Puppet Costuming!

 The question I am most asked involves how I draft the patterns I use to both construct and costume these puppets. This seems to be the biggest impediment today facing young would-be puppeteers. "How to I start?"
Pattern drafting is an art, and it can be learned. I started by studying commercially available clothing patterns and playing with them to adapt to theatrical uses. Later as a young man I had the good fortune to study the concept of clothing design with some really top notch designers like IRENE CORY and JOE TOMPKINS. I even took a tailoring course in my 20's, which really gave me a background in anatomy and the ability to "fit" a garment to an individual's often uneven body.

Of course all of this was years ago...today you have the benefit of amazing online tutorials. But the old, hands-on training is still the best. It taught me how to look at an idea, visualize it and make it happen.

The bodies of the LILI puppets all end at the waist, as if they were true hand puppets. In fact they are rod puppets controlled from just under their heads against a black background. So their costumes must establish their characters without the use of hips or legs. I created the puppet's bodies from patterns I drafted to allow for the puppeteer's hand inside the torso. Next I lay ordinary sketch paper over the puppet body and with a pencil, draft a body fitting pattern, called a "Sloper". This pattern would hug the body precisely, following it's every curve and bulge. From this master body pattern, it is possible to sketch out any clothing pattern needed, or to adapt an existing pattern to fit. I have done this in the photo's above using a tuxedo pattern I drafted for a marionette of smaller scale some years ago. This will be REYNARDO'S purple tailcoat. I like the original pattern and have just adapted it to fit the current puppet's body. This required some additional pattern length at the shoulder and the waist, with a bit of length added at the waistline. Pinning all this to the puppet's finished body gives you a good idea of how it will hang and fit.

[ Basic Rule: Always allow MORE seam before fitting the costume to the finished body. You can always REDUCE the costume, but ADDING material is very difficult. Buy yardage accordingly. Screw up once, have enough material to fix the problem if needed.]