Sock Monkey Halloween

Sock Monkey Project by
Jen Muecke, Milwaukee, WI

This Sock Monkey costume was the project of Jen Muecke on the
HGTV series called "That's Clever!" The half hour series was hosted
by Angela Martinez, featuring regional crafters and their creations
from coast to coast. The life size Sock Monkey costume originally
appeared in Episode HCLVR-216 of the series.

You can download the instructions with step by step
photos from the HGTV website. Print Version.

Materials:

3 matching sweaters (a size or two bigger than person wearing the suit)
3 white knit scarves
2 white knit hats

2 pair white knit mittens
needle and thread (white and color to match sweaters)
sheet of 1" thick upholstery foam
two 8-1/2" x 11" sheets of red felt
8-1/2" x 11" sheet of black felt
long heavy-duty zipper (color to match sweaters)
pieces of black pantyhose
aluminum armature wire
polyfill or batting to fill tail
glue gun and glue sticks
sewing machine
scissors

Steps:

1. Cut upholstery foam:

• Cut a 40" x 20" rectangle for the head.
• Cut two 8-inch half circles with 2" x 4" tabs on the flat side for the ears.
• Cut a 10" x 14" oval for the mouth.

2. Glue the short ends of the rectangle (head) together into a foam tube,keeping the glue seam to the back.

3. Cut out 8 to 12, 6-inch deep "V's" from the top of the tube to resemble a crown. Push the points of the crown toward each other and hot glue together to form the round top of the head.

4. Turn the head upside down and cut a 6 inch deep "V"out of the front and back and glue together to form the chin and the back of the head. Trim a little off the sides on the bottom to make the head fit over the shoulders a little better.

5. Cut a 6-inch slice in the oval foam down the middle lengthwiseto create the mouth, leaving it connected at the ends. Cut a 3-inch deep "V" from the top and bottom and ends and glue.

6. Cover the mouth with the white knit hat, trim and glue.

7. Use the mouth to measure where to carve a hole in the head for the mouth and the eyes and cut them out.

8. Cover the head with the material from one of the sweaters, using some of the scrap to also cover the ears.

9. Glue the mouth over the opening on the head.

10. Stretch out the other knit hat and put it over the top of the head as a hat piece.

11. Form two circles, for eyes, with armature wire and cover with black pantyhose (to be able to see through). Cover the edges of the eyes with circles of black felt and glue in place.

12. Cut lip shapes from red and black felt and glue them onto the mouth .

13. Cut slots in the sides of the head to insert the ear tabs and glue in place .

14. Make the suit by turning the two remaining sweaters inside out and sewing them together around the bottom hems .

15. Cut the arms off of one sweater and cut a deep "V" up from the neck to form the inseam and legs of the suit. Save the arms for the tail.

16. Sew the inseam.

17. Add a zipper to the back of the suit, from the neck to the mid-back to get in and out of the suit.

18. Make white "gloves" and "boots" with tubes made of halves of the knit scarves and mittens attached to one of the ends.

19. Make the tail by sewing together the sweater arms that were cut off and half of the last scarf. Stuff the sock monkey tail with batting .

20. Cut the other half of the scarf into an oval, and then a smaller oval out of red felt and sew both to the seat of the sock monkey costume suit .

21. Sew the tail onto the sock monkey suit over the red felt seat.