The holiday season is right around the corner. Instead of creating a whole new costume pattern for my Person Puppet, I’ll be sharing how to adapt the wizard costume to make a male Christmas nativity character.

To make the nativity scene character, you’ll need the person puppet pattern and the wizard costume. Make the robe following the costume pattern. The size of the beard pattern fits across the bottom lip, but you’ll want to trim the beard so it isn’t as long. I scalloped the bottom edge to give the illusion of a flowing beard.  Use brown, black or gray felt instead of fur for the beard. Use the mustache pattern for the mustache or get creative and make your own matching the beard color. I curved the bottom of the mustache to give it a more tailored look. 

Terry cloth or scrap cotton will work for the head piece. I cut up an old T-shirt to make mine.  Cut a 13×13″ piece and round the corners. Fit it to the head of the puppet, then cut a small scrap of brown or black felt to keep the head piece in place.  I sewed the band and head piece to the puppet’s head in three places to keep everything attached so that it didn’t come off during a performance.   I used a little bit of poly fil stuffed under the head piece at the top of the head to give a nice dome look.  I didn’t put any type of hair on the puppet since the head piece would hide it anyway.  The wizard pattern has a pattern to make hair in case you want to make some wise men wearing crowns or turbans. 

A few alterations to the head piece and hair will create a female character.  Sections of yarn showing from underneath the head piece on the sides of the face would work to make a female. 

Looking at pictures is a good way to get ideas about how to create different costumes.

No nativity story or scene is complete without the animals.  Check out our animal puppet sewing patterns to make sheep, cows, camels and donkeys.