FUN WITH FABRIC MARIONETTES - Revised Edition

This is my original book in blog form. You will find full sized printable patterns for making and costuming delightful marionettes entirely from cloth. Simply right click on an image and "Save As" to download it to your desktop or into a folder for saving and printing the patterns.

I have made significant revisions to my patterns over the years since the original book was published and I have included those here as updates at the beginning of the blog with the original text and patterns following. I do hope that you will find an interesting and useful sewing hobby within these pages.

Have FUN!

 

UPDATE: NATIVITY MARIONETTES - Revised Head & Hand Patterns

Since discovering and adapting this Revised Head Pattern I have been using it in place of the other patterns which I originally published in the book. When firmly stuffed with the fiberfil it produces a nicely rounded and dimensional marionette head that fits perfectly with the Body Patterns. Although this isn't right for every character I have found that it serves well for most ordinary "human" heads.

I developed the Revised Hand Patterns to achieve  more realistic fingers. They are constructed just as the hands in the book with one exception. I now bend a large 12 inch pipe cleaner into shape and insert the bent over ends into the forefinger and third finger of each hand before stuffing with the cotton so that the hands can be shaped. The mitten style hands used for the Nativity Marionettes are even easier to sew and stuff and were designed to give a more formal appearance to these pageant puppets.

The Bare Foot Patterns are constructed in the same manner as the hands and require a variation to the lower leg patterns. You simply fold in the open edges of each foot and slide them over the weighted foot stump before hand stitching into place. The sandals will hide the seams when attached to the feet.

 

UPDATE: ALADDIN'S GENIE

Here are patterns to create the GENIE for my ALADDIN marionettes.

Some basic instructions are included here. All other construction techniques can be found within the original book. 

 

UPDATE: NEW IMPROVED HEAD PATTERNS

I have never been happy with the heads on the ALADDIN marionettes. Recently I have been experimenting with patterns to produce more dimensional heads and at last I have come up with a set that I am very pleased with and want to share with you.

Here is the Aladdin marionette with his new and much improved head and face.

Here are the new head patterns. You can save this page by right clicking the image and selecting "Save As" to your desktop or to a folder.

Ordinary muslin fabric is used with the eye whites being Gessoed felt and the eyelids regular weight felt. The Irises are colored buttons ( I spray painted these to get the right blue shade). The pupil is a black round dot made with an ordinary paper hole punch. I added a small white paint dot for the highlight followed by a swirl of gloss coating. I ran strong thread through the buttons and the eye whites and pulled it through the back of the head to sink the eyes in slightly. The mouths are done the same way with the Princess's lips of felt set under the thread before it is pulled back. Small bits of black felt glued in place form the eyebrows. You can also add to the definition of the features with a fine tipped black marker. Some red watercolor pencil was used to rouge the cheeks.

Here is the Princess with her replacement head. The hair for these characters is fine black yarn stitched directly to the heads. 

You could make a variety of characters with these same patterns and even alter the shape of the nose or chin slightly if you like.

 

Update to Fun With Fabric Marionettes - ALADDIN

These are marionettes made for ALADDIN AND THE MAGIC LAMP. It is necessary to make two identical versions of Aladdin for his transformation into a "Prince". A human actor in a mask plays the Genii so that he can physically move the marionettes and scenery around.

Poor ALADDIN in his rags.

"Prince" ALADDIN in his finery. The red feather and striped sash match Poor ALADDIN'S cap and vest to tie the two versions together.

 

Update to Fun With Fabric Marionettes - WIZARD

 

Update to Fun With Fabric Marionettes - CAMEL Marionette

Here are patterns and instructions for making the CAMEL marionette. 

[For other Animal marionette ideas check out my main blog:

puppetsandmarionettes.blogspot.com 

Besides the fabric required you will also need these wooden parts and the half Slinky.

This Camel is strung using the same double airplane control as the other marionettes in the book. The back knee strings cross over the body and attach to the control along with the front knee strings to give the Camel an animal's gait. If you want more Head movement consider attaching the head strings to a removable control bar. 

This marionette was made for use with the ALADDIN puppets.