Kermit and Jim Henson Cosplay

This year I've decided to do something cool for halloween, and I've been thinking about it since last year when I saw a really cool costume of an oscar the grouch puppet.

Jim Henson has always been one of my heroes, and Kermit is my favorite muppet (though I love them all, and considered other muppets).

Given I've also been growing out my beard, it seemed like a natural fit.

So I went in search of a good Kermit. Buying a premade Kermit would be prohibitively expensive, so I looked for patterns. Luckily I came across an excelent thread on a website where a fellow was designing a Kermit from scratch. You can follow his full journey of prototyping as its quite interesting.

Here I will present my own build, using his patterns and advice. Following my instructions, it could be easier to just build your Kermit, but if you want the full story, please check out the original thread.

https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/kermit-the-frog-here-v2-finished-v1-and-v2-patterns-posted.358251/

Finally, to complete the ensamble, I will make a headband in the style that Jim frequently used. And I will grow out my beard.

I was asked what sewing skills you will need. I am no expert on sewing. While some of the tasks can be a tricky job, the sewing skills needed are pretty basic. It might be difficult but I think almost anyone could pull this off.

Lets go!

Materials:

Kermit:

V1 Kermit Design Pattern

Foam (I used a more solid EVA foam for cosplay)

Green Fleece (hobby lobby)

Sticky felt sheets (red, black, pink)

Light green felt

Gasket material

Barge or other contact cement

Green sewing thread

3d printed eyeballs, or, you could try good old ping pong balls...

Plastic sheet or 3d printed parts for his palms

Brass tube or thick music wire

3d printed rod handle and plug end

Jims Headband:

Elastic band

Cardboard

Aluminum rod

Pleather

Printed pattern

Hot glue

Sponge

Tools:

x-acto blade

Fabric scissors

pins

sewing needles (straight and curved)

Fabric marker

Using the patterns provided, I cut out the foam for Kermits body. Since I am using EVA foam (because this is what my son had on hand from another project he made, which was a huge cosplay battle axe...) this will differ a bit from the build I am working off.

EVA foam is pretty easy to work with. I cut out the paper patern and layed it on the foam, and traced around it with a gel pen. Then, flip the pattern over to make one continous pattern. One side of the pattern is all flat and straight, so you want that on the edge of your foam.. fewer cuts!

I used an x-acto blade to cut the foam. I recommend making a shallow cut to get the pattern right, then go over it with deeper cuts. As you make the deeper cut, try to angle the blade slightly so you end up with slightly beveled edges. These should should all face inward on each edge - your cut should line up with the traced lines on top of the foam, and angle inwards. This will allow the edges to line up closer when you go to glue it all together.

Use Barge cement to glue it all up. I also tried the much cheaper "Super Glue Contact Cement" which dries faster and costs much less, but its definitely not as a strong as the barge. But it works. Contact cement is great here, because you let it dry completely (shouldnt be really tacky) and the press the parts together tightly for an instant bond.

In the original design, reticulated foam is called for (and this is more authentic to the real Kermit). This is much softer than the EVA foam I used, so they added a loop of "boning" to the top and bottom. This is a hard plastic strip with some fabric around it which provides some stiffness to keep the shape. I didn't need this for Kermits body..

Some of the patterns, if you print on 8.5 x 11 sheets, need to be taped together. The author has helpfully added a zig zag pattern that makes it easy to line up the parts and tape.

Cutting this out of fleece can be a bit tricky. I've made sure to place the pattern so the stretchy direction of the fabric runs from side to side and not top to bottom. I pinned pattern onto the fleece so it stays in place while I cut, other wise you will invariably stretch the fabric while cutting. You could also use a sharpie to trace around the pattern, but you will still want to pin the two sides together while cutting. Both the body and the head pieces are two parts that should match as closely as possible.

To stich them up you will want to use a basic "whip stitch", which just means putting the two parts side by side, as opposed to overlapping them. And then just in one side and up the other side, essentially making a spiral, and tighten as you go. Just like what the doctors would do if you needed stiches. Heres a nice video of the method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jur8DSAPAPg

Also, I recommend taking some scraps of fabric and trying it a few times before comitting to the real patterned fabric. Also note that the fleece should have one side that is more fuzzy and one side that is more smooth. Its barely noticable on this less expensive fleece, but you see in my sample stich that the fuzzy side hides the stitches better.

Because I've used the EVA foam, there was no way I was going to be able to sew up the body sleeve and slip it over the foam body, its too stiff and the fleece is not stretchy enough. I had to pin it in place and stich while it was stretched across the foam body.

Good thing I cut the fabric with the stretchy dimension going side to side.

This of course is the hardest part of the build.

Start by tracing the head pattern onto the fleece. You'll need to flip it over to get the two sides of his head. Then, whip stitch it up makeing sure the fluffy side is facing out. Leave his mouth and the other end un sewed (the straight edges).

Now, make the inside of his mouth by tracing the large part of the pattern onto the gasket material. This stuff is pretty important because you want some flexibility here. Kermit is very expressive so you want to be able to scrunch up his mouth in various ways, so this rubber sheet is perfect.

Once you have that, you want to make it so his mouth can open and close easily. I used duct tape, but you can also use gaffer tape. I put the two halfs on top of each other and then put the tape on, which will leave a slight gap when you open his mouth.

Trace the whole pattern again to get the red felt inner part of his mouth, and use contact glue to attach to the rubber gasket above.

Note that kermit has an over bite, so this pattern is not symetrical! Its going to be slightly bigger on the top half of his mouth. Thats important for getting the inside parts placed right.

Now you can cut out and glue in place his uvula (the black pattern) and his toungue (pink).

Next up is the inner sleeve. I used a velvety fabric I had which is smooth on one side a soft on the other. Again, cut two of these, one flipped over, and then sew them together. This is the one thing I used a sewing machine for, and I used a zig-zag type stich that also left a thread on the outer most edge to prevent fraying. Despite that, this fabric left little bits of black fuzz all over. I made sure the soft side was on the inside, and I didnt turn it inside out after sewing. I wanted the soft side on my hands. In retrospect I think I should have done it with the seam on the inside (turning it inside out) because I think it made his head more lumpy.

The next part was a bit tricky.. contact gluing the liner to his mouth. You're going to use contact glue and make about a 1/4 wide line of glue on the backside of the mouth, and similarly on the inside of the mouth end of the liner. When dry, start from the center of his nose and where the liner sides are sewed, and work your way around so it stays centered. Do one side, then the other.

Put your hand in and test it. Its gonna look like some weird alien worm at this point. Make sure it all feels right and looks centered.

Then you're going to do largely the same thing for his outer skin, except the glue on the fabric will go on the inside. Make sure you don't accidently glue his mouth shut while the contact cement dries. And then again start from the middle of his jaw and the middle of the skin where the fabric sides are sewed together. You are going to fold his skin up and over onto the inside of his jaw. Work slowly to make sure its centered. Fold it over about 1/4 all around.

Test again for fit. You are almost there! I needed to stuff some fiber fill into his head, between the liner and his skin, to fill out the shape of his head. Otherwise, his head was kinda flat, as you can see in the photos.

Finally, his eyes. Find the position where they look best and make a 1/4" in hole. I found that pinching the fabric and then folding it to make a little corner and then cutting the tip of that corner makes a nicely sized hole.

I 3d printed his eyes using the stl's from the pattern author, but, I had to shrink the screw posts by about 2mm to make the screws narrower, but kept the length the same. Not sure why that was. I used a resin printer to make these. The pupils are cut from pre-sticky black felted paper (thinner than normal felt sheets).

Once you've screwed these in place, his head will come alive for real. Enjoy this lifelike disembodied head by poking him around a corner of a wall or door and freak your kids out.

Lots of little parts here! I cut out all the fingers and arm fabrics and layed them out. Again using a 3d printer I created his palms. You could use some thick plastic and just drill holes in it. Using some thin armature wire, I bent and placed those and then twisted each one just using a pliers.

For each finger, cut a small notch on the flat side so that it can go above and below the plastic palm. Use contact cement all over the non fuzzy side and then just fold them over the wires.

The arms will also be glued onto the palms, over lapping each finger slightly. Before you do that though, cut a small hole where the rods will plug into the palm.

When you sew up each arm, stop just where the palm plate will start. I left the thread and needle hanging while I glued things in place, and then finished sewing around the thumb up to the end his hand.

Then stuff some fiber fill in there. I used a pen to stuff it all the way down to his palm, and about half way. Then, stuff in some more but don't push it all the way in. Leave about a half inch gap, so that he has flexible spot for his elbow.

I haven't finished his legs and feet yet. Not sure I will for halloween use, as you can see in the final photo of Jim he has a Kermit without legs. After halloween for display purposes I will finish his legs.

And this is why, if you did know before, Kermit is a Muppet - because he has arms that are controlled with rods like a Marrionette and a body animated by hand like a puppet. Hence, Muppet!

The rods are 3d printed and I used brass tubes because I coun't find thick enough music wire locally. It works. I also created a tiny 3d printed square plug to match the hole in his palm pieces.

The pattern author has 3d models for a rod inner part and an outer part. This was intended so you can print an outer part in something thats maybe flexible and grippy. I did that but I could not slide the inside part into the other part. I ended up just using the inner part, and it works fine.

Once you have tested the head and are satisfied with the look and feel, you can sew it onto the body. This is where a curved needle is especially usefull (I also used this when sewing the body sleeve).

Before sewing the liner to the bottom of the body, I did one final play test with my hand inside his head and through the body. He looked pretty awesome at this point and I got really excited! Then sew the liner in place once you are sure everything fits and looks good.

Cut out his colar (again, two pieces one reversed) as one continous piece and sew in place. You don't need to do a bunch of stiches here, you can make wider ones. I didn't have exactly the right color of felt but this still looks good.

Find the right spots for the arms and make sure his hands are oriented correctly and sew around them. Again, that curved needle is essential here.

Congratulates, you have a Kermit!

Building Jim's iconic headband and microphone was something I labored over for a while, trying to determine how best to build it. I had wanted to actually stitch up a real patterned band using either beads or embroidery thread but I kinda ran out of time, so, I simply printed something. I literally just had to make myself go and starting building it and not over thinking things. It turned out better than I thought!

I started with a loop of elastic, which I cut to a length that fit my head. Once the ends were over lapped and sewed, it was just tight enough to stretch onto my head snugly.

Then I just rough cut out a 1" strip of cardboard and made sure it fit inside the loop of elastic and over lapped around 4". This will allow the elastic to stretch when you put it on, and the cardboard will slide over itself to prevent an open gap. Make sure that works on your head by putting it on. Don't worry about looking silly at this point.

Then cut some 1" strips of pleather (or real leather if you have some) long enough to cover all the way around (no need to stretch it). Put a line of contact glue on the cardboard and the leather on both top and bottom (but not the short ends) and stick in place. Look at the photos (6 and 7). This is going to result in a band that can stretch to fit with the elastic inside. I had a gap, because I started from a scrap of pleather, and thats actually fine because you are going to put the microphone attachment here.

For the microphone, I just cut a cardboard shape about 2.5" tall and 3" wide. Its not critical and I think his mics were all handmade in roughly the same fashion. Cut some pleather the same shape but folded over both sides. Then glue one side in place.

Now you are going to put that mic holder in place over that gap, where the cardboard overlaps. Glue it only on the top and bottom of where the elastic goes through. Then, fold the pleather over the head strap and only glue it on the bottom under the cardboard in photo 9 where my thumb is.

The result should be a head strap that can expand when you put it on!

Now you can print the iconic pattern and just glue in place. I used tacky glue here because it helps the paper soften and form around the band.

For the actual mic, I just used some soft aluminum rod and roughly bent it to shape, and then glued it into place. I took some cardboard strips painted with silver paint and glue those over the rod.

Finally, take some sponge and bend the wire around it at the end.

Heres a link to the doc containing a printable headband pattern:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZNSfoJiafV_E93CLCPEVdkht3IpHUtmHZRvK8Z7dV8/edit?usp=sharing

I tried my best to grow out my beard. Its a bit grey (but so was Jims in his later years). If you cannot do this, of course, you'll want to find a fake beard you can wear. :)

Theres no comparison to the real thing, but its close. :)

Just to end things here I want to say how much I enjoyed building this and how much I love and miss Jim and his creations. He was and is one of my all time heroes. I grew up on the muppets and sesame street and I know they will live on forever in our hearts for both young and old.