sock monkey toddler pants

is it even possible to not love a sock monkey? they're so... oddly, i guess. not uncommon anymore, but they seem both endearingly homespun and kitchy and creepy all at the same time.

i bought a few pairs of red heel brand socks ages ago, intending to make one, but i've never gotten around to it. yesterday i had a random flash of inspiration and became obsessed with the thought of a pair of sock monkey toddler pants... as soon as cole went to sleep, i hauled out the socks and started cutting and sewing, making them up as i went along, and voila:

these made me laugh so very hard, and it was all i could do to wait until morning to try them on him. oh my goodness:

the best part - the tail, of course. and the fact that they took only about 45 minutes to sew! working with the limited (and sock-shaped) fabric was a cool challenge - my initial sketch showed kind of a gusset/seat section and then separately attached leg segments, which is what worked really well. i tried to keep the overall look of an actual sock monkey - the brown legs, white feet, red bum on the tail... i made them up as i went, but basically make the bum part of a pair of pants using the bottom halves of two pairs of socks, the legs out of one sock top half each and use the spare white sock tops for the waist band. a scrap for a tail and you're golden.

i adore these pants. cole wore them out today for breakfast and again when we ran errands this afternoon and yeah, other folks seemed to enjoy the sight too. oh, and sometimes he notices that he has a tail and then spins around trying to catch it. cute overload.