Sock Rabbits

Day 34 - Sock Rabbits

I owe a huge thank you to my eldest daughter today as she has been my tutor in making these sock rabbits.  She's already experienced in the art of sock toy making as she has made and given these to friends and relatives.

I've already bought some patterned socks, so here's how we start.  The socks are folded out so that the heels are pointing upwards.  Then we cut from the toes towards the heel on both socks and snip the ends to make them a little pointed.  These cuts will end up being the ears and the legs.  The heels in the socks will become the face and the bottom. 


Although we have used a book to get the basic sock bunny idea, my daughter has adapted the instructions slightly from her own experience.  On one sock we cut off the top cuff which we will then make into arms and on the other sock we cut off a longer section from the cuff which we make into bunny jumpers - aah!

Once we have made all our cuts we turn the socks inside out and stitch up the ears and legs using a back stitch. We then turn the legs and ears right side out.

The bunny starts to take shape once we stuff the ears and the head.  To get a lovely rounded shape you have to roll the stuffed ears in your hands and try to use just one big ball of shaped stuffing to make the head. To finish the head we use a running stitch around the edge of the sock and pull gently until tightly closed.  





Having made the head we make the body and legs in the same way.  It takes a bit of rolling and squeezing to get the body to 'sit'.  Once we are happy with the shapes we stitch the head to the body.





Remember the cuffs we cut off?  The larger cuff we can now slip over the bunny's head. As I had bought a mixed pack of patterned socks, I've used the cuff I cut off another pair of socks to make the jumper for this one. With the second cuff we make the arms by firstly cutting it in two, turning each part inside out and stitching the edges together. We then turn them the right side out again and stuff them.  The arms are then stitched to the body.

To give our rabbits real character, we've stitched on faces and added buttons.  See what our bunnies got up to this afternoon!

I also need to give a big mention to my eldest daughter who took all the bunny photos - thank you!

I'm beginning to wonder what I'm going to do after the 40days project has finished - any suggestions??