Sunday, November 6, 2011

4 Little [sock] Monkeys

The other day on Pinterest, I saw a picture of sock monkeys.  Now, I've never been a particular fan of the strange little creatures, but when I saw these I thought, "I know some kids who could enjoy these!"  My brother Josh has 4 children, who we call "The Monkeys."  I happen to have their family for Christmas, so why not make sock monkeys for my favorite little Kaiser Monkeys?  After doing one I realized it was soooo easy and that I should make a quick tutorial.  

For 1 sock monkey you need:

- 1 pair of socks
- 2 buttons
- needle
-thread
- fluff (that's batting, for you technical people)

Okay, here we go!
Turn one of your socks inside-out, and flatten it with the heel facing upward:

Because these socks were knee socks, I had to shorten them, but if your socks aren't so long you can skip this step:

Now from the cuff (or bottom of your sock), cut a straight line up the middle to about 1/4 inch below the heel. (The heel becomes the bum of the monkey)

Cut the heel out of the other sock.  This will become the nose-mouth (hahaha thanks, Matt).

From the other sock, after cutting out the nose-mouth (okay, it's probably actually called a snout...), cut out 2 arms of equal length and width, a tail piece, and two half-circles for the ears:

Sew the feet and legs together, leaving a small opening in the crotch so you can turn it right-side-out and stuff:

Turn right-side out:

...And stuff. Then sew up the crotch.  Hooray, you have the body:

Sew the arms and tail together, leaving the end open so you can turn them right-side out.  Then stuff the arms.  I opted not to stuff the tail; I like it a little floppy:

Hand stitch the nose-mouth to the front of the face.  First, it looks a little deformed, and you may think you've done something terribly wrong:

But leave a small opening, stuff the fluff in there, and whip stitch it shut, and your nose-mouth takes the proper shape:

Now whip stitch the arms and tail on.  It clearly doesn't have to be perfect:

Here's what it looks like from the front:

Next sew on some button eyes, the ears, and hand-stitch the mouth, and you've got yourself a sock monkey:

Here are the 4 I've made:

One for each of my favorite monkeys!  (Carly, if you read this, no telling that I'm sending these to them.  After all, it's for Christmas!)



4 comments:

  1. Oh I'm glad you like them! Mom said they were creepy, and I was worried you wouldn't like them :)

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  2. How do you already know who you have for Christmas?! Who do we have?

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  3. seriously did Mom not tell you?? We drew like 2 weeks ago.... I'm not sure you have. One of the boys, though I'm pretty sure. Call Mom?

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