A Sock Monkey Workshop

Today, I spent the day teaching 12-13 yr olds how to make sock monkeys - or should I say, sew.  This was my 2nd year doing it and thought it would easier this time around.  It is, in a way, but I still felt like I had to repeat my instructions a zillion times.  I even had to inform the kids that I was "on break". 

23 students, about half with some sewing experience and half without.  Even the ones with experience needed a lot of repeated demonstration.  As I was instructing them, it occurred to me that a video would have been a lot more helpful!  I could have Mika videotape me demonstrating how to make the sock monkey from start to finish.  It would also include how to do the basics like threading the needle, knotting the thread and doing a back-stitch.  I could have zoom-ins of how things are supposed to look like.   So that is my next project on the list of things to do.

Back to the workshop....by the time 3pm rolled around, most kids had finished their sock monkeys.  There were all sorts of shapes, qualities and looks.  Quite interesting.  Some looked like they are about to fall apart - due to the fact that the stitches were not very good. Interestingly enough, I observed that most kids did not pull their stitches taut enough so that when their work was inverted to the right side, the stitches all showed on the outside.  I took photos of some of the finished products to show.