Sew a Softie

Look at this little ball of cuteness. It's just a head, no legs or arms. It bounces and rolls from place to place. We use socks when introducing sewing to the children at our studio. It's such a good way for kids to create something for themselves while learning simple stitches. Some kids don't quite get the hang of stitching right away, but it just adds to the personality of these little softies.

Materials:socks
plastic needles or metal needles with big eyes
yarn
buttons
stuffing
felt- we make our wool felt by getting wool sweaters from thrift stores and wash them. Then cut the up. I cut out round and triangular pieces for them to sew on. 
glue for some of the decorations

With our older kids 7-9, I invite them to thread the needle. I asked them to tie one end of the yarn to the needle and make a knot at the other end.  With the younger students ages 5 and 6, I have the needle threaded for them and ready to go.  

We offer the kids a variety of socks to choose from.  They also choose their felt pieces and buttons for the finishing touches. They stuff them and sew up the bottom using the running stitch or overcast stitch. 

They then sew on the felt shapes, round felt for eyes. triangles for ears, beaks or tails and finally they sew on the buttons. 

Our younger students (ages 5 and 6) glue on their fabrics and ribbon and buttons. They are usually exhausted from working through the frustration of sewing for the first time. Gluing on decorations certainly can revived them.

The variety of soft creatures continuously amazes me. They each begin with a sock, which is basically the same shape and every creation is unique.