When my delightful sister Tamsyn asked me to participate in
her handmade Christmas gift collaboration, I jumped at the chance. I have so
many handmade gifts I want to get done and so little time!
I decided to make this adorable little monster from Craft Schmaft.
I picked up the paper pattern at the Finders Keepers Markets but you can get it online too!
The first step is getting some socks. It took me two goes to
get this very simple bit right! You see unless you want your monster to have
writing on his belly then you’ll need to find some blank socks. Of course I didn't figure this out until I started sewing my monster...
Luckily after a quick trip to Big W, I found a variety of suitable socks. You see I have four of these adorable creatures to make. One each for my girls and one each for my nephews. They're from Santa though so shhh don't tell :o)
You want to turn your sock inside out and make sure it's nice and flat. Whenever I cut the sock I lay pins just to the left of the cut line. This meant the layers all stayed together nicely. The instructions recommend leaving a gap at the end of the tail (the top of the purple line in the photo) but when I make more of these I will leave the gap in the middle. I think this will make it much easier to turn and stuff. Just make sure backstitch on either end of the gap if you do it this way.
Flatten out the sock so the sole is facing towards you. Trace out a curve for the top of the head. I used the top of another sock to get the shape. You could also use a flexible ruler if you want it to be a bit more accurate.
Pin along the seam line before cutting and then pin vertically before stitching.
Reflatten the sock to it's original shape. Measure from the tip of the tail to the seam line on the head. This is how long you want the spikes to be.
Either enlarge or reduce your spike pattern to get it to be the right size. Pin to your felt and the cut to size.
Cut from the tip of the tail to the seam line. Line up the flat edge of your spikes with the cut line, making sure the felt is sandwiched between the two layers. Stitch along the back of your monster. Then you can turn the sock through the opening you left.
Use the toe of the sock you cut off earlier for the chubby little legs. There was no pattern piece (that I could find) for the legs and arms. I cut them to fit scrap that was left.
Using the sock, repeat the process to get some monster arms. Sew around the outside of the arms and legs, then turn them to be the right way around.
Oh look, it's starting to look like a monster! Time to stuff! Stuffing through the tail was a very time consuming process, I recommend lining up a good tv show before you start. Once you have the body stuffed you want to stich it up. I think ladder stitch gives the best result for this. Now I'm not even going to pretend I'm some sort of hand stitching expert. Thank goodness for the trusty internet to show us how!
Stuff the arms and legs and then whip stitch them onto the body. Depending on how the stuffing is distributed and how big your arms and legs are will determine where they look best. Play it by ear and once you've got one side done make sure you line it up to the same place on the other.
For the face I used the same reduction in size as for the spikes. It ended up that the mouth was still a little big so I just cut it to size. Next stitch the pupils and teeth to the black felt. I'm not sure what the name of the stitch you use is (sorry) but basically you want to have a tiny bit of thread come through at the front and a line of thread between stitches at the back. Use the same method to attach the eyes and mouth to the body. Whip stich your final spike to the top of the head.
One finished little Baby Zilla. I have a feeling these are going to be a hit with the little people. It was easy to put together and would make a great gift for someone this Christmas :o)
Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to check out some of the other great gifts to make
