DIY Sock Monkey

For my brother's birthday last year I made him a Gene Simmons sock monkey. He loved it so  much that I decided to make the remaining KISS band members for him for Christmas. 


Now, I'm not the greatest at tutorials because it's super hard to do the project, take pictures of each step, AND take good pictures of each step. So, I'm going to link the the site where I first learned how to make sock monkeys (made one for Russ' an my anniversary back when we were dating and he thought I bought it somewhere!). 


Go here for better directions because I missed a step or two, I'm sure. 


Annnnd sorry for the terrible pictures... my camera just isn't what it used to be.


1.) Take your sock of choice, turn it inside out and lie ti flat with the heel of the foot part facing up. You can use knee socks if there's a pattern you especially like but you'll just have to cut off some extra fabric at the top unless you want your sock monkey to be disproportionate and awkward-looking. 

I then mark off where I want the legs to be sewn with a chalk pencil or, in this case, a marker if the fabric is dark like mine. Take care to make sure it won't bleed through if you use a marker. 

2.) Sew from the toe in a "U" shape to create the legs.

3.) Cut the slit between the legs and turn it right side out.

4.) Take the second sock and sew the arms... which is a step I didn't show (duh, Ashley!) and refer to the link.

5.) Take the upper part of the sock for his/her tail and ears.

I chose to make an ear pattern out of cardstock to insure that I had the same size ears after sewing... I have ended up with weirdo looking ears before. 

6.) Turn everything right side out and stuff. Take care to use small pieces of batting for a more uniform look. Large pieces will make it look lumpy and no one wants a lumpy monkey.

7.) Once properly stuffed, close the head of the monkey first. I then like to make it look like my monkey has a neck so I just sew a basic line by hand around his neck and then pull it like you're strangling him and tie a knot in the back (this sounds weird to type out). 

Sewing the ears and arms are probably the most pain-in-the-butt steps of this thing. You have to make sure each side is positioned at the same height so you don't look like you have a FrankenMonkey. 

8.) The heel of the second sock ends up being the sock monkey's mouth. I used a basic back stitch (I think that's what it's called... dunno, I suck at sewing) to make a slight smirky-smile with some heavy thread. You can also use yarn, I just didn't have any and thought the thread looked cleaner. 

9.) Pin it to his/her face and sew around the perimeter. Make sure to leave an opening so you can stuff some batting in there to give him/her a 3D face. I think it looks better like this:

Next, sew on his/her glorious button eyes and you have yourself a sweet little sock monkey that hopefully doesn't look like anything Mary Shelley imagined. 

Though, I took my monkeys a step further and added some badassery and awesomeness. 

And on Christmas morning, the band was reunited. (Does anyone else see 'reunited' and your brain automatically goes "and it feels so gooooood"? Mine does.)

Envelope Pillows And My Sewing Nemesis.

I finally got around to making those envelope pillow covers for my bed pillows yesterday. Go me! I found an easy tutorial over at Instructables.com. I wanted to utilize the cheap-o Wal-mart sheets I used for my curtains again and it took me a while to find a FLAT sheet in red. I went to three different Wal-marts before giving up until last week.


For $5 I had enough fabric for two pillows and then some. Score! I think I'm going to make an apron out of it for my cake decorating class (which... I am SO excited for!). 


Now, I pretty much hate sewing. I love the end product of sewing but getting there... UGH. I'm impatient and I try to sew fast to get it over with (which usually leads to problems and lots of cursing). I think I've had more problems sewing than any other DIY projects I've tackled. I've successfully made pillows, table squares for my wedding centerpieces, blankets, aprons, and purses and bags but it doesn't mean I enjoy doing it. 


I just think of the end result and that usually gets me to the end of the stupid sewing project... 

Simple and basic steps:

1.) Wash fabric to pre-shrink it if you're going to be washing the covers regularly.  Since these pillows don't get laid on or anything, I skipped this step. Also, I'm impatient and slightly lazy.

2.) Measure the length and width of your pillow. Lay the measuring tape over the pillow and allow for the curvature of the pillow. 

My pillow measurements were 12 inches wide by 18.5 inches long.

-Cut ONE piece and add 1 inch to your length and 1 inch to your width. (Mine: 13 inches wide x 19.5 inches long)
-Cut TWO pieces that are measured length minus 6 inches but the same width. (Mine: 13 inches wide x 13.5 inches long)

Press your fabric pieces now if you haven't done so for easy pinning. 

*Side note: the Instructables site said to hem the pockets after sewing everything together but I think it would be easier to do this step NOW before sewing it all together. 

3.) Pin right sides together (the pockets will overlap but you want that).

*Side note: here's something extremely lucky I found while using sheets... I wouldn't have to sew more and hem the pockets to make them nice! I just used the finished edge of the sheet and it saved me time and hair pulling!

Nice finished edge on the pockets that I didn't have to sew!

4.) Sew perimeter (about a half inch around) and trim the corners.

I don't have pictures of me sewing to demonstrate but I'm sure you get the idea.

Trimming the corners makes it nice and square when you turn it right side out. 

5.) Turn right side out, press if needed.

6.) Stuff your pillow in and enjoy!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

This project isn't over. I wouldn't be me if I left those pillows blank. Expect a post later on down the road when I figure out just how I want to embellish these babies. 

And it wasn't just sewing that annoyed me in this project... Ian kept trying to play in the sheet while I was measuring and cutting. So much so that to get him away from my area, I cut the pieces and gave him the sheet to play with. It worked.

I Can't Use A Clutch But I Can Use A Sewing Machine

I was on a kick a while back where I thought I could be a complete DIY diva and be my own seamstress.  Yeah, I stopped trying after my first "easy" skirt was a complete failure.  I either really suck at making skirts or I was just making a skirt for the one day I'll be a million times smaller.  But, I did manage to not screw up this easy little placemat clutch.


I found a really cool placemat on super duper clearance at Walmart that was from their holiday collection (it was July at the time I bought it) and there was only one of them.  I figured, for $2 I could try to make a placemat clutch and if I failed, no big deal.  


Even though I made this clutch a while back, I still haven't had an opportunity to use it.  For one, I have a huge purse that I don't carry a lot of stuff it (but, purely for the fact that it has the potential to carry a lot of stuff in it) and it's navy.  And I'm usually wearing more black than navy and I can't do mismatchy navy and black, my OCD side would be going bonkers the entire day.  So, its sat in my closet until the day I think I might be able to use it.  But, it's still really cute and easy to make.


All you need is:


-1 placemat
-sewing machine
-matching or coordinating thread
-button or other embellishment (and some sort of closure if you don't want to make just an envelope clutch)

Just fold the placemat to where you think you want the front part to come down to and sew up the two sides.  You can add a button, leave it bare, or add a magnetic or velcro closure.