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I am so excited about this project! There is something nostalgic about finger puppets. I think back to my childhood and the imagination I had. I could be in an empty room and in seconds transport to a magical kingdom or futuristic planet. It didn’t take much for my mind to wander endlessly, but when I had props and toys to help tell my stories, I could share my creativity with my family in the form of puppet shows, dances, or even songs. Think of all the stories you can tell with these little finger puppets! They are easy to make but are a little time-consuming!
Here’s what you will need!
- Cricut Maker (technically you can use an Explore Machine but the Maker’s rotary blade will make it a lot easier!)
- FabricGrip Mat (comes with Maker)
- Felt
- StandardGrip Mat
- Black Iron-on/ HTV
- EasyPress Mini with Mat
- Beacon Fabri-Tac Glue
- Embroidery Floss
- Embroidery Needle
If you want to skip the written tutorial, you can check out the full video tutorial below!
Download the free file!
To get started, download this free file! You can use this file with any cutting machine, but I recommend using the Cricut Maker! Simply agree to the “Terms & Conditions” and subscribe to my email list to download! Your support means the world to me!
If you need help downloading and uploading the file to Cricut’s Design space check out this video if you are using a laptop/ computer and this video if you are on an iOS device.
Once you have your image uploaded, you have the option to “ungroup” your image and select the animals you’d like to cut! You can also make your finger puppets larger or smaller if you’d like. Once you’re ready, click “Make It!”
Set your material to felt!
In Design Space, Cricut separates all of the layers by color and arranges them on your cutting mats. This is one of my favorite features about Cricut– they do all of the hard work for us! Ensure the mats all look correctly and continue on to setting your materials.
Since you are cutting two materials for this project, I’d recommend that you cut all of your felt layers first. Then at the end, cut your iron-on/ heat transfer vinyl layer.
Click “browse all materials” and then choose Felt!
Cricut will recommend the fine point blade, but I recommend the Rotary Blade. Click on the “Edit Tools” option and choose Rotary Blade.
Load your felt onto a Fabric Grip Mat
In Design Space, Cricut separates all of the layers by color and arranges them on your cutting mats. This is one of my favorite features about Cricut– they do all of the hard work for us! Ensure the mats all look correctly and continue on to setting your materials.
Since you are cutting two materials for this project, I’d recommend that you cut all of your felt layers first. Then at the end, cut your iron-on/ heat transfer vinyl layer.
Cut your heat transfer vinyl
After you have cut all of your felt pieces, it’s time to cut your black heat transfer vinyl. Before you cut it, make sure to change the material from Design Space.
Here are the things to remember at this step! Switch your blade from the rotary blade to the fine point blade! Then set your material to the type of heat transfer vinyl you are using. I used Siser EasyWeed and it cut perfectly using the Everyday Iron-on setting. Don’t forget to turn on your “mirror” setting for your HTV! Then load your HTV onto a StandardGrip Mat shiny side down. If any of that is confusing, click on the photo above, and it’ll take you to that exact part in my YouTube tutorial. Weed your HTV using your favorite weeding tool.
Glue your felt pieces together
Even if you are stitching your finger puppets, I recommend gluing your pieces together first. The order of operations doesn’t really matter here! If you want to iron-on your HTV first and then glue, you can totally do that! I was overwhelmed with all of my felt pieces so I decided I would glue all of my felt pieces together first and then iron-on the black HTV pieces.
I started by gluing around the edge of the heads and adhered that to one of the finger puppet bodies.
Next, I glued around the edges of the next finger puppet body and left the bottom open. I sandwiched both bodies together and pinched them along the edges to makes sure the fibers fused together. For animals with felt embellishments on their faces, I would recommend gluing those next. For the chicken and the pig, leave the chicken head comb and pig ears off! I glued those after I did all of my stitching!
Iron-on your HTV details
Using a heat press, EasyPress, or iron, adhere your HTV details to your finger puppet. I used Siser EasyWeed HTV and only had to press my design on for 7 seconds before it was good to go!
I used the EasyPress Mini on the 2nd level of heat. It worked like a charm! At this point, you could be done! Your finger puppet is all glued and ready to be used. But I wanted to add a little extra interest and decided to add a blanket stitch around the edges.
Blanket stitch your puppet
If you have not worked with embroidery floss before, click on the image below and it will walk you through the limited knowledge I have on stitching. I apologize that I didn’t stay in the frame while I was stitching… it was a little harder to stitch out in front of me than I imagined. Usually I hold it up to close to my eyes!
With two strands of 48″ long embroidery floss, blanket stitch around your entire finger puppet. I am no pro when it comes to hand stitching, but I loved how all of these turned out!
Thanks so much for visiting me in my corner of the internet! If you end up making these finger puppets, please tag me so I can see your wonderful creations. This makes me so excited to break out my felt and work on some other felt projects that you will see on the blog soon!
If you have any questions or want to connect, check out the social media links below!
Karley
