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.