Sock it to 'Em

A few summers ago, my little sister, Carley, and I were home alone for the day. It was one of the first summers where we didn't have too much going on because we were getting too old for summer camps. Our dad works during the day  and our mom was on a business trip, so we were stuck at home with nothing (and I mean NOTHING) to do. It wasn't the first day we were home that week so we were pretty much out of ideas.

For some reason, at that age, I was obsessed with sock monkeys. For the record, this was a few years ago... I am not anymore in case you were wondering. I wanted a sock money SO bad. I remember seeing a giant one right before Christmas at Smith's and of course, Santa didn't bring it. Darn.

Anyways, I had this brilliant idea to make my own sock monkey! I looked online for a while and didn't find anything that Carley and I could make out of things we already had at home, since we couldn't drive to get supplies. All of the things I found for sock monkeys were complicated patterns that we had no idea how to make. Eventually, I came across a "how-to" for sock bunnies. It was really easy, but we kind of changed it up a bit. I must say, I was a little, crafty genius!

Here is how we made ours-

Materials:
one knee-high sock
embroidery thread
needle
two buttons
felt
stuffing
sharp scissors
hot glue gun

Pick a sock that is tall. Bunnies have long ears, right? So you want to have a sock that will give you long enough ears. The sock on the left is from Claire's and would work perfectly if I were going to make another one. I like to use fuzzy socks because it makes your bunny extra soft, too!

First, with the heel of the sock facing upwards, cut down the middle of the sock (through both layers) until a few inches above the heel. These are your ears, so you can decide how far you want to cut them after you have made the head as well.

Then, stuff the sock all the way up to the heel of the sock. In the picture above it would be to the bottom of the pink. Tie a piece of embroidery thread, ribbon, etc. around the top of your stuffing. This is where the bunny's neck will be.

Now, stuff the sock again. This time, make it up to about the top of the heel, maybe a little bit past it. This is your bunny's head. It is a lot easier to shape the head by shaping the stuffing and then putting it in the sock.

You should have already cut ears by now, so take embroidery thread and tie it around each ear to hold the stuffing inside. It kind of looks like your bunny has pigtails in its hair! Round the tops of the ears by cutting them with scissors. We sewed the tops after we cut them so they wouldn't fray at all.

Now you just need to add the finishing touches! Sew the two buttons on for eyes, glue a felt triangle for the nose and sew a felt piece full of stuffing for the tail. And you're all done!

Happy crafting!