Sooooo easy!
Items you will need:1 pair of cute socks
2 buttons
Pen & Ruler
Sewing Machine
Scissors
Polyester fiber fill
Needle & Thread
Stop often to round off the ends to make the feet.
After your done sewing you may now cut up the pen line to separate the legs and cut off the elastic bottom part. This can be thrown away.
At this point this is what your sock should look like.
Now turn your sock right side out using the small opening between the upper legs and bum.
Its time to stuff your kitty! I use Polyester Fiber Fill - you can get it at any craft store, Walmart or check your local thrift stores. I recommend using a ball point pen or a chop stick to get stuffing into the legs.
Here's where we are. An armless, tailless, earless kitty. Lets continue.
Now it's time for the other sock. We'll start by making the tail. Turn the sock inside-out and flatten it, but flatten this one in profile. Draw a line from the toe to the cuff that's one inch in from the edge.
We sew the tail just like we did the legs. Start at the toe and sew all the way down to the cuff, rounding off the end again. This time sew on the line.
Cutting time! Start by cutting off the toe of the sock. You won't need that anymore. Now we're going to free the tail. Cut as shown along your sewn seam all the way to the cuff. (Again, I generally try to have a quarter-inch seam allowance, but you can get a little closer if you need to.)
Turn your tail rightside-out and stuff it. You should end up with this lovely snakey thing and a random piece of sock. We come to that next...
Start with the arm piece first. That's the longer rectangle. We need to cut it up the middle length-wise to make two long skinny pieces. (Your sock already probably has a crease there.) Then fold one of these pieces in half, right sides together, and pin it along the raw edge. Then sew along this edge starting from the non-cuff end. (My seam allowance here is probably less than a quarter-inch, simply because I don't want the arm to be any skinnier than necessary. Don't get too close to the edge though or you'll run into trouble. The raw edge has a tendency to curl and I often have to stop and readjust things below the presser foot.) Round off the cuff end for the hand just as you did the legs and tail. You're basically just making yet another little tube. Once you've done one, make the other just the same.
Now for the ears. Take your remaining bit of sock and cut it lengthwise as you did with the arms. Then cut each of those bits in half widthwise. We're basically looking to get four little squares all the same size from this operation, as seen here.
Take two of the matching squares and stack them with right-sides together. Then pin the heck out of them.. I don't bother trying to make circular ears; these trianglish ones look fine. Use your pen to draw on the ear shape. I generally just draw it with a quarter-inch seam allowance and round off the corners. (Once you've done a couple, you won't even need to draw it.) As you can see, one side is left open. We're now going to sew along the line.
Here I am sewing along the ear line. Just go slowly and try to keep everything together as best you can. Once you've finished one, make the other just the same. You can trim off some of the excess seam allowance when you're finished.
Heres what they look like, now just turn them rightside out.
You should now have all the basic pieces of your sock kitty. Turn the arms right-side out and stuff them as you did the tail. Turn the ears as well and stuff them lightly. You're now done with the sewing machine and everything else will be done by hand.
First, a word of warning. Don't try to make this perfect. There's no easy way to sew two tubes together at right angles. Just do your best and know you'll get better with each one. The general idea here is just like it was with the crotch - fold raw edges inside and use small tight stitches to graft everything together. We start with the tail. I knot a length of thread and bring it up from inside the tail near the seam to secure it. Then fold the raw edges inside, pinch a bit of the tail to the body, and start tacking it down with stitches. Try not to stretch the tail "circle" out too far. I try to keep the long tail seam at the bottom to hide it (but sometimes the tail rotates a bit as you sew it). I generally go around the tail twice to make it as strong as possible. Then secure your thread and hide the loose end in the body.
Next the arms. Do these exactly like you did the tail. I generally position them about halfway up the body. (It's useful to have stripey socks for this, because you can use the stripes to line up the arms perfectly.) Again, I tend to sew around each arm twice for strength.
Your kitty now has all his limbs.
Now its time to sew on the ears. It's done the same way as everything else, by tucking in the raw edge and tacking the folded edge down to the body. Ears are a little more tricky (in that they're not a nice circle), but just go round them twice and don't be afraid to pull them into place. I generally place them in line with the arms just below where the toe of the sock starts. (Again, stripes are nice here for aligning perfectly.) Don't worry too much if they don't match exactly. I always end up with one slightly farther back than the other but it's part of the charm, right?
For eyes, I like to use matching buttons that come from the bargain bin at my local sewing or thrift shop. Just pick out two you like and tack the first one down. I knot this thread a few times and then pull it down into the body to start. Once you've secured the button, take the thread down into the body and bring it back up for the second eye. After you've secured that, you can bring the thread up in the face to complete the smile. When you're done, knot the thread and hide it down in the body. I also add a cute strip of fabric for a scarf. Use pinking shears for a cute raggy effect.
Wasn't that fun?!
