Eco-friendly Puppet Experiment

I had a co-worker ask if I could make some eco-friendly children's toys. His brother just had a baby and they were very much trying to keep their eco-foot print to a minimum. So the search began for fabrics. I wanted to do a puppet and as I prefer to work with fleece I wanted something with a similar weight and texture. Unless I wanted to take a garment apart I found I wasn't going to get what I was looking for.

I stopped again at a different Fabricland and asked the same question I'd been asking at every fabric store for the past few weeks. Do you have any eco-friendly fabrics, cottons, bamboo? Only this time I found an employee who knew her stuff. While they didn't have any fabrics, when I suggested perhaps towels, drapery, blankets. ah-ha, light went on. I found some fabulous bamboo throws that were perfect and colourful! Price tag... gasp... $90 for less than two meters. But wouldn't you know they were marked down!!

A whopping 60% off made this project suddenly doable. So I bought several colours! YAY I also found felt made from recycled water bottles and stuffing made of the same stuff (it's slightly green in colour). Perfect for handwashable puppets. The puppets are machine and hand-sewn, eyes are soft rather than plastic and are oh so soft!

Meet the two I made so far. Emmett the fly-fishing frog and Edgar. I sold both but will be making more to sell on my etsy site. I just love making puppets!