I just loved making these sock monsters. With each monster I thought about how more outrageous I could make it. Fun....fun....fun! The crazier the design on the socks the better! It is better to use socks that are woven tightly. They don't show the batting as much as a thinner pair would and they don't run as much when they are cut.
This picture and the next few don't show it, but it is better to turn the socks inside out and then position them like so. Don't be a dodo like me...turn your socks inside out!
Next cut up the middle of the cut top piece about 3 to 4 inches. This section will make up the arms of the doll. You can remove the foot section and either discard it or save it for another project.
With a marker draw half circles at the ends of your two sock pieces. It is helpful to pin the socks at this point. Yes, I finally realized that I needed to turn the socks inside out, but you will be smarter than I was and start with your socks turned inside out...right?
Now start at the top of the cut section of the "arm" socks and sew down 1/4 inch along the edge. Follow your marked line to the side of the sock. Be sure to sew completely off the sock. Do the same along the other side. You will have an opening at the top of the cut. You will see why you need this in just a moment. If you are observant you will see that I did not leave an opening and had to pick the stitches out. Sometimes I wonder about myself!
With the "leg"socks start at the outside of the marked line, stitch on the line and then up the inside edge with a 1/4 inch seam and around the top of the cut. Continue stitching down the other leg and around the marked line and sew off the sock. Snip two to three times at the "crotch area" without cutting through the stitching.
Trim around the bottom line 1/4 inch from the edge.
Cut down the center of the top "leg and body" socks about 2 to 4 inches. It depends on if you want a big head, long ears, a top knot, short ears or just short strands coming off the head. Just play with it and see what happens.
Stuff the legs and body section. Don't stuff the body section to fully at this point. Then stuff the arms.
Slide the arm section down over the top of the body section so the sock cuff is on top...see that is why we needed the opening between the arms. Now you can finish stuffing the body and the head and if you need more stuffing in the arms go ahead and fill them too. You can turn the cuff down or leave it up.
Hand stitch around the arm section opening securing that part to the body.
Add details to the face with felt cut outs. Sew the felt pieces on. For this monster I just added stuffing to the top part and then sewed it closed.
On this monster I put the arm section above the head and then simply closed the top by making a stitch and wrapping thread around several times before tying it off with a knot. A small, clear rubber band can also be used to close it. Then I cut off the excess sock so there was just a short tuff. Along the exposed cut edges I added some fray check just to keep the sock from unraveling too much.
For the face I cut one red felt circle and then stitched a smaller black circle onto it. I added a white stitch with embroidery thread to the black. Then I sewed the whole eye on with black embroidery thread. The mouth is a strip of red felt with two teeth. The teeth were stitched to the mouth and then the mouth was sewn on the face with red embroidery thread.
This little guy had knotted ears, felt eyes with an embroidered vertical stitch and an embroidered mouth. For embroidery stitches look here.
I kept the arms above the section that would be the face making it a belly instead. I cut a long slit in the top head section and then sewed the sections to form two antennas. The felt eye circles are embroidered on again.
This one has one large central eye and a triangle shape for a nose. The top section was closed by wrapping thread around again and the top section was cut into strips. Again I added fray check to each strip.
If your child is old enough he/she could design his/her own sock monster and do the hand sewing on it. How much fun would that be!
For more ideas on sock toys check out these sock monkeys.
Adapted from Parent Magazine sock stars.
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