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How to Make Puppets for Kids from An Old Sweater

July 28, 2010 By: Stephanie15 Comments

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How to make puppets for kids out of the sleeves from your old sweaters.

Meet sweater puppets. They’re like a chic, stylish cousin to the sock puppet and pretty much just as easy. Plus, once again, I got a no-spend Christmas present for the kids out of this project. I am tempted to go all out and do a completely no-spend Christmas, but that would mean putting some of the things I am most excited to try (felt steamed crabs!) on the back burner….we shall see.

Anyway, I got this idea from this tutorial and I just had to try it since I already had the stuff to make it around my house.

Once you start making these you will be addicted! Each one only took about 20 minutes.

How to Make Puppets for Kids from an Old Sweater: 

I started with an old sweater dress that had a hole in it and one of Abby’s baby blankets (ok, it’s actually a spit-up rag) My sweater was more than 60% cotton, so I skipped the felting step and just left it as-is. (Only 100% wool will felt)

Cut off the sleeves (You only need one sleeve for each puppet)

Turn it inside out, straight stitch over the hole you just made by cutting the sleeve off, and leave the other end open. Turn it back right side out.

Cut two little round pieces from another part of the sweater. These will be the ears. The only difference between my puppet and the tutorial is that because I didn’t felt the sweater I had to stitch around the edge of the ears so they wouldn’t unravel.

Sew the ears to the top of the head. Make sure to use a matching thread because this seam is visible.

Finally, cut some circles out of contrasting fabric. This is where the baby blanket came in. I cut out the polka dots. You will need one circle for the nose and two for the eyes.

Hand stitch the circles in place. After this step, I also took a Sharpie and added pupils. It was so cute and easy I had to make two!

They started out intended to be mice, but I think they look more like wolves. I think I might just need to get my hands on some pink sweaters and make each big bad wolf a set of three little pigs to go with it.

They’ve even made the November TOP 10 in Iron Crafter! Click here to vote for them:

And, as always, I like to see how much money I saved by making them myself out of stuff I already had.

Rosie Hippo charges $49 for their set of 3, and Land of Nod charges almost $22 each for theirs. I think I’ll keep my free ones, thanks.

That means thus far I have saved $78 in two days since I didn’t pay $34 for a Pottery Barn rag doll or $44 for two Land of Nod puppets. Not too shabby.

 

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Comments

  1. Amanda @ Serenity Now says

    July 28, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    Hi, Stephanie! I added your link for you. πŸ™‚ I’ll be back to comment on the post later, but if you could please add a link directly to my party that would be great. It helps your readers know what exactly you are linking to (a Progress party), so if they want to find the party in another week or so, they’ll be sent to the party post and not just my blog’s homepage. Thanks!

    Reply
  2. stephaniegiese says

    July 28, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Thanks Amanda, I’m still having trouble with the html for your direct party link, it shows up in the code, but won’t appear in the post, so I just inserted the link with words.

    Reply
  3. Becky says

    July 28, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    Very cute! I’m stopping by from the party at Serenity now! I must say that this is a great way to get rid of old sweaters too!

    Reply
  4. Amanda @ Serenity Now says

    July 28, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    Thanks, Stephanie. πŸ™‚ This is a great idea for a Christmas gift. If someone had a handy enough husband to build a puppet theater, it would be complete. πŸ˜‰ Love that you can even get the sweaters cheap at Goodwill if you need to. πŸ™‚ Thanks again for joining in!

    Reply
  5. alanna rose says

    July 28, 2010 at 10:42 pm

    Oh no, another craft I need to make – darn it! πŸ˜‰

    Cute puppets!

    Reply
  6. Eve says

    July 29, 2010 at 6:32 am

    Saw this over at StrutYourStuff and think it’s adorable! Great job!

    Reply
  7. TheVirginiaHouse says

    July 29, 2010 at 11:08 am

    What an awesome “We Can Do It Cheaper” project! Thanks so much for linking up. I’m sure the kids will love them!

    Reply
  8. michelle's 10 things says

    July 29, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    I enjoyed seeing all your plans for a homemade Christmas. Smart to start now. (I also LOVE the house down the street from you. If I lived in your neighborhood it would be SOLD!)

    Reply
  9. MessyMissy says

    July 29, 2010 at 11:37 pm

    So simple and cute. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  10. Karen says

    July 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    These are so cute. You are so creative. The possibilities are endless.

    Reply
  11. Jenglamgirl says

    August 1, 2010 at 11:18 pm

    PRECIOUS in every way. How cute to read to your little ones…. the Night before chirstmas with the mouse puppets. EWWWW, I am excited for Christmas. Thanks for linking up too. Jenn

    Reply
  12. elizabeth @ twelvecrafts says

    August 9, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    WOW! That’s impressive Stephanie! I can’t wait to check out some of your other projects, and I am totally inspired by you as well!

    Thank you soooo much for letting me know I’ve inspired you a bit. That means so much!

    Blessings,
    Elizabeth

    Reply
  13. Kristi says

    September 15, 2010 at 8:07 pm

    Here from Life as Lori. These are the cutest things! I’m gonna have to give these a try this year. Thanks for the tutorial!

    ~ The Speckled Dog

    Reply
  14. AmieAnn says

    November 2, 2010 at 5:18 am

    Congrats on making the top ten! These are adorable! Hope you link up to my first link party @ http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/2010/10/pink-hippo-party.html

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Money Diet Christmas • Binkies and Briefcases says:
    March 6, 2021 at 9:54 am

    […] few felted sweater puppets. UPDATE: Another one checked off my list! I love how these puppets turned out and my kids are going to love them, […]

    Reply

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Stephanie Giese is an indie author based in Florida. She writes stories about realistic problems with humor, heart, and sass. Her work has a strong focus on mental health and consent. Her North Bay small-town romance series is set for release in 2025.

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