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The head pieces sewn up, still inside out.
Tonight, I sewed up the head pieces. Beginning with the darts on each head piece individually I pin the dart sides together.  I use a whip stitch to sew them up on the backing side. Then I pin the two halves together (fur side in) and whip stich all the way up from the neck hole to the mouth opening. I then sew up the pieces that will become the chin. Now, I get to turn it right side out to see how it looks! Yay! At this point I also like to "test out" the foam inside the head to see how everything fits so far. It looks great, so tomorrow I will turn it inside out again and continue with the body panels.
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The head fur fabric right side out.
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Putting the foam "skull" into the head for a test.
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The fur fabric with the foam skull in it, fits well.
 
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one of the halves of the foam "skull"
My next step in the process is cutting out all the foam pieces. Laying out the patterns on the foam, I try to get the least amount of waste as possible. For one puppet of this sort, I usually end up using about 16" wide x 27" long of foam.  (Save the little bits- I'll show you later some fun things you can make with them.) Watch carefully when putting down the pieces, some will need to be flipped over to get the parts to lay out correctly (ie- the head pieces will need to have a left and right side) I usually use a sharp scissor, but have used a good utility knife for cutting, also. After cutting out all the pieces, apply the contact cement to the edges indicated on the pattern. I usually let it dry for about 15-20 minutes before gluing the edges together.

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the foam "skull" put together