“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” ~Oscar Wilde
My path often crosses with one of my faithful readers. While talking one day she mentioned her son’s upcoming birthday. She said that although he is a little guy, his favorite movie is Jaws. He was going to be having a Jaws themed birthday party. I asked when his birthday was and told her that I might have some leftover Jaws fabric in my stash. I was going to look and see if I could get a shirt made for him with limited fabric and limited time.
Well, I found enough fabric and the perfect pattern! As I write this his birthday party will be this coming weekend and all of the blog pictures will get taken at his party. So that blog post will be after this one, keep an eye out!
I had finished the shirt and remembered that I had a puppet pattern. Did it have a shark option? I couldn’t remember but was pleasantly surprised to find that it did!
It was time to make a shark using this pattern from 1977.
When I got the pattern out of the envelope, I found that it had never been cut.
I was once again impressed with an old pattern. Each puppet had its own section with all of the pieces needed to make it together and organized. Most current patterns have the pieces printed wherever they can fit. I love finding well organized patterns. It makes my sewing life easier!
The shark pieces were even labeled with the suggested colors.
Of course I had some felt. I had bought it in a variety pack previously and chose this blue for the body. I pinned on the pieces and cut them out.
The top of the head had a simple dart in it. Don’t mind my thumb nail, I jammed it while pulling weeds and it has a weird bruise under the nail. It’s healing but it slowed down my hand stitching for a few days.
The teeth were a little more finicky to cut out. My suggestion is to make sure you use your good scissors! And make sure you have a pair of good scissors!
I pinned the upper teeth into place as well as the fins.
Next I pinned the lower teeth into place. The way it looked reminded me of the original Jaws poster.
Ok, maybe my felt puppet isn’t quite the frightening fellow that Jaws was.
Like Jaws, I decided to make the inside of the shark puppet’s mouth black. I pinned the mouth into place.
I turned it right side out and the shark was almost done!
One thing that the pattern did not have was the dorsal fin. In my opinion all shark puppets need a dorsal fin. I cut two pieces of fin out of the blue felt and sewed them together for extra strength. I stitched the dorsal fin on by hand to the top of the shark. Once two black circles of felt were cut for eyes, I glued them into place.
And the shark puppet was done!
And this is what he looks like when he’s attacking you! HA!
I delivered the shirt and puppet with time to spare! This weekend shirt and puppet will make their public debut, pics to follow!
Lots of positivity came out of this simple sew. First, I had lots of fun making a puppet, and it only took a couple of hours. Second, little Wyatt, who the puppet and shirt are for, loved his puppet so much he started playing with it immediately. It’s always nice when a simple, homemade gift is appreciated. As of the morning that I write this, the shark puppet was in a “moat” guarding the castle that little Wyatt built.
With this sew I couldn’t help but reflect that sometimes it’s the simple things that make the biggest impact. A simple puppet has turned into hours of fun for a sweet little boy. Putting a smile on someone else’s face is always worth the effort, even if the effort only takes a couple of hours and some felt!
As for me, onto the next!
