ecl's Kermit the Frog Puppet Replica (later builds, using my newest patterns)

[Timelash]

The body is basically composed of about 7-8 ‘wedges’. The shape of them though is sort of like if you flattened and egg into two dimensions. I’ll find one of my older patterns and post it again to give you an idea. After all my builds, I still find the body to be the biggest pain to make; the smallest variations in the shape of the wedges can result in a big change in the overal shape of his body.




Great job!! And you are correct; a lot of it is trial and error, and also very close observation of the references. Thanks for sharing your process. It’s important to know there are many ways to go about making these! The right way is..whatever works! I’m pretty sure the original Muppets ran on this thought as well. I often tell people to not be overly stressed about it; the Muppets themselves have changed so drastically over the years. There is no ‘one’ Kermit, or any other Muppet. Try to capture the essence of the character, and it’ll work. Your Fozzie looks amazing!! He’s one of my personal favorite characters.

Exactly they have changed over the years. How they look now is far from the original origin. As you say it's capturing the character, and that's what I try to improve on more than exact measurements
My Fozzie is looking a little grumpy but I know and I can see the changes that's needed because of the first attempt. Hopefully I can finish him when I get money, As I'm eager to make another to make the changes. But I'm glad you like him so far he's part of my trio of favourite muppets.

 

[Boom632]

Amazing stuff ECL you’ve inspired me to finally make a Kermit. I know you say use good thread but what kinda thread and needle did you use and would recommend?

Thanks!!

 

[ecl]

Amazing stuff ECL you’ve inspired me to finally make a Kermit. I know you say use good thread but what kinda thread and needle did you use and would recommend?

Thanks!!

Thanks! As for thread, I’ve been using Gutermann thread; it’s by no means ‘the’ thread to use. It’s just worked out for me pretty well; the stitches have held up pretty well. Needle-wise, just about any needle you find in someplace like Joann’s Fabrics would work. I bought a little set that has a bunch of different sizes. I prefer to use smaller sized needles just because I feel they’re easier to sew with and poke into the fabric easier, although threading them is a little more difficult due to the size!

 

[AlfredoRPF]

I want to make Kermit Puppet you think you could share your pattern with me on this forum Please? I've always wanted to make a Kermit Puppet!

Thanks In Advance!!

 

[directorwho]

attern with me on this forum Please? I've always wanted to make a Kermit Puppet!

If you look at another ecl post, his earlier one, where he shares some patterns. From what I have found is there is so much trial and error (sadly) that patterns are only a good starting place. Look at youtube for how to pattern and build puppets, Adam Kreutinger comes to mind, Kermit is simple, most puppets are, but the character of him has to be refined.

 

[AlfredoRPF]

If you look at another ecl post, his earlier one, where he shares some patterns. From what I have found is there is so much trial and error (sadly) that patterns are only a good starting place. Look at youtube for how to pattern and build puppets, Adam Kreutinger comes to mind, Kermit is simple, most puppets are, but the character of him has to be refined.

Ok Thank You!!!!

 

[AlfredoRPF]

Another Question how do I print out the patterns I don't know how to? Do I need to rescale them or just change my print settings? to match the pattern 11x17.

Thanks in advance

 

[directorwho]

I went to staples and paid $4, to have them printed at ecl's scale. It was actually really helpful. Even though I scaled them down a little bit to fit my hand better. But you should definitely look at and re look and then look again at all the drawings the ecl has provided. He really has put the most effort in at figuring out how the shape affects Kermit's look.

 

[AlfredoRPF]

So I finally got the Patterns but I cant print out the Body file since its a PSD file what do I do??? Please Help Me, Someone!

Thanks In Advance.

 

[directorwho]

So I finally got the Patterns but I cant print out the Body file since its a PSD file what do I do??? Please Help Me, Someone!

Thanks In Advance.

Oh no! I haven’t looked in that folder in a while, are you sure there is only one body image? You could try to use gimp or look for a pad to png converter online. I can re-upload it tomorrow if not.

 

[ecl]

Here’s a jpeg version of it: Kermitbody.V3.jpg

It’s a very old rough template though; I recommend maybe just using it as a starting point and altering it to suit your needs. One thing you can do is look at references of Kermit, print it out to approximate size, and just draw a shape from what you see, using the curvature of his body to help inform your pattern shape. The wedge shape that I use now has a more gradual curve; I actually now use several different body wedge patterns to form the whole body—ends up being about 7-8 pieces all around. The reason I do that now is because I’ve noticed Kermit’s body is not really the same all around. He has a slightly flatter chest and a more pronounced back (in fact, in some references, his back actually looks a bit sharp, like a football.) I posted a drawing I did a few pages back that help visualize this.

You can kind of see it here. Notice how his back has a more pronounced ridge than the front. He’s actually kind of hunchbacked :

 

[simon830]

Looks amazing! Im starting my own kermit project. Got the fleece the other day. Any tips for a newbie?

 

[ecl]

Looks amazing! Im starting my own kermit project. Got the fleece the other day. Any tips for a newbie?

Great! As for tips, I’d say definitely be patient with the process, as it can get complicated. Just take your time and focus on parts at a time, since with the stitching technique, you can just attach things—limbs, arms, etc.—separately.

Try to get really comfortable with the stitching process first if you haven’t really stitched before. Just stitch together random pieces of fabric—preferably fleece to get the feel for it. It’s actually not that difficult once you do it a few times. The ladder stitch or ‘Henson stitch’ is actually very versatile and once you’re familiar with it, it’s almost like the stitch equivalent of glueing stuff together—it’s that convenient! YouTube is a great place for tutorials; that’s all I did to learn the basics. After that, it was just practice and repetition.

Another good thing to keep in mind in the beginning is to pay attention to pin your patterns well. Fleece has a tendency to shift a little during the sewing process, so doing a good job pinning things together so they’re secure will really help out in the long run.

Here’s a shot of the legs from one of may builds;

Here you can see how the stitch looks before the seam has been picked at with a needle to fluff it up—to hide the seam. This gives you an idea how the stitch looks initially. It’ll have a little bit of a zig zag look.

Sock puppet Kermit He looks very ‘lizard’ like without the eyes.

 

[SoGenius106]

I am making a Kermit replica, but looking at all of the threads of yours and it's a bit confusing to me, I was wondering if you could tell of things to look for when I'm making it. Also is polar fleece acceptable to use, is it basically like antron fleece?

 

[adijay]

Great! As for tips, I’d say definitely be patient with the process, as it can get complicated. Just take your time and focus on parts at a time, since with the stitching technique, you can just attach things—limbs, arms, etc.—separately.

Try to get really comfortable with the stitching process first if you haven’t really stitched before. Just stitch together random pieces of fabric—preferably fleece to get the feel for it. It’s actually not that difficult once you do it a few times. The ladder stitch or ‘Henson stitch’ is actually very versatile and once you’re familiar with it, it’s almost like the stitch equivalent of glueing stuff together—it’s that convenient! YouTube is a great place for tutorials; that’s all I did to learn the basics. After that, it was just practice and repetition.

Another good thing to keep in mind in the beginning is to pay attention to pin your patterns well. Fleece has a tendency to shift a little during the sewing process, so doing a good job pinning things together so they’re secure will really help out in the long run.

Here’s a shot of the legs from one of may builds;

View attachment 1009005


Here you can see how the stitch looks before the seam has been picked at with a needle to fluff it up—to hide the seam. This gives you an idea how the stitch looks initially. It’ll have a little bit of a zig zag look.

View attachment 1009006

View attachment 1009007

Sock puppet Kermit He looks very ‘lizard’ like without the eyes.

View attachment 1009008

View attachment 1009020

Hi ecl! first of all thank you for all the work you've placed in here! Really helpful and really motivating! And your kermits look amazing!

My motivation on puppet building (I'm a complete newbie!) is children, including my inner one, so all the help and tips everyone can provide will be highly apreciated.

Also honnestly I suck at crafting and I consider myself low on creativity, so these tasks you talk about observation of reference pictures and making adjustments on previously crafted puppets seems to me a Godly job!

Nonetheless I decided to dive into puppet (and muppet) building. So far I've built 3 basic "sock" puppets, machine sew, improving on each build, although findig good furs is really hard and finding fleece is (so far) impossible).
I ordered some pieces of fleece online but it's quite expensive.

about kermit, the only place you use foam is on the body itself, right? head is just fleece+mouthplate?

I'd like to build one myself, so I'd love to know where to start.

Thanks

 

[ecl]

Hi ecl! first of all thank you for all the work you've placed in here! Really helpful and really motivating! And your kermits look amazing!

My motivation on puppet building (I'm a complete newbie!) is children, including my inner one, so all the help and tips everyone can provide will be highly apreciated.

Also honnestly I suck at crafting and I consider myself low on creativity, so these tasks you talk about observation of reference pictures and making adjustments on previously crafted puppets seems to me a Godly job!

Nonetheless I decided to dive into puppet (and muppet) building. So far I've built 3 basic "sock" puppets, machine sew, improving on each build, although findig good furs is really hard and finding fleece is (so far) impossible).
I ordered some pieces of fleece online but it's quite expensive.

about kermit, the only place you use foam is on the body itself, right? head is just fleece+mouthplate?

I'd like to build one myself, so I'd love to know where to start.

Thanks

Hello, and thanks! Yes you are correct, structurally, only the body utilizes the foam. The head is in essence a sock puppet with a mouth-plate attached to it. But I do have a wedge shaped piece of removable foam that I stuff into the head for photography purposes; his head would be flat otherwise! I’ll send you a PM in a minute with something that might help you.

 

[Frogfreak]

This is awesome!

 

[woozelmom]

You are brilliant as always

 

[tye williams]

Holy Crap! Those puppets are amazing!! Wish I had the skills

 

[PhantomForge]

Here’s a jpeg version of it: Kermitbody.V3.jpg

This is such a great build, well done! It's been fun looking through your progress. Inspired me to try and make my own, but it doesn't look like the pattern file exists on the google drive anymore?