So, having previously jumped in to making 4 sock monkey dolls, I now am suddenly seeing sock monkeys everywhere, and everyone is giving me information on them. I discovered I had a few misconceptions, and also that I totally underestimated the magnitude of the sock monkey phenomenon. Let me take a moment and clear a couple of these up.
First of all, pioneer women did NOT make sock monkey dolls. The Rockford Red Heel ™ sock was not made with the red heel until 1932. There was a popular wave of sock-monkey-doll making in the fifties and in the seventies (and now maybe!) This point is to clear up my little fantasy of the granny in the rocking chair in front of the fire making sock monkeys after all the chores were done. We’re talking more like June Cleaver making sock monkeys.
There is a beautiful book, put together by Bonnie Krause Connelly called Everything’s Coming up Sock Monkeys – The Art History and Business of the American Sock Monkey. You can buy this online at http://www.inmyowndreampublishing.com/bookInfo.html . It’s a coffee-table book complete with beautiful photos of sock monkeys and sock monkey art (YES! There is such a thing!), combined with interesting facts, essays, letters, etc. It is really a clever, amazing little thing. My favorite story was one of a book store that had burned down. While the sock monkeys, which had previously adorned the shop windows, were being cataloged and thrown into a dumpster (along with the books), some people came along and rescued them, gave them a bath and started making their own sock monkey dolls. Eventually, this collection (from a couple of roommates) was split, and one traveled across the country in the backseat of a car, etc. etc. So many people have put their hearts into these limp and sassy little creations. Anyway, there’s much, much more in the book, and I highly recommend it. I will try to get some of the historical information onto the Fox River Mills website, the current maker of the Rockford Red Heel ™ sock monkey sock.
If you search on “sock monkeys” at www.google.com you will find a huge number of hits! There are collectors, crafters, people who sell sock monkeys, people who sell sock monkey art, strange sites that have a mythical, science-fiction history of the sock monkey – and the list goes on! Many of these collectors and sites are captured in Ms. Connelly’s book. The truly uninteresting find (for me) is a mass-manufactured sock monkey doll (imported, probably from China) that you can buy at Target and Amazon.com. These are NOT made from the American-manufactured, original Rockford Red Heel ™ sock. Frankly, I find this an insult to the personalized craft of Sock Monkey Making. You will find Fox River’s Site, and other E-tailers that carry the Sock Monkey sock. In fact, Fox River will help you find a store near you that sells the socks, if you prefer to NOT buy online (http://www.foxsox.com/Catalog/SockDetail.aspx?ID=6851&c=BROWN%20HEATHER ) I have made it a personal mission to get foxsox.com to host a kind of “Sock Monkey Central” that pulls all this information together and allows you to buy the things you need to start sewing! I’ll report on that as it unfolds.
Finally, I need to report that I have neither clothed my sock monkeys nor made any new ones, but hope to get the chance again this weekend. I am feeling newly-empowered by all the looking around I’ve done. Really, the charm of the sock monkey is all the individual, unique and sometimes crazy touches. I’m all for non-commercial accessories now and letting my creative side loose. I’m looking forward to my next doll!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Finishing Freak, Plus Assembly Line Sock Monkey Making
October 19th, 2007
Friday morning dawns (and we snooze along for many hours) until it is a reasonable time to get up on another day off work and school. I am filled with sock-monkey fever, and itching to get back at it, but my husband has taken the day off work as well, and we planned to do something fun as a family.
It is gray and rainy again today. The boys, when queried, say it sounds like fun to just stay home and play together – a little monkey-making, a little dart-gaming, a little Madden 07. It is agreed. AND, there is a vociferous ordering of monkeys between the two boys. They need a whole team to play in the MFL (now a new popular term in our house) as well as two coaches. But soon, the pressure on me is relieved when they find they can attach the Velcro stick-ons I got to their existing stuffed animals, and have Bananas lead the way. This is good. I am pretty sure it will take me the better part of the day to give Freak some limbs, and create one new sock monkey for each of them (given that the domestic chores just kind of continue on relentlessly).
My first realization about the motivation of monkey-doll-making women in the early 20th century. Housework is boring and relentless (no doubt much more so without the modern conveniences). Making monkey-dolls allows one to exercise her creativity, while ostensibly meeting the needs of the family (kids need toys to play with!) And this gives you the motivation to hurry through your chores to make some time to do the fun stuff!
OK. To get things moving, I whip out two socks and do the fast part – a couple of seams for the legs. My sons stuff the torsos, and then they are able to go on their way while I work on the appendages. Today is assembly-line kind of stuff. Yesterday, I learned the basics of making the monkey. Today I will focus on making the monkey efficiently.
But first, I feel an obligation to Freak. There is one thing about Freak I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog. Since I had sewn his legs on the wrong half of the sock, the head-area was open on top. Also, late in the day yesterday, I had run out to Michael’s to get some accessory-type stuff, and thought I’d buy the “Red Knitting Yarn” mentioned in the instructions. I thought Freak was an ideal candidate for adding monkey hair.
Again, my lack of crafting experience comes in to play here. I had no idea how one fixes the yarn to the head. So, I just tried something. I unwound a bunch of yarn and looped it around my hand in a loop-length of approximately how long I wanted the hair to be. Then, I jammed this into the opening (sock inside out) so the length was going down into the sock. I had to kind of spread things around to make it even. Then, I just seamed across the top in a half circle to get a rounded head, and flipped it back right-side out. Freak was then stuffed, crotch-closed and set aside. I put a rubber band around the hair to kind of hold it out of the way and avoid it getting tangled. The boys thought that looked cool.
So, today, the first job was to finish Freak. Here are the things I learned from finishing Freak:
· I wanted to try sewing on a Pom-Pom to the toes. (My boys refused that on their monkeys, but Freak was MINE). Freak has a bit of a cloven hoof, from having the toe of the sock for his legs, so the pom-pom was a little ominous-looking, rather than festive. What I did to attach these (in the absence of knowledge) was to take a couple of stitches through the tip of the monkey foot, for anchoring, then push the needle through the middle of the pom pom, where it seemed to have some substance. There isn’t a lot of accuracy possible here, as you have to push that baby pretty hard, so I was worried I was just going to have ugly-looking threads all over, but these somehow disappeared as well, so that was very cool. (I suppose when you pull the stitch tight, it pulls to the bottom of the circle of substance, and the little cloud of pom hides it???)
· I tried embroidering Freak’s mouth before sewing it on to the torso. Don’t do that. It just looks dumb. I later re-embroidered it after it was attached and stuffed. You get a nicer 3-D effect. Freak does have arched eyebrows, which give him a knowing air, that I like, and I bit of world-weariness. I have a couple of photos here of completed sock monkeys, and they have slightly center-lifted, one-slash eyebrows. Those look friendly. Of course, there’s the angry eyes opposite, which I haven’t yet tried, but I’m sure would have an evil effect. Later in the day, I tried a straight across one-line eyebrow. I’m sorry to say that it looks a bit Pyscho, which is what we ended up naming the monkey. But, more on that later.
· The biggest experiment with Freak was the hair. I finger-combed it out, for even disbursement. Then, I cut the looped ends to make it more hair-like. Probably, a nice, even trim, and perhaps a stitch or two to fasten in place, would have given a debonair look. I didn’t do that. I left it all different lengths (for wildness) and did not fasten it down (as he seemed an ideal candidate to want to do some Jack-Black-like head rolls while jamming on the guitar, and I wanted the hair to flow freely, in that event). I then pulled three yarns from each side in front of the ears and made a tight, little braid on each side. I tied off the ends with itself and trimmed the loose yarns. This looks very cool. Sometime I will try braiding the whole head in tight-little braids for a dreadlock look, which sound potentially very becoming to a monkey with arched brows. Bottom line: Hair is fun for the maker. Seemed to add no value for my sons, however. Children more interested in their grooming might feel differently.
And next was the finishing of the other two monkeys. They would become Psycho and Coach. There were very few creative learnings on these two monkeys, other than the importance of face and ear placement to the general character of the monkey. However, I did have some process learnings:
If you wanted to do this in bulk (say you are making Christmas presents for your 15 nieces and nephews, like I will be – we’re Catholic), I would separate the tasks into 1) initial-seaming, 2) cutting, 3) stuffing, 4) closing (crotch and ends of arms, tails) and 5) finishing. Finishing could be further separated out into limb-attachment and facial attachment/embroidery.
Initial seaming is quick, easy and pleasant. This would be a good job to farm out to an older child you are teaching to sew.
Cutting requires a small amount of skill, as the seams are hard to see and it is easy to cut into them. However, a diligent or fastidious child could probably do this. Turning the fabric inside out can be done as part of this task as well.
Stuffing is a good task for school-age children. I did notice that stuffing does determine some of the character of the monkey. My son really beefed up Coach, which is probably appropriate to a football-coach. But the over-stuffing makes him look a bit stupid, as he is thick-necked, pot-bellied and fat-thighed, but that might just be me, given that those are all the evils I fight against in my own body.
Also, you might find that giving the stuffing task to a child requires some extra stitching up in the crotch area, as too much pull on the fabric makes the yarns separate. I find the stitching up kind of pleasant work. Is this what women used to do when they “darned” the socks? That is a lost art in my family for at least the last three generations.
I did the closing (except crotches) of all the parts, and then set them aside with the unclosed torsos. I then found I had a basket-full of work that could be done in any well-lit, comfie part of the house while I participated peripherally in the general chaos of my family. This part I picture being like the pioneer woman in the rocking chair in front of the fire at night with her family (who are sharpening knives and reading books and telling stories, or some such things). For my part, I was on a sofa in the basement while my boys and husband played Madden 07, Dart Tag and Monkey League Football. I really enjoyed it. All I needed was the basket of body parts, a spool of thread and a skein of embroidery yarn, and my pin cushion, with the requisite pins and needles already stuck in. (Keep in mind that I am usually the type to be hidden away from the noise with a book in hand, or hovering over my laptop in my home office.)
Friday morning dawns (and we snooze along for many hours) until it is a reasonable time to get up on another day off work and school. I am filled with sock-monkey fever, and itching to get back at it, but my husband has taken the day off work as well, and we planned to do something fun as a family.
It is gray and rainy again today. The boys, when queried, say it sounds like fun to just stay home and play together – a little monkey-making, a little dart-gaming, a little Madden 07. It is agreed. AND, there is a vociferous ordering of monkeys between the two boys. They need a whole team to play in the MFL (now a new popular term in our house) as well as two coaches. But soon, the pressure on me is relieved when they find they can attach the Velcro stick-ons I got to their existing stuffed animals, and have Bananas lead the way. This is good. I am pretty sure it will take me the better part of the day to give Freak some limbs, and create one new sock monkey for each of them (given that the domestic chores just kind of continue on relentlessly).
My first realization about the motivation of monkey-doll-making women in the early 20th century. Housework is boring and relentless (no doubt much more so without the modern conveniences). Making monkey-dolls allows one to exercise her creativity, while ostensibly meeting the needs of the family (kids need toys to play with!) And this gives you the motivation to hurry through your chores to make some time to do the fun stuff!
OK. To get things moving, I whip out two socks and do the fast part – a couple of seams for the legs. My sons stuff the torsos, and then they are able to go on their way while I work on the appendages. Today is assembly-line kind of stuff. Yesterday, I learned the basics of making the monkey. Today I will focus on making the monkey efficiently.
But first, I feel an obligation to Freak. There is one thing about Freak I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog. Since I had sewn his legs on the wrong half of the sock, the head-area was open on top. Also, late in the day yesterday, I had run out to Michael’s to get some accessory-type stuff, and thought I’d buy the “Red Knitting Yarn” mentioned in the instructions. I thought Freak was an ideal candidate for adding monkey hair.
Again, my lack of crafting experience comes in to play here. I had no idea how one fixes the yarn to the head. So, I just tried something. I unwound a bunch of yarn and looped it around my hand in a loop-length of approximately how long I wanted the hair to be. Then, I jammed this into the opening (sock inside out) so the length was going down into the sock. I had to kind of spread things around to make it even. Then, I just seamed across the top in a half circle to get a rounded head, and flipped it back right-side out. Freak was then stuffed, crotch-closed and set aside. I put a rubber band around the hair to kind of hold it out of the way and avoid it getting tangled. The boys thought that looked cool.
So, today, the first job was to finish Freak. Here are the things I learned from finishing Freak:
· I wanted to try sewing on a Pom-Pom to the toes. (My boys refused that on their monkeys, but Freak was MINE). Freak has a bit of a cloven hoof, from having the toe of the sock for his legs, so the pom-pom was a little ominous-looking, rather than festive. What I did to attach these (in the absence of knowledge) was to take a couple of stitches through the tip of the monkey foot, for anchoring, then push the needle through the middle of the pom pom, where it seemed to have some substance. There isn’t a lot of accuracy possible here, as you have to push that baby pretty hard, so I was worried I was just going to have ugly-looking threads all over, but these somehow disappeared as well, so that was very cool. (I suppose when you pull the stitch tight, it pulls to the bottom of the circle of substance, and the little cloud of pom hides it???)
· I tried embroidering Freak’s mouth before sewing it on to the torso. Don’t do that. It just looks dumb. I later re-embroidered it after it was attached and stuffed. You get a nicer 3-D effect. Freak does have arched eyebrows, which give him a knowing air, that I like, and I bit of world-weariness. I have a couple of photos here of completed sock monkeys, and they have slightly center-lifted, one-slash eyebrows. Those look friendly. Of course, there’s the angry eyes opposite, which I haven’t yet tried, but I’m sure would have an evil effect. Later in the day, I tried a straight across one-line eyebrow. I’m sorry to say that it looks a bit Pyscho, which is what we ended up naming the monkey. But, more on that later.
· The biggest experiment with Freak was the hair. I finger-combed it out, for even disbursement. Then, I cut the looped ends to make it more hair-like. Probably, a nice, even trim, and perhaps a stitch or two to fasten in place, would have given a debonair look. I didn’t do that. I left it all different lengths (for wildness) and did not fasten it down (as he seemed an ideal candidate to want to do some Jack-Black-like head rolls while jamming on the guitar, and I wanted the hair to flow freely, in that event). I then pulled three yarns from each side in front of the ears and made a tight, little braid on each side. I tied off the ends with itself and trimmed the loose yarns. This looks very cool. Sometime I will try braiding the whole head in tight-little braids for a dreadlock look, which sound potentially very becoming to a monkey with arched brows. Bottom line: Hair is fun for the maker. Seemed to add no value for my sons, however. Children more interested in their grooming might feel differently.
And next was the finishing of the other two monkeys. They would become Psycho and Coach. There were very few creative learnings on these two monkeys, other than the importance of face and ear placement to the general character of the monkey. However, I did have some process learnings:
If you wanted to do this in bulk (say you are making Christmas presents for your 15 nieces and nephews, like I will be – we’re Catholic), I would separate the tasks into 1) initial-seaming, 2) cutting, 3) stuffing, 4) closing (crotch and ends of arms, tails) and 5) finishing. Finishing could be further separated out into limb-attachment and facial attachment/embroidery.
Initial seaming is quick, easy and pleasant. This would be a good job to farm out to an older child you are teaching to sew.
Cutting requires a small amount of skill, as the seams are hard to see and it is easy to cut into them. However, a diligent or fastidious child could probably do this. Turning the fabric inside out can be done as part of this task as well.
Stuffing is a good task for school-age children. I did notice that stuffing does determine some of the character of the monkey. My son really beefed up Coach, which is probably appropriate to a football-coach. But the over-stuffing makes him look a bit stupid, as he is thick-necked, pot-bellied and fat-thighed, but that might just be me, given that those are all the evils I fight against in my own body.
Also, you might find that giving the stuffing task to a child requires some extra stitching up in the crotch area, as too much pull on the fabric makes the yarns separate. I find the stitching up kind of pleasant work. Is this what women used to do when they “darned” the socks? That is a lost art in my family for at least the last three generations.
I did the closing (except crotches) of all the parts, and then set them aside with the unclosed torsos. I then found I had a basket-full of work that could be done in any well-lit, comfie part of the house while I participated peripherally in the general chaos of my family. This part I picture being like the pioneer woman in the rocking chair in front of the fire at night with her family (who are sharpening knives and reading books and telling stories, or some such things). For my part, I was on a sofa in the basement while my boys and husband played Madden 07, Dart Tag and Monkey League Football. I really enjoyed it. All I needed was the basket of body parts, a spool of thread and a skein of embroidery yarn, and my pin cushion, with the requisite pins and needles already stuck in. (Keep in mind that I am usually the type to be hidden away from the noise with a book in hand, or hovering over my laptop in my home office.)
Making my First Sock Monkey
October 18th, 2007, later.
I have purchased from www.foxsox.com a half dozen Rockford Red Heel pair of socks. Included with each pair are the instructions to make sock monkey dolls. I took two days off work, as my kids are off school for MEA. So, with excitement and trepidation, I begin. First, the sewing station. An ugly plastic table cloth goes over the game table in the library (think boxy, small living room converted by built-in book shelves from Home Depot into book-worm’s dream). Sewing machine (yes, of college fame) is located in cobwebby part of the basement and dragged upstairs. A dusting cloth is put to good use. Sewing box is retrieved (was my grandmother’s, who died in the seventies) and memory slowly works to remember what the different parts are for.
I pull out the instructions that come with the sock. I need 1 pair Rockford Red Heel socks (check), stuffing (one more trip down to cobwebby basement finds an open bag, last-used, no doubt when Oliver North was in the news), and Red Knitting Yarn (??) I don’t have this, but, studying diagram, do not think it will be relevant to a basic doll.
Pleasant surprise: 10-year-old son is really interested in making a sock monkey with me! It’s raining out, and a cozy day seems to be unfolding!
Being the analytical person I am (note how the first four letters in that word are “anal”), I study the instructions carefully, as well as the socks themselves. 10-year-old son becomes a bit bored at this point and leaves to play video games with his twin brother.
I take a deep breath, and tell myself “I can do this. I can do this”, and plunge in. I use a pink highlighter to mark where I want to do my seam, and I am off! (Problem: needle won’t go up and down, despite my checking and re-checking the bobbin and threading instructions. Epiphany occurs when I find an “oiling” section under sewing machine instructions. “If machine has not been used in a long time, oil all moving parts” (plus handy diagram) “Use high-quality sewing machine oil only”. NOTE: husband’s electric razor oil works just fine!)
And we’re off again! Two seams for legs go fast! I am feeling empowered! In admiring my handiwork, I notice that I had the sock upside down. 10-year-old son comes back upstairs to check on me at this point, and shows great sympathy over my mistake. I deliver some parental-propaganda about “mistakes ok; we learn from our mistakes; mistakes take us down paths we wouldn’t have otherwise discovered, blah, blah blah” Oddly, this propaganda becomes true later when cast-aside torso later becomes sock monkey doll number 2 – “Freak” (Or Costello, as I like to call him, in reference to the Elvis Costello song from the eighties, ‘Accidents Will Happen’). Freak has a very long torso and short legs, and a very tall, white forehead, but he’s kind of Rock ‘N Roll, and we like him.
A new sock, and legs are resewn and cut. Within minutes, my son and I are stuffing him, per the instructions, via the crotch area. 10-year-old Son remarks, “you know, if you were thinking about private parts and stuff, this could be kind of gross”.
Both son and I are very impressed to have a legged-monkey-torso within 5 minutes of beginning sewing!
The work involving the second sock (arms, tail, mouth and ears) goes more slowly than the torso. The instructions provide no details about finishing or attaching body parts. I’m sure this is no problem for a skilled seamstress, but, for me, it provides some challenges. Here is what I did:
After stuffing each individual piece, I turned the hole area fabric under to complete the seam, and then used my machine to stitch it shut. This was quick and easy, and looks alright, in my book, but I’ll try later attaching arms and tails with unseamed openings, and see if that rounded look makes a big difference. Also, next trip down to Fox River, I’ll look at the details of the sock monkey dolls there and see what they did, and report back.
For attaching, I just hand-stitched the pieces on both sides. Due to the knitted construction of the sock, the stitches just disappear, which is pretty cool. I used white thread on my first monkey, and that was just fine. But I made a note to buy an off-white that matches the creamy yarn of the sock, for future monkeys. Also, this hand-stitching has held up under some rough play, which you’ll hear about later.
On the ears, I seamed the two sides of each together and put a very small amount of stuffing in. I then turned that seam under and seamed on the outside just an 1/8 inch or so from the outside to make a semi-circle. This seemed to give an ear-like aura to the things, which I liked.
The face part requires the most labor. I tried to turn under the edges a little and then pin it on to the torso, before hand-stitching. The sock edges curl up a lot where cut, and this gets frustrating. However, once stitched on, with an opening left, the stuffing goes in easily, and the hole is also stitched up quite easily. Please note that where you place the mouth truly determines the character of the sock monkey face. So put your creative hat on during that portion. Also, the ear shapes and placement work closely together with the mouth placement in determining the look of the monkey.
The directions state “the mouth can be improved by a running stitch of either black or white across the middle of the lips”. This is true. I ran out and bought some embroidery yarn/thread. Since I don’t embroider, I just tried stitching in a way similar to drawing (which I know a bit more about that stitching). While I did this, I thought, “next one I’ll do the embroidery BEFORE I stitch it to the torso, so I have access to both sides”. However, stitching after it is completed makes a nice, 3-D affect as it draws the fabric in at the stitch and gives the appearance of an upper and lower lip.
I used tacky glue to glue on Wiggle Eyes ™ . (I bought a package of 56 20MM). I got all my accessories at Michael’s, but I notice the Wiggle Eyes list a website on their packaging: www.westsrimcrafts.com I went there, and you can’t order online, but they have online catalogs. NOTE TO SELF: do some online searching later for where/at what cost you can buy the materials required. Tacky glue works pretty well, if you gob it on. However, I have boys, and they are very physical with their toys. Be the end of this day, we had already replaced an eye twice. I am searching for a sew-on moving eye, but have not found one yet.
And lastly, the miscellaneous facial embroidery. I used Freak’s torso to experiment with embroidery. I really think the monkey face benefits from eyebrows, but my boys feel differently. The instructions note that, for very young children, embroider the eyes (presumably to avoid a choking hazard). I plan to make some future monkeys for some small nieces and nephews, so I will give that a try down the road. What I want to try is to use embroidery stitches to make a sketched-looking realistic eye (I love drawing eyes!). If I successfully do this, I will post a pattern for it in this blog, so you can embroider the eyes, even if you don’t draw. I find, during embroidery, that the disappearing stitches that I loved when stitching on parts, are really disconcerting when trying to embroider. I chose an embroidery thread that looked about the right thickness to me. “5” seems to be the measure, but the packaging doesn’t say much. “Cotton Perle” is also on there.
Unique touches: My 10-year-old wanted a football-playing monkey. So, I cut out two pieces of a football-like shape from brown felt. Then, I embroidered the white football stitches on it. We finished it with an embroidered “MFL”, for the monkey football league. The monkey’s hand got a stick-on Velcro circle and the football got the matching circle.
This first finished monkey was a great success! (and this is to twin 10-year-old boys, so I can’t imagine the excitement of a younger, possibly female audience) A game was promptly developed which involved (among other, full-contact aspects) swinging the monkey’s arm back and flinging it so that the ball left the Velcro and went flying, starting the play. At bedtime, the monkey (now christened Bananas) was put to bed on the upper bunk with his own blanket and pillow.
One comment my son made earlier was “I like him because he smells like your hand lotion”. Because I lotion my hands every time after I wash them, and because the monkey-making went on in between meal-prep, cleanup, laundry and the usual assorted domestic chores (and I applied a lot of lotion), my lotion got worked into the yarns of the sock while I worked the pieces. It also occurs to me that, for my sons, the monkey had been imbued with the fun of working together on something, the choices/designing they got to do, and my stories to them about the history of sock monkeys (the little I know). So, in that monkey, there is scent and love and little memories. Pretty cool, huh?
To close out the day’s entry, I should note that Freak, at the end of the day, is still a torso-only with one poorly-embroidered arched eyebrow.
I have purchased from www.foxsox.com a half dozen Rockford Red Heel pair of socks. Included with each pair are the instructions to make sock monkey dolls. I took two days off work, as my kids are off school for MEA. So, with excitement and trepidation, I begin. First, the sewing station. An ugly plastic table cloth goes over the game table in the library (think boxy, small living room converted by built-in book shelves from Home Depot into book-worm’s dream). Sewing machine (yes, of college fame) is located in cobwebby part of the basement and dragged upstairs. A dusting cloth is put to good use. Sewing box is retrieved (was my grandmother’s, who died in the seventies) and memory slowly works to remember what the different parts are for.
I pull out the instructions that come with the sock. I need 1 pair Rockford Red Heel socks (check), stuffing (one more trip down to cobwebby basement finds an open bag, last-used, no doubt when Oliver North was in the news), and Red Knitting Yarn (??) I don’t have this, but, studying diagram, do not think it will be relevant to a basic doll.
Pleasant surprise: 10-year-old son is really interested in making a sock monkey with me! It’s raining out, and a cozy day seems to be unfolding!
Being the analytical person I am (note how the first four letters in that word are “anal”), I study the instructions carefully, as well as the socks themselves. 10-year-old son becomes a bit bored at this point and leaves to play video games with his twin brother.
I take a deep breath, and tell myself “I can do this. I can do this”, and plunge in. I use a pink highlighter to mark where I want to do my seam, and I am off! (Problem: needle won’t go up and down, despite my checking and re-checking the bobbin and threading instructions. Epiphany occurs when I find an “oiling” section under sewing machine instructions. “If machine has not been used in a long time, oil all moving parts” (plus handy diagram) “Use high-quality sewing machine oil only”. NOTE: husband’s electric razor oil works just fine!)
And we’re off again! Two seams for legs go fast! I am feeling empowered! In admiring my handiwork, I notice that I had the sock upside down. 10-year-old son comes back upstairs to check on me at this point, and shows great sympathy over my mistake. I deliver some parental-propaganda about “mistakes ok; we learn from our mistakes; mistakes take us down paths we wouldn’t have otherwise discovered, blah, blah blah” Oddly, this propaganda becomes true later when cast-aside torso later becomes sock monkey doll number 2 – “Freak” (Or Costello, as I like to call him, in reference to the Elvis Costello song from the eighties, ‘Accidents Will Happen’). Freak has a very long torso and short legs, and a very tall, white forehead, but he’s kind of Rock ‘N Roll, and we like him.
A new sock, and legs are resewn and cut. Within minutes, my son and I are stuffing him, per the instructions, via the crotch area. 10-year-old Son remarks, “you know, if you were thinking about private parts and stuff, this could be kind of gross”.
Both son and I are very impressed to have a legged-monkey-torso within 5 minutes of beginning sewing!
The work involving the second sock (arms, tail, mouth and ears) goes more slowly than the torso. The instructions provide no details about finishing or attaching body parts. I’m sure this is no problem for a skilled seamstress, but, for me, it provides some challenges. Here is what I did:
After stuffing each individual piece, I turned the hole area fabric under to complete the seam, and then used my machine to stitch it shut. This was quick and easy, and looks alright, in my book, but I’ll try later attaching arms and tails with unseamed openings, and see if that rounded look makes a big difference. Also, next trip down to Fox River, I’ll look at the details of the sock monkey dolls there and see what they did, and report back.
For attaching, I just hand-stitched the pieces on both sides. Due to the knitted construction of the sock, the stitches just disappear, which is pretty cool. I used white thread on my first monkey, and that was just fine. But I made a note to buy an off-white that matches the creamy yarn of the sock, for future monkeys. Also, this hand-stitching has held up under some rough play, which you’ll hear about later.
On the ears, I seamed the two sides of each together and put a very small amount of stuffing in. I then turned that seam under and seamed on the outside just an 1/8 inch or so from the outside to make a semi-circle. This seemed to give an ear-like aura to the things, which I liked.
The face part requires the most labor. I tried to turn under the edges a little and then pin it on to the torso, before hand-stitching. The sock edges curl up a lot where cut, and this gets frustrating. However, once stitched on, with an opening left, the stuffing goes in easily, and the hole is also stitched up quite easily. Please note that where you place the mouth truly determines the character of the sock monkey face. So put your creative hat on during that portion. Also, the ear shapes and placement work closely together with the mouth placement in determining the look of the monkey.
The directions state “the mouth can be improved by a running stitch of either black or white across the middle of the lips”. This is true. I ran out and bought some embroidery yarn/thread. Since I don’t embroider, I just tried stitching in a way similar to drawing (which I know a bit more about that stitching). While I did this, I thought, “next one I’ll do the embroidery BEFORE I stitch it to the torso, so I have access to both sides”. However, stitching after it is completed makes a nice, 3-D affect as it draws the fabric in at the stitch and gives the appearance of an upper and lower lip.
I used tacky glue to glue on Wiggle Eyes ™ . (I bought a package of 56 20MM). I got all my accessories at Michael’s, but I notice the Wiggle Eyes list a website on their packaging: www.westsrimcrafts.com I went there, and you can’t order online, but they have online catalogs. NOTE TO SELF: do some online searching later for where/at what cost you can buy the materials required. Tacky glue works pretty well, if you gob it on. However, I have boys, and they are very physical with their toys. Be the end of this day, we had already replaced an eye twice. I am searching for a sew-on moving eye, but have not found one yet.
And lastly, the miscellaneous facial embroidery. I used Freak’s torso to experiment with embroidery. I really think the monkey face benefits from eyebrows, but my boys feel differently. The instructions note that, for very young children, embroider the eyes (presumably to avoid a choking hazard). I plan to make some future monkeys for some small nieces and nephews, so I will give that a try down the road. What I want to try is to use embroidery stitches to make a sketched-looking realistic eye (I love drawing eyes!). If I successfully do this, I will post a pattern for it in this blog, so you can embroider the eyes, even if you don’t draw. I find, during embroidery, that the disappearing stitches that I loved when stitching on parts, are really disconcerting when trying to embroider. I chose an embroidery thread that looked about the right thickness to me. “5” seems to be the measure, but the packaging doesn’t say much. “Cotton Perle” is also on there.
Unique touches: My 10-year-old wanted a football-playing monkey. So, I cut out two pieces of a football-like shape from brown felt. Then, I embroidered the white football stitches on it. We finished it with an embroidered “MFL”, for the monkey football league. The monkey’s hand got a stick-on Velcro circle and the football got the matching circle.
This first finished monkey was a great success! (and this is to twin 10-year-old boys, so I can’t imagine the excitement of a younger, possibly female audience) A game was promptly developed which involved (among other, full-contact aspects) swinging the monkey’s arm back and flinging it so that the ball left the Velcro and went flying, starting the play. At bedtime, the monkey (now christened Bananas) was put to bed on the upper bunk with his own blanket and pillow.
One comment my son made earlier was “I like him because he smells like your hand lotion”. Because I lotion my hands every time after I wash them, and because the monkey-making went on in between meal-prep, cleanup, laundry and the usual assorted domestic chores (and I applied a lot of lotion), my lotion got worked into the yarns of the sock while I worked the pieces. It also occurs to me that, for my sons, the monkey had been imbued with the fun of working together on something, the choices/designing they got to do, and my stories to them about the history of sock monkeys (the little I know). So, in that monkey, there is scent and love and little memories. Pretty cool, huh?
To close out the day’s entry, I should note that Freak, at the end of the day, is still a torso-only with one poorly-embroidered arched eyebrow.
My Sock Monkey Crafting Journey Begins
October 18, 2007
I have decided my next adventure will be learning how to make Sock Monkey Dolls and, hopefully, discover during the process what exactly it is that has kept this unique American craft alive for nearly a century.
My credentials. In terms of crafting, nearly zero. I had one quarter of a 7th grade home ec class devoted to sewing, in which I produced a somewhat lop-sided elephant made of some god-awful seventies-fabric that must have been on sale at the outlet store. Also, I had a roommate in college that made her own clothes (beautifully) that tried to teach me to sew. I bought a sewing machine, a bunch of fabric and several patterns. (The fever of purchasing supplies!) Alas, nothing resulted in anything really wearable, and the box of material and unused fabric was sold 15 years later at a garage sale for two bucks.
My sock monkey credentials are somewhat better. I am an I.T. consultant who does a lot of work for Fox River Mills in Osage Iowa, the manufacturer of the Rockford Red Heel sock, used for over 100 years in making sock monkey dolls. Of course, none of my work has to do with the sock monkey. But, by osmosis, I’ve picked up something from all the sock monkey dolls that adorn the plant offices, the bins of socks I walk by on the plant floor, and the material we publish to the web site (now we’re getting on my turf!)
I am prone to the reflective, and this tendency is further reinforced by the periodic 2 ½ hour trip I make from my home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to the Fox River plant in Osage Iowa. This trip involves a lot of time on long stretches of Interstate 35, and then winding through the small towns and farm country of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Beautiful sunrises over wide stretches of corn fields, punctuated with prosperous-looking red barns, and the seasonal smell of manure fertilizing the rich soil evoke both thought and emotion (especially under the influence of some strong gas-station coffee).
(I am also prone to rambling, but let me get myself in check here). The connection here is that it has occurred to me that there is something about the sock monkey doll and the people who make them that is distinctly American. It is something to do with the innovation of early pioneer mothers making toys for their children out of the socks their husbands wore in which to do their hard work. It is also something to do with using the resources at hand, and not wasting. And it is also something to do with simplicity vs. high-tech. I see parallels with this and the Fox River Mills business itself. This is an American manufacturer, a family-owned and run business. Fox River has always chosen to keep their plant in the U.S., to conserve and recycle in their manufacturing processes, and to continue to innovate in their sock designs, rather than finding ways to produce cheap, low-quality socks in bulk and maximize profits. And to this day, they have flourished with this philosophy. However, there is enormous pressure within the industry to abandon this philosophy, as American manufacturers choose to outsource to countries with cheap labor, and no green laws. It makes it really hard for a company of Fox River’s philosophy to stay in business. My thought is that somehow the fate of the sock monkey doll and Fox River Mills, as an American, heartland manufacturer, are intertwined and similar.
I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m thinking that embarking on this fun, crafty adventure will somehow reveal it to me.
And, on a lighter note, here we go!
I have decided my next adventure will be learning how to make Sock Monkey Dolls and, hopefully, discover during the process what exactly it is that has kept this unique American craft alive for nearly a century.
My credentials. In terms of crafting, nearly zero. I had one quarter of a 7th grade home ec class devoted to sewing, in which I produced a somewhat lop-sided elephant made of some god-awful seventies-fabric that must have been on sale at the outlet store. Also, I had a roommate in college that made her own clothes (beautifully) that tried to teach me to sew. I bought a sewing machine, a bunch of fabric and several patterns. (The fever of purchasing supplies!) Alas, nothing resulted in anything really wearable, and the box of material and unused fabric was sold 15 years later at a garage sale for two bucks.
My sock monkey credentials are somewhat better. I am an I.T. consultant who does a lot of work for Fox River Mills in Osage Iowa, the manufacturer of the Rockford Red Heel sock, used for over 100 years in making sock monkey dolls. Of course, none of my work has to do with the sock monkey. But, by osmosis, I’ve picked up something from all the sock monkey dolls that adorn the plant offices, the bins of socks I walk by on the plant floor, and the material we publish to the web site (now we’re getting on my turf!)
I am prone to the reflective, and this tendency is further reinforced by the periodic 2 ½ hour trip I make from my home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to the Fox River plant in Osage Iowa. This trip involves a lot of time on long stretches of Interstate 35, and then winding through the small towns and farm country of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Beautiful sunrises over wide stretches of corn fields, punctuated with prosperous-looking red barns, and the seasonal smell of manure fertilizing the rich soil evoke both thought and emotion (especially under the influence of some strong gas-station coffee).
(I am also prone to rambling, but let me get myself in check here). The connection here is that it has occurred to me that there is something about the sock monkey doll and the people who make them that is distinctly American. It is something to do with the innovation of early pioneer mothers making toys for their children out of the socks their husbands wore in which to do their hard work. It is also something to do with using the resources at hand, and not wasting. And it is also something to do with simplicity vs. high-tech. I see parallels with this and the Fox River Mills business itself. This is an American manufacturer, a family-owned and run business. Fox River has always chosen to keep their plant in the U.S., to conserve and recycle in their manufacturing processes, and to continue to innovate in their sock designs, rather than finding ways to produce cheap, low-quality socks in bulk and maximize profits. And to this day, they have flourished with this philosophy. However, there is enormous pressure within the industry to abandon this philosophy, as American manufacturers choose to outsource to countries with cheap labor, and no green laws. It makes it really hard for a company of Fox River’s philosophy to stay in business. My thought is that somehow the fate of the sock monkey doll and Fox River Mills, as an American, heartland manufacturer, are intertwined and similar.
I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m thinking that embarking on this fun, crafty adventure will somehow reveal it to me.
And, on a lighter note, here we go!
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