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Project: Sock Skeleton
Who doesn't love sock monkeys? Who doesn't love skeletons? Well, considering that you're held together by one, you totally should. Anyhoo, seeing as how Halloween is coming up and I loves me some Halloween, I thought I'd give making a sock skeleton a go. Have you ever made a sock monkey? It's so easy ("sew" easy- hah!) to make and a sock skeleton is even easier since you don't have to a) find those weird brown socks with the red heel and b) you don't have to deal with the ears, mouth part and the tail, unless you want to make a sock skeleton monkey and in that case, you still don't have to make the ears. Cover the whole damn thing in ears, I don't care.
What you'll need:
- One pair of calf-length white cotton sports socks
- Needle and thread
- Scissors
- Stuffing material
- Black laundry marker
Turn sock #1 inside out and flatten it so that the heel is facing you. Make a cut from the cuff of the sock to the point where the heel starts and round the ends where the "feet" will be. The heel forms the "butt" of the skeleton, which I realize is mighty silly, however this "butt" helps the skeleton "sit".
Turn the skeleton body inside out and sew the legs up, making sure to leave a hole in the crotch-region for stuffing. Hee! No comment.
Now stuff that skeleton! Use whatever you have handy- no need to go out and buy fancy stuffing. I used wadded up plastic grocery store bags for this one because I had a bunch of them, but you could also shred some old t-shirts, underwear or even some more damn socks!
I felt a need to do a little nip and tuck with my skeleton. I wound and sewed some thread a couple to times around the jawline area to give my skeleton a chin. We just can't have a skeleton with a weak chin, now can we? I also gave the skeleton a waist using the same method.
My baby needs some arms so it can hug me back! That's what sock #2 is for. Cut off the footie part of the sock and reserve the "leg" part for the arms.Cut the leg part in half length-wise, cut one end of each leg into a curve (the "hand") and turn them inside out. Sew up the sides and leave an open end for stuffing.
Stuff the arms and sew them to the body. Remember to tuck in the edges of the armhole so that you don't have some dumb frayed edge sticking out.
Ain't she cute? I was so tempted to just leave it like this, like some sort of minimalist doll figure, but even Eleanor had her doubts. She looked at me all confused and said, "What DAT?"
Now's the time to test your drawing skills. Find some reference images or use your imagination to draw your skeleton's bits and pieces and don't forget the back! This is probably the most nerve-wracking part of the whole operation. It would suck to mess up at this point. Some of you more patient and skilled folk out there may want to try embroidering the features instead.
Aww, cute! Eleanor calls it a "skelleck". Feel free to make little clothes and accessories for your skelleck dolly, or experiment with different sizes (kid-sized socks make kid-sized skeletons!) This is a great project for Dia De Los Muertos, Halloween or a pressie for your favorite Goth kid.
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