Monkey Business

Since I have known Kevin, he has had an odd love of sock monkeys (sorry, honey.) Every time we are at a store, he will inevitably find a sock monkey and show it to me. His great-grandma used to make sock monkeys for him and his cousins, so I think it's more a sentimental thing than a 8-year-old-boy-in-a-twenty-four-year-old's-body kind of thing. So, for Christmas I got him a pair of socks that you typically see a sock monkey made out of. He was real confused why I was buying him thermal socks, but once he figured out what I had planned for them, he was pretty excited.

I finally had the motivation to make the sock monkey this weekend, so I thought I'd (of course) post about how I did it.

His reaction was priceless when he came home. He had a rough day at work so it was perfect timing.

Here's what you need!

Not pictured: Sewing machine and pins.

To avoid confusion, I will refer to the sock that will make the body as SOCK A and the sock that will make the body parts as SOCK B.

 Step 1: Fold Sock A inside out and lay flat with heal facing. Up. Draw a line down the center of the sock length-wise. This will become the legs and body of the monkey.

Step 2: With the same sock, sew two seams on each side of the line you drew. The seams should be on about 1/4 inch from the line on each side. It doesn't have to be perfect. Round out the bottom of the seams, making feet. Make sure you do this entire step on the open end of the sock. STOP your seams about 1 inch from the heal. The heal will become the monkey's butt (hehe).

Step 3: CUT down your black line you drew in Step 1. STOP about 1/2 inch from the monkey butt. This will allow an opening to putt stuffing in. Now you have two legs and an un-stuffed body.

AWKWARD PICTURE ALERT! Here is the picture of the opening you need to get the stuffing in. It should be big enough to get your hand in.

Step 4: Stuff your monkey. It worked best if you pulled the stuffing apart into smaller pieces, especially when stuffing the legs.

 Step 5:Uhh... another awkward picture... Using your embroidery floss and needle, sew the opening closed. Make sure the ragged edges of the sock are tucked inside. Mine doesn't look very nice, I should have taken my time. I don't think anyone will spend a lot of time look at the crotch of the sock monkey (unless of course you're reading this blog, or if you're really really creepy.....)

Step 6: Turn Sock B (the sock for the body parts) inside out. Draw a 1-inch line down the front part of the sock. Cut as shown in the next picture.

Step 7: Leaving the tail folded as is (right sides together), sew a seam down the length. I had about a 1/8 inch seam allowance so the tail would be wide enough to stuff. Round off the bottom of the tail with your sewing machine.

Optional: Cut some length off the tail. I thought mine was too long, so I cut it. Well, I cut too much off and it looks a little stubby. Maybe cut off 2-3 inches rather than the 5-6 I cut off. Oops!

Step 8: Stuff the stubby tail. You will hand-stitch this onto the monkey later.

Here's what you will have left:

Step 8: Now, you are going to make the arms with the long rectangular piece you see in the picture above. Cut the rectangle in half (there should already be a natural crease in the socks--cut down this line). Pin the arms right sides together. It was easier for me to sew when it was pinned. Again, round off the end of the arms with your machine. I wanted the red end of the socks to be near the hands, so I rounded off the red part.

Step 9: Stuff your arms. You will hand sew these later.

Now you have a stuffed tail and two stuffed arms, as seen below.

Step 10: Find the piece designated for the ears. Cut it in half length wise (down the natural fold of the sock) and draw two c-shapes with your sharpie.

Step 11: Cut your ears out so you have four ear shapes. Put right sides together, and sew around the ear, leaving an opening for a little stuffing. I did this by hand because it was easier for me, but you could also do it with your sewing machine.

Now you have two arms, a tail, and two ears.

Step 12: Cut out the heal of the sock. Basically, I cut part of the grey part off so it wasn't unraveling so much.

Now we're ready to put the monkey together! 

Note: If I were to do this over, I would use grey floss instead of white. It would look a little nicer. I recommend your floss match the majority of the body (grey vs. red).

Step 13: Sew on the tail of the monkey, tucking in the ragged edges.

Step 14: Sew on the arms in the same manner. I tried to make them about halfway up the body, but it's up to you.

Step 16: Sew on the snout of the monkey slightly above the arms. I sewed the top and sides and left a little opening to put a little stuffing in.

Step 17: Put a little stuffing in the ears and sew them symmetrically to the monkey's head.

Step 18: Sew on the eyes. I sewed in a circle to create more of a pupil look.

Step 19: Using your sharpie and felt, draw an outline of a mustache. Cut it out. I used fabric glue to secure it to the monkey, but you could also sew it.

AND YOU'RE DONE! The only thing left to do is let your monkey live its life.

(I left that last one there... I'm eagerly waiting for Brian and Kevin to get home to see their reactions. Hopefully they'll think it's as funny as I do.)