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After a gap 30 years I am looking to make puppets again for my grandchildren. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my patterns which I had cherished for many years. It seems that they may have gone the way of so many things that I have put away "safely" and can no longer find. The dimensions of the pattern on this site are similar so I will see what I can do and let you know how it goes.
Many thanks
Pat Mansfield

Hi Pat,

I'm sad to hear that you've lost your puppet patterns; I hope you find them soon, and enjoy making them with/for your grandchildren. Do let me know how you went with the pattern, and if you get stuck, I'm happy to try and offer some advice.

Cheers,

Naomi

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm looking for Muppet type patterns plus hand puppets. I've tried to get pictures of the free pattern offered on the site you gave me but for some reason they don't come through. I must be doing something wrong

Hi Angela,

If you're looking for a muppet pattern - that's free - you can try the one at Puppeteers Unite

http://puppeteersunite.com/?p=568

which has images and instructions. Another popular free pattern/instruction set is on offer here:

http://members.aol.com/bocashouse/MG/BlueBoy.html

If you don't mind spending a little bit of money, I recommend you buy a pattern from Project Puppet.com. They don't just send patterns to you, but also the materials needed to make the puppet, so it ends up being as expensive as you would if you just use one of the links above.

You might also want to check out the forums at Muppet Central (forum.muppetcentral.com), which offer a lot of advice on making your own muppets.

As for the hand puppets: the pattern I have for my cactus glove puppet is in a .pdf file, which means you need a special program on your computer to view it. You can download that program for free here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/. If it still doesn't work, let me know.

You can also find more patterns and instructions here:

http://puppetbuilding.com/glove-puppets/

and here:

http://www.punchandjudy.com/dryadleaflet.htm

I hope that helps!

Have a great night,

Naomi

want to make a puppet for my grandaughter. Love JACKS big music show. Can't find a
pattern for the basic puppet. Please help, as she, and me, love the show. I have already
found great fabric, but need basic help. thanks,

Hi Sheila,

Apologies for not replying sooner; my comment notification system hadn't been working for a while and I just managed to fix it.

I haven't seen Jacks Big Music Show before, but I took a look at their website, and from the looks of the puppets, I would guess that they are of a muppet-type design; an operatable mouth and hands with rods attached.

You won't find any patterns online - or anywhere else for that matter - to recreate the specific look of the Jacks puppets, because they would be heavily copyrighted. Having said that, you can always make similar looking puppets by learning how to make a muppet.

You can use the following patterns as a start:

http://puppeteersunite.com/?p=568

http://members.aol.com/bocashouse/MG/BlueBoy.html

or you could purchase a pattern from Project Puppet.com.

Alternatively, why not just buy some of the Jacks merchandise, or commission a puppet-maker to create something for you? To create a puppet that is as similar as possible to the Jacks design will be hard for a novice; although with the above links you have a good chance of learning!

I hope that helps,

Naomi