Sock Owl Sewing Pattern

Instructions

HOW TO SEW BROWIE SOCK OWL

1. PREPARATION & CUT:
   Gather the materials and tools needed to sew the sock owl.
   Cut the foot part of a colored sock as shown in the picture for the owl.
   Cut about 4″ from the toe on another side of the sock or use a plain white sock. This is for the silica beads bean pack (optional).
   Cut 2 pieces of white felt into a 1″ circle for the white of the eye.
   Cut 1 piece of orange felt or sock into an asymmetrical diamond shape for the beak, as shown in the picture.
   
2. MAKE BEAN PACK (OPTIONAL):
   1.) Sew a running stitch around the raw edge of the silica beads bean pack sock.
   2.) Fill with silica beads or rice or other similar materials.
   3.) Fill 2/3 and pull the thread to close the opening, knot.
   4.) Make a few stitches between the centers (top and bottom) of the bean pack. Pull thread and knot. Cut thread.
   
   This is how the flat round bean pack looks like.
   
3. SEW & STUFF:
   Body:
   1.) Stuff the 1/2 of the colored sock with poly-fill, this is the head of the sock owl.
   2.) Cover the bean pack with some poly-fill and stuff, this is the body of the sock owl. Make sure the bean pack is at the center bottom of the base so that the sock owl can sit properly.
   3.) Sew running stitches around the raw edge.
   4.) Pull thread to close the opening. Push the raw edges into the sock and pull to tighten up the opening. Knot. If you can still see a small hole, sew a round of running stitch again near to the hole, pull and knot to close the gap.
   
   The basic shape of the sock owl. You will notice 2 distinct bumps on top and bottom respectively. Use your hand to shape poly-fill so that the shape is symmetrical and smooth.
   
   Wings: 1.) Turn the lower leg part of the sock to the wrong side. Pin. Draw 2 semi-circles on the sock with a pen.
   2.) Either hand-sew or machine-sew the curve side of the semi-circles. Cut them out and slit an opening on the folded edge of the sock.
   3.) Turn right side out and stuff with poly-fill. Turn the raw edges in and slip stitch to close the opening.
   4.) Ignore this picture, it will be explained in Step 4.
   
4. ASSEMBLY:
   Make Eyebrows:
   Draw out the eyebrows and ears stitching lines on the sock as shown in the picture. The lines are symmetrical on both front and back, left and right.
   This pattern will give thicker and fuller eyebrows and ears. If you want a thinner shape, reduce the distance between the top and bottom line by bringing the bottom line closer to the upper line.
   
   1.) The top view of the stitching line drawing.
   2.) Sew ladder stitches between these 2 lines. Tip: When you make the second stitch up to the upper line, remember to always pass your needle through the thread near the knot, this is to catch the knot so that it won’t accidentally pull out from the sock. Always do this when you sew.
   3.) Pull the thread to bring the knot into the sock and continue sewing. Don’t pull the thread until you have finished sewing all the ladder stitches on one of the brows.
   4.) Now, pull the thread in stages starting at a few stitches from the beginning point, pull to make the eyebrows to bump up and ears to form. Pull gently but firmly till the end, don’t break the thread. Knot, cut the thread, and hide the knot into the sock.
   
   This is how the eyebrows connecting to the ears of the sock owl looks.
   
   Sew Eyes & Beaks:
   1.) Position the white felt on the owl’s face. Pin and sew around.
   2.) Position and orange beak between the white felt, pin.
   3.) Sew the orange beak with slip stitches while turning the raw edges into the beak. If you find this a little too challenging, you can try felt but felt won’t give great bump shape for the beak.
   4.) Stuff some poly-fill into the beak, use a pair of blunt tweezers to push the poly-fill in. Continue to sew to close the gap.
   
   This is how the face of the owl looks like with the eye and the beak being sewed.
   
   Position the black button within the white felt eye and sew it with a few secured stitches. In order to make the eyes “sink” into the white of the eye, bring the needle to the back of the owl.
   
   Insert the needle back to the same place where it came out and bring the needle out to the button eye again. Pull to tighten the eye button and sink into the sock. Knot.
   Repeat the same to the next eye and make sure they are sinking at the same level.
   
   This is how the eyes look like. Different positions of the eyes will give different character looks of the owl, for example – crossed-eye look.
   
   Sew Wings:
   (Ignore picture 1 to 3 which already explained in Step 3)
   4.) Position the wings with the wing slant down towards the back of the body. Pin and slip stitch around to sew them onto the owl’s body.
   
5. COMPLETE:
   The completed sock owl. Did you notice that the eye positions have changed slightly? The owl’s expression has changed from a crooked-eye look to a more serious look and its eyes are straighter.

Do you love Browie, the sock owl?

Say "Hi" to Baby Bowie as well.

Use baby socks to make the sock owl chick with the same method. Resize the white felt and orange sock for the eyes and beak so they’re proportionate to the size of the chick. You may also use smaller buttons for the black of the eyes too. 

Hoot! Hoot! Hoot! Happy “owling”!