Mousing Around--Mouse Finger Puppets

When I was young, I had some little animal finger puppets that were fun to play with. When I grew older and I wanted to buy some for my friends, I couldn't find any, so I decided to make some myself. One advantage of the finger puppet over other sewing projects is that you don't have to stuff them like a normal stuffed toy.

These are the materials needed to make the puppets.

• Print-out of the mouse pattern
• Fake fur material for the body (or just felt if you prefer)
• Pink felt for the ears
2 black 5mm pom poms for the eyes
• 1 pink 5mm pom pom for the nose
• Short piece of cord for the tail (a shoelace works too)

1. First, print out a copy of the pattern.



2. Cut out the pieces of the pattern and trace their shapes on the appropriate pieces of fabric. If you are using fur for the body, be sure to orient the direction of the fur so that they point towards the back of the mouse (the straight part of the pattern).
3. Mark the locations of the eyes and nose on the back of the material.
4. Cut the pieces of fabric.



5. Sew the eyes to the body: push the needle out through the eyeholes in the back, through the pom pom, back in through the hole, and then tie off the thread.



6. Then attach each ear by pushing the needle through the top ear hole in the hold, through the two holes in the ear, and then back through the bottom ear hole before tying off the thread. Make sure the ear faces the right direction!



7. Sew the tail onto the inside of the mouse



8. Fold the mouse in half along the center edge, so that the eyes and ears face inside.
Start sewing the curved edges of the pattern together.



9. While sewing the mouse shut, when you arrive at the location of the nose, you should sew the nose right into the seam. (The mouse actually looks better if the sew the mouse onto the mouse at the very end when you finish everything else, but it's much easier to do it this way.)

   

10. Once you've finished sewing the mouse shut, you should reverse the mouse so that the eyes and ears are on the outside. (When I designed the pattern, I tapered the back end of the puppet, which actually makes it difficult to turn the mouse inside-out, but it's doable.)

    

11. If you used fur for the body, you may have to use scissors to cut the fur away from the eyes so that you can see them more easily. You might also want to comb the hair a bit so that it is not so wild and tangled.



12. And voila, you have a finished mouse puppet.