Friday, 4 December 2020

How to Make a Sock Puppet That Looks Like a Dog

Hello! It’s gift giving season, and here’s an idea for something you can make for a young person. Included are instructions for a “fancy” version and a “quicker and easier” one.

I made one for a little boy in my life and it was quite a hit!

Supplies:

A clean, preferably new, sock, with no branding/writing on the foot part.
A scrap of red cotton that’s about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide.
Some felt for the ears.
Some felt for the eyes OR, if doing the easy version, two buttons. Note that buttons can be a choking hazard for babies, so only use them if the puppet is for an older child.
Scissors, thread, a sewing needle, straight pins.
If you’d like to sketch out the shape for the ears, eyes and nose before cutting into your felt, grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Sketch and cut out the paper ones and try them on the puppet, until you get a shape that you like. Then use the paper as a pattern.
A sewing machine is helpful but not necessary.

How to Make It:

1 ) Cut the sock to make the mouth, from the toe, about 4 inches deep, about 2/3s from the top of the sock, with the bottom lip being the smaller part. (The bottom lip is toward the sole of the sock.)

↑ The shape of the sock makes it look curved but this is just one straight cut. ↑

2 ) Turn the sock inside-out and pin mouth fabric on.

3 ) Sew on, either with a sewing machine or by hand. Go over the sections at the sides of the mouth, to reinforce those areas.

4 ) Turn right-side-out and test on your hand. If required, turn back inside-out and adjust the fit. I felt the bottom lip was a bit too long, so I shortened it. As you can see, it took two tries to get it right. Trim off excess fabric.

5 ) Turn right-side out.

6 ) Cut ear shapes from the felt. I wanted mine to have two layers, each in a different colour, however, one layer would work fine.

7 ) If using two layers, attach them together with a running stitch. Attach ears to puppet.

NOTE: In order to more easily stitch through only the top layer, stick a paper tube into the sock to separate the layers.

8 ) Form some eyes from felt, using four colours, like I did, or simply use a circle cut from felt for each eye. If the puppet is for an older child, a couple of buttons will do the trick.

If using several colours of felt, stitch the parts of the eye together first, using colour matching threads, and attach them to the puppet. Then add the eyelids.