Part Ten: Pinning the fabric in place and securing it with the “Henson Stitch”
There are several ways you can move forward at this point (before you start pinning!) You could just sew the fabric (inside out) with a sewing machine, leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the edge. You would then trim the seam closer to the stitching (but not too close!) You will have a nice seam—but it will be visible. You would then turn the sewn fabric “right” side out, slip it over your foam puppet parts, and — voila! One muppet-style puppet head and body! It helps for movement to leave a little gap between the foam head and the body. You can secure the fur or fleece with some discreet stitching or a little hot glue here and there. Then, on to the arms! (Part Twelve.)
The other, much more time-consuming way, is the traditional way, which I will show you here. First, start pinning the fabric to the head, like so:
Try to get the fabric edges to meet. They may overlap a bit. This is fine, you can always trim a bit! But you can’t add fabric back once it’s gone! Which is why I have you cut the pieces a bit larger. (When I did this, I forgot to leave extra, and my fabric was too small, which kind of ended up squishing the head a bit.)
Below is the fully pinned head:
Next, you will start the stitching. I recommend starting with just the head, and then pinning and stitching the body.
The stitch we use is called the “Henson Stitch” (or blanket stitch, or ladder stitch.) It is not a true ladder stitch, though, it has more diagonals. It’s basically a way to stitch a fabric from the outside that makes it look like it was stitched from the inside. Below is the stitching pattern:
Thread your needle and triple-knot the two thread ends together, so you have a double thread strand. Make sure your fabric is “right” side out—the fuzzy or furry side facing OUT. Begin by making a few Henson stitches, then pulling the thread (kind of) tight. I’ll show you what it looks like, and then I’m going to link to a tutorial so you can really see what’s going on!
Stitches are still loose
Stitches pulled tight
Below is the video tutorial for the Henson Stitch by Mark Middleton:
This is a long, time-consuming process, so be patient! Put on your favorite Muppet Movie or something entertaining in the background while you work! You will repeat the same procedure with the body seams. Leave a little gap between the foam head and foam body inside the fabric; it will help with movement.
