How to Make a Sock Monkey: A Video Tutorial

Hello, hello! I’m so excited to share with you a new video tutorial today! The idea for this tutorial was born when I attended a baby shower and someone gifted a handmade sock monkey to the new baby. I just thought it was the cutest and had to figure out how to do it for myself. I proceeded to make one alongside each of my kids. They’re just too fun. And what a great gift idea too! Since socks can be bought cheaply and in all kinds of patterns, it’s so easy to personalize them.

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Making a sock monkey is surprisingly easy. Many people sew them completely by hand, but I save time by sewing parts of mine by machine. Watch the video, grab some socks and have fun!

A couple of notes first though …

If you’re making a monkey for a baby, you may want to go with animal eyes instead of buttons for eyes, so that there is no risk of the little one choking on them. Animal safety eyes snap securely together and won’t come off, so while they may not be quite as cute, you’ll know they’re safe.

And a few notes about socks: all of our socks for these original few monkeys were part of the Cat & Jack line from Target. You can also find some great socks on Amazon (like these!!). For a monkey with long limbs and tail, you’ll need longer knee socks, but crew socks work fine too (the limbs do become longer when you stuff them). It’s fun to look for socks with contrasting toes and heels, since that will give your monkey even more personality. An important thing to note when looking for socks is that any directional print will end up upside down, so choose socks that don’t have a design that needs to be vertical.

I’ve since made a Star Wars monkey for my husband from some Star Wars socks he picked up on vacation just for this purpose (see, sock monkeys are for all ages, haha!.)

Without further ado, here’s the tutorial! I hope you enjoy it and if you make some sock monkeys, I’d love to see them!

Just for fun, here are the sock monkeys I made with the kids:

We're still working on Natalie's, but it's going to be equally adorable. 

Layla named hers Stitches and she's been pretty much a permanent fixture in her hands since we made her :)