Sock Dolls for Your 18" Doll . . .

        You can craft tiny sock dolls for your 18" dolls to play with by using baby socks or by cutting down larger knits to scale. We will be making some of these this spring and I will post photos of them as these tiny doll versions are completed. My first sock doll in miniature is the classic sock monkey. 

I've used tiny red pom-pons to decorate this little monkey in a classic design. He also has beads for eyes and his mouth was made using bright, red embroidery floss.

       When making a tiny sock monkey, I prefer to stuff the limbs and tail with fuzzy chenille stems wrapped with cotton batting. This allows me to pose our monkey for doll photos.

        Sometimes when I can't find just the right color or pattern of sock, I will cut different knits to embroider on top of the sock doll bodies.

       If you have a Kit Kittredge doll she might like to play with a sock monkey. Sock monkeys were made by hand as early as 1932. John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to the United States, patented the sock-knitting machine in 1868, and began knitting socks on an automatic machine in Rockford, Illinois as early as 1870. On September 15, 1880, the Nelson Knitting Company formed, producing "Celebrated Rockford Seamless Hosiery", and selling them under the name of the "Nelson Sock". Read more about the history behind sock monkeys here... To see some human versions in our family collection click here.

More About Sock Monkeys:

• Recycling Your Old Socks Into Dolls
• Crochet a Sock Monkey Costume for Your American Girl Doll
• Home of the Rockford Sock Monkey
• Knit a Sock Monkey Hat for Your 18" Doll
• Sock Monkey Face Mask for COVID-19
• Cute Little Kewpie Doll dressed in a sock monkey costume!
• Sock Monkey.net