basic head shape and method for any other human character you wish to make.

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Puppet Hands

Your puppet’s right hand can be cut in the shape shown, A, which is then fitted around the little finger, over-lapped and glued or pinched in place. For the left hand, fit the same shape to the thumb. Simpler mitten hands can be made from paper or foil. Longer lasting wrap-around hands, as in A, can be made of felt, leather or cardboard. Soft wire twisted in the shape shown, B, can be covered with cloth or paper and then fitted to a paper or leather cuff.

puppetbasicbody

The Basic Body

Here is the pattern, C, for the basic puppet skirt or body. Two pieces are cut and sewed together down the sides, leaving neck, wrists and hem open. You will have to experiment to get the proper size for your hand, large enough to allow free movement, but not so large that too much material gets in your way.
Once you have discovered the right size, make a pattern of cardboard and keep it.

With a little experimentation you will discover ways of padding out your skirts to make characters fat or broad-shouldered or bosomy. The method shown (D) has the hands attached by rubber bands to a little pillow, which fits in the palm of your hand under the skirt. This has the advantage of also holding the hands firmly in place on thumb and little finger.

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