Sock People

I fully intended to give my blog a bit of space instead of using up all of my steam at once... But here I am so say hello to another blog post! So much happens nowadays!!


So - yesterday we went to see TAKEN 2! Which was amazing, by the way. We saw it in the student's union cinema (lecture theatre by day, cinema by night...).

This is one of our third years, Lauren. She was my cinema buddy. Aaaand this is Elena and Soph getting excited about candy floss. 

I sat through the film with my face covered every time someone tried to beat up Liam Neeson - Elena sat next to me and was just all 'and what, I'm from Wigan, this isn't even shocking'. You'd think she was from a ghetto. 

Anyway, onto other things! Today my conquest was sock people. Teddy bears are still WAY beyond me and my meager skills so I had a go at something more basic. Look at this cute little guy:

(Kindly adopted by Sophie - yet to be named but I believe 'Martin' is a possibility).  Of course Elena COULDN'T help but donate some socks so he wouldn't be alone, which gave birth to our second sock person of the day: 

Look at his great big googly unmatched eyes! What a babe! 

Last thing - if you want to make a sock person, here's how. 

You'll need:

• A sock. I used fluffly slipper socks but you can use any sock to be honest. 
• Two buttons. 
• Something to stuff it with. I had some stuffing from my pillow-making phase but you can use anything. Cotton wool balls if you're desperate. 
• SEWING MACHINE! (You could do it by hand I guess, it's just less painfully slow with a machine. 
• Needle and thread for the bits you have to do by hand. 

So - STAGE ONE!!! :)

1. Turn the sock inside out and lie it flat. Press the heal down so its not in your way. 
2. Draw on some ears. You can't see them in my sock because it was black at the end, but it doesn't need to be exact or anything. 
3. Sew over the lines with the sewing machine and then cut out the middle. 

STAGE TWO!! :)

1. The first picture in this one shows the stage your sock should be at now. 
2. Turn it the right way out, push out the ears with your finger, and stuff up to the heel. Cut off the excess and put it to one side. (Don't throw it away). 
3. Fold the loose edges into the sock person and with a needle and thread pull the seams closed. It doesn't need to be neat - or at least mine didn't with a fluffy sock because you can't really see. 
4. Once it's all neatly enclosed, press the stuffing around a bit to shape it. 
5. With your off-cut from the sock, Cut a little rectangle about twice the size you want your tail to be. 
6. Fold it in half, and with the sewing machine sew the long sides together, so there's a little gap at the top. 
7. Stuff some more stuffing in the tail, and sew it up. (I know mines messy, things went a little wrong. But it looks okay by the time I'm finished so if you make some mistakes don't worry.)

STAGE THREE! :)

Progress! 

1. Again using a needle and thread just hand sew the tail to whichever side of the sock person you want to be the back. You can sew it on however you like as long as it looks right to you. 
2. Sew the buttons on the other side for eyes. Can be as messy or as neat as you fancy. 
3. Aww, isn't it cute!!!

I adapted this idea from this genius here: 

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/totoro 

:) 

I'm going to go now and start building my sock-person army, goodnight!