Stat with the mouth opening. Cut out of dark material an oval shape that fits the hand from thumb to fingertips when the hand is "talking". Do not forget seam allowances.
Take your sock and slice open the toe, straight across so that the toe now has two arches, the same shape as the ends of the oval. If you desire to add cardboard to the mouth to stiffen the mouth area do so now. To do it, simply cut out a second oval out of material sandwich the cardboard in between the two layers of fabric (and oval cut in half) and stitch around. Stitch between the cardboard pieces to keep in place.
Sew in the oval by matching the sock and mouth together. Seams should be to the outside. We will cover them later. (So the finished side of the sock should be inside, and the seam on the outside.)
Here is where we will make the face of the puppet. To make the face, take your material and cut a strip that measures from one corner of the mouth around the nose, to the other corner of the mouth. The wider the strip of material, the larger the facial space will be when done. So a three inch strip will be narrower and more suited for a chin then say a 6 inch strip.
Fold the strip of material in half and sew an arc from bottom crease line to top edge. Once turned right side out it will be the forehead of the fish, the quicker you turn the arc, the faster the forehead will recede... the more gradual the arc the less quickly it will recede. Sew the top seem, if need be. No need to trim, the extra material means less stuffing when finished.
To add to puppet, turn the forehead piece wrong side out (the stitching showing) and place around the mouth seam from corner to corner. stitch. When finished, flip the forehead piece up over the mouth, and it should enclose the seams. If you want to top seam the mouth (it will make lips on your puppet) do so now, but do not sew all the way to the corners of the mouth or it will cause problems later in construction.
Do the same steps again to create a chin for the fish as with the forehead with a narrower strip.
Now you should have a fish head, without a body.
For the body, cut out a fish shape (neck to the tail) with one top fin and one small lower fin from folded material. Pin this shape straight down the middle. Also pin the tail together so that it does not open. Open the bottom edge of the fish body that you just cut out and pinned, lay it on the material again and cut out that shape created by the opened belly. (It is a square/rectangle shape with a fin on two sides.) In the end you will have three pieces that will come together as the body of the fish.
Take the two main pieces of the body, and sew the top edge and tail together, stopping at the bottom edge of the tail. This is where the sock opening will fit later. Sew in the third piece of material by matching up the side fins, making sure not to sew the opening at the base of the tail closed so that the hand opening can be constructed later.
Matching the raw edges of the head and body, sew the head to the body making sure not to catch the sock in the seam.
Turn entire puppet right side out through the opening left for the hand. Admire work. If proportions look off, fix now. This can be done by increasing seam allowances or by seam ripping and increasing seam allowance on one body part. Once the proportions are as you want them, stuff the puppet with fiberfill, then stitch the sock to the bottom of the fishes belly closing the opening.
Hand sew decorative features using felt or other materials that do not fray as these seams will not be covered. At least add eyes, but can also add stripes, or spots, etc.
Enjoy.
This pattern can be modified for other animals and even for people hand puppets if the body is changed to accommodate the difference.
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