Saturday, October 25, 2008

Puppet Theater


While working on Emily's halloween costume, I've been sidetracked by 
a cold, restless children (also sick) and the general need to multitask 
projects. I find that this often happens when I am ploughing through 
a "serious project" (like a garment that needs to fit) or working with 
sensitive fabrics - like chiffon that frays like no tomorrow- or anything
 cut on a bias with the potential to stretch itself out of shape. Emily's 
costume is all three. And pink, to boot. So I paused in the middle of 
making it and instead sewed this simple puppet theater for doorways 
and hallways. I ran across this idea online here and here and thought 
it would be a nice, space-saving alternative to our cardboard puppet 
stage that may not live to see the new year.


Essentially it is a yard of fabric supported by a tension rod, the sort 
that shower curtains hang on. I got mine from Walmart for $1. My 
aunt Rosalind gave me several yards of children's fabric some time 
ago and it was perfect for a colorful project like this. Just for 
decoration, I added black triangles in a row at the top to form a sort 
of banner. Even with the embellishment, it took me under half an hour. 

I also made a second, upper curtain to frame the kids' puppet shows. 
As part of my ongoing effort to use remnants rather than going fabric 
shopping again (a bit ashamed of my recent binges), I cut up an old 
blue bedsheet I got at a garage sale, and sewed on strips of yellow 
sweatshirt fabric that I'd bought by mistake earlier. It is also supposed 
to double as Jenna's personal puppet stage should Emily end up 
hogging the lower one (which she did tonight). Not the best pictures 
here because I was too impatient to wait till morning to get the nice lighting. 

The girls quite enjoyed playing with it tonight, although Kate 
did not understand that it was not meant to be pulled down 
repeatedly with a crash.

Now back to serious sewing. Halloween is 5 days away.


2 comments:

  1. Hi there-- Came over here from Just Tutes because of the link to the cardboard boxes post. I too LOVE to make stuff for my girls out of cardboard. (I too have 3 young girls.) And your sewing projects are BEAUTIFUL!!! Love the Maisy stuff! All of them, wow, the bus too. Great great stuff. I just discovered I can "follow" a blog right through blogger, so added your blog and look forward to reading more. (I read the latest 4-5 blogs, but decided I better just say Hi quick and then stop because I still have to finish sewing the straps onto a purse that my girls are giving as a gift at a birthday party that starts in 45 mintues! So can't be distracted by fun new blogs!)
    Cheerio,
    Karin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! Came here to let you know I linked to here in my recent post (not that you won't see it when you read it), then had to laugh when I saw my previous comment. I think that was one of my first comments to you, if not THE first. What a fun 6 months it's been since then!!!

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