Sock Reindeer Sewing Pattern

Instructions

1. Prepare all materials above. Always pre-washed your socks before sewing them. Turn sock right side in and iron.
2. Print out the pattern of Antlers, Nose, Muzzle, and Eyes, cut out the templates, and trace them on the colored felt materials. Cut out the felt pieces and sew.
3. Draw the pattern on the sock. Sew then cut.
4. Turn all pieces right side out.
5. Stuff parts with poly-fill stuffing materials and sew as instructed below.
6. Sew to close the opening. Massage the parts to even out the lumps of the stuffing.
7. Sew the eyes, muzzle, nose, ears, and antlers to the head. Then sew the head to the body, followed by the arms and tail. and toe to the body. Lastly, tie a jingle bell to the neck to complete the sock reindeer.

Seam Allowance: give yourself approximately 1/8” or 1/4” (you need a bigger seam allowance for loose-knit and thinner sock materials because they can be ripped off easily)

MORE DETAILS ON HOW TO SEW
RHY SOCK REINDEER

Download the template of Reindeer: Antlers, Nose & Eyes, print it out on a card or paper without any scaling (counter-check the 2″ scale indicator on the template sheet).

Cut out the templates.

Gather the materials and tools needed to sew the sock reindeer.

Always pre-wash the socks before sewing them into sock toys.

Trace the templates onto the respective felts – Antlers on brown felt; Nose on red felt; Muzzle and Eyes on white felt.

1. Stack both brown felt together and align, sew 1/8″ inside the tracing lines with matching brown thread. Do not sew the bottom edge of the antler. Cut the felt along the tracing lines, no seam allowance is needed.
2. Stuff the antlers with poly-fill stuffing through the small opening that we didn’t sew up. Use a pair of blunt tip tweezers to stuff. Set aside.
3. Use the cap of the marker to draw a half-circle on the white felt to make a smiling lip.
4. Embroider it with yellow embroidery floss. Set aside.

1. Sew a running stitch around the edge of the red circle felt with red thread.
2. Pull tight to gather the edge. Knot it securely.
3 & 4. Stuff the nose with poly-fill stuffing. Stuff it really hard to make a firm round nose. Set aside.

Cut the heel gusset (the triangle piece) from the socks. Trash it or keep it for another project.
Cut the foot part (x + x’) from the socks, and cut it into half on both plain socks and chenille socks. x is for reindeer’s head, x’ on the plain sock is for reindeer’s legs, x’ on chenille sock is for reindeer’s arms.
The whole leg part of the chenille sock is for the body of the reindeer.
On the Plain sock, cut about 1 1/2″ from the leg part, y, this is for the reindeer’s arms. The ribbing area, z, is for the reindeer’s ears and tail.
Refer to the picture for better illustration.

Pair the arms part and legs part of the plain sock to the chenille sock.
Turn the plain sock with the wrong side facing out, insert the chenille sock into the plain sock, and align the raw edges. Check: The socks must be facing each other on the right side.

Sew the aligned edges with a sewing machine, with a seam allowance of 1/4″.
Pull the sock a little while sewing, this will stretch the sock and give a better pull-stretch for stuffing.

Flatten the arm part, leg part, and ears-tail part with the wrong side facing out, align the seam lines of both layers and pin them together. For stripes socks, align the stripes on both layers and pin, this will give a better stripe alignment at the seam line.
Draw the outline for the legs, arms, ears, and tail on the sock. Get a larger picture here.
Sew along the drawing lines. The join of the plain chenille is thick to sew, sew slowly and carefully, and use an awl to press the chenille sock down to reduce the thickness so that it is easier for the presser foot to get over. Remember to pull the sock slightly while sewing.

1. Cut all pieces out with at least 1/8″ seam allowance.
2. Turn all pieces with the right side facing out.
3. Stuff the body until it is firmed at the leg part and gradually reduce the firmness towards the top. Then, stuff the arms until the beige part is firmed, and add a little poly-stuffing material to the chenille sock part. Lastly, stuff the tail firmly. Set aside.

1. Stuff the head part of the plain sock with poly-fill stuffing material until it is about the size of a fist.
2. Sew running stitch 1/4″ from the edge, and pull to close the opening. Push the raw edges into the head. It is alright if the gap is not completely closed.
3. Roll the head until it is round and smooth.
4. Insert the plain sock ball into the red stripes chenille sock.

Fold up the raw edge of the chenille sock and stitch to the beige sock ball. Make sure the raw edge is caught in the thread so that it won’t stray out from the head.

1. Make the ear indentation on the side of the head, slightly higher than the mid-length of the head, as shown.
2, 3 & 4. Use 4 strands of thread, make a few stitches across the head to the opposite and pull to create the dent. The head will turn into an oval shape.

Stitch the dome-shaped button eyes and the white eye felt to the head, near to the chenille hood, on the same level of the ear indentation.
First, you sew to attach 1 eye, and knot. Insert the needle back to the face and come out from another eye marking, pull to sunken the first eye and indent the second eye placement, knot.
Sew the second eye at the indentation, knot then bring the needle out from the first eye, and knot again.

Place the white muzzle felt of the face and stitch along the edges with white sewing thread.
Stuff some poly-fill into the muzzle to give it a body before finishing up with the rest of the sewing.

Sew to attach the red round nose on the top of the muzzle.

Next, we are going to sew the ears and antlers on the sock reindeer.

Since I am using the elastic ribbing part of the sock for the ears, I pull out all the elastic thread and removed them from the socks but this is absolutely optional.

1. This is how I secure the knot so that the knot won’t escape forming the knits of the socks.
2. Sew to close the opening of the ears.
3. Fold the ears to half and sew along the base and half on the side.
4. Pull to shape the ear. Repeat to make 2 ears.

Place the ears on the indentation position, with the ears pointing down, pin and sew around. Repeat the same to the other ears. Eyeballing the position and pointing the direction of the ears so that they come out to be identical.

Position and pin the antlers on the head of the reindeer.

Stitch around firmly. Make sure your stitches go further into the head and catch the plain sock part. If you sew the antlers to the chenille socks only, they won’t stay firm for long.

Next, we are going to do the final assembly to attach the head to the body, arms, and tail.

Sew to close all the openings of the body and the arms.
1. Give them a good roll by using both hands to compress and roll, just like when you are rolling dough into a cylindrical shape.
2. Arms: Right – Before, Left – After.
3. Body – Before.
4. Body – After.

Stitch the body to the bottom of the head. At this point in progress, you will feel that the head is a bit weak and will not stand upright very well without support.

Sew the arms on both sides between the head and the body.
Sew around, sew the top of the arm to the head and sew the armpit to the body.

Repeat the same to the other arms. After both arms are attached, the body will now hold up the head properly.

Turn to the back of the sock reindeer and sew the tail.
Tie a jingle bell to the neck with a string of yarn.
~~DONE~~

Meet Rhy the sock reindeer, the creation of Craft Passion originator Joanne L. Rhy is now all ready to send happiness and joy to the world during the festive season. Try out the free sewing pattern to make a whole flock of sock reindeer for Christmas!

Let’s spread a little sock reindeer love 💝 

Look at this flock of Sock Reindeer wishing everyone

“Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas”!