Yep, you read that right.
Sock Monkey. Wearing a backpack. That holds a miniature doll.
Because that's clearly the first thing that pops into your head when you need a birthday present for an elementary school age friend, right?
Well, if you're Grace it is. Its a long story filled with strong opinions (Grace) and changed minds about those same strong opinions (Grace) and last minute designing (both of us) and sewing (mine). But patience (mine!) prevailed and we got the gift done in time and the birthday girl was thrilled. Which is what its all about, really - instilling in my girls that gifting homemade is special and different and worth the effort. I've been lucky so far in that all our handmade birthday gifts for school friends have been amazingly well received such that my girls have no thoughts of trolling the plastic toy aisles of Target when birthday party invitations come around. Their first question is always, "Oooh... what should we make her?!" and they start scribbling and sketching away ideas.
So, this is what a monkey and doll loving second grader received a week or two ago...
First, I was told-I-mean-asked to make a regular old sock monkey. Grace's 'only' requirements were that she be made from a plain brown sock and that she be wearing a skirt.
I have made sock monkeys before and I use this tutorial. Its easy in the sense that it only takes an hour or two to make a whole monkey, but its tricky in the sense that socks can be hard to sew on a machine due to their stretchiness so I usually do the sewing instead of the kids.
(I also learned that I like monkeys made from fun colored or striped socks rather than plain brown. That tail just looks too much like a big terd for my liking...)
The skirt is stitched on to the monkey tummy - its not removable.
Then the sock monkey had to wear a backpack.
(Its made of craft felt and ribbon.)
Then, the backpack must hold a doll.
A tiny doll.
That has to be small enough to fit in the birthday girl's hand or pocket.
And it has to wear a dress with a flower on it.
I drew, cut, and sewed this up by hand one evening following Grace's ''instructions''.
I set it by her breakfast spot for her to find in the morning.
I knew it passed inspection when the first thing both girls said was "Awww... how cute! Can you make me one?"
There is a wee bit of stuffing in the head, otherwise its flat.
Here is my hand for scale. Yep - tiny.
Put it all together and what do you get?
A sock monkey wearing a backpack and carrying a doll.
Oh, to have the infinite imagination of a seven year old....
No comments:
Post a Comment