Since we’ve been talking about frugal gift ideas lately, I thought I’d share another favorite of mine – the sock monkey. It makes a wonderful gift for a young child and has been around for quite some time. Let’s take a quick look at the history of this famous stuffed animal and then I’ll show you how easy it is to put one together.

John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant, manufactured the first socks in 1890 in Rockford Illinois at The Nelson Knitting Mills.  These socks were sturdy enough to work in and were purchased by workers who had to be on their feet all day.  Mainly they were used by farmers and factory workers.  In 1932, the company changed the look of their socks by adding a red heel.

Because of the Great Depression, mothers looked for ways they could create toys for their children out of items they had around the home.  Some mothers took their husband’s old socks and started making monkeys and other animals out of them.  When the company learned that their socks were being used to create toys for children, they developed patterns and started including the patterns in the sock packages.  This happened in the 1950s.

If you never had a home-made sock monkey, you can buy a package of socks and make one for yourself and your children.

What do you need to make your own home-made sock monkey?

* One pair of Rockford Red Heel socks.  They come in two pairs to a package and cost around $12.00, and come in various sizes so you can make different size monkeys.
* Cotton batting or polyester fiber to make your sock monkey plump
* Red knitting yarn
* Black embroidery thread
* Black buttons, for the eyes
* All-purpose thread

Turn the socks inside out.

Sew a seam (A) 1/2 inch on both sides of the center of sock starting three inches from the white heel and across the end of the top.  Cut the sock between the seams and to within 1-1/2 inches of white heel.  This leaves an opening in the crotch.

Then turn the sock so the seams are on the inside and use the crotch opening to stuff the head, body and legs.

ARMS:
Cut the upper part of the sock into two pieces.  Seam, rounding the ends and stuff the arms.

MOUTH:
Cut the heel from the sock, leaving a brown edge around the white.  Fasten on lower part of the face, whip-stitching around the bottom; stuff and finish sewing around the top.  The mouth can be improved by a running stitch of either black or white across the middle of the lips.

TAIL:
Cut a one inch strip, taper to end of cuff on length of front of sock.  Seam and stuff.

EARS:
Cut the ears from the remaining brown part of the sole of the sock.

EYES:
Sew on moving eyes, buttons, felt, or embroider with black thread.  (For very small children embroider the eyes.)

CAP: (Optional)
Cut off toe of another sock, leaving 1/2 inch of brown to roll for a brim.  Sometimes a fez is used for a cap.

Just give it a try and within a couple of hours you can have one or two sock monkeys or sock elephants.  There are several great things about a gift you make yourself:  you know what went into it so you know there’s nothing harmful in it, you’ve spent precious time to make it, and even if it doesn’t look just like the one in the pictures, you’ve created it with love.  Your child is sure to treasure the home-made sock money you’ve made for them for years to come.

Tags: sock monkey

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Frugal Fun Fridays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.