Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project – how to make a Santa from a sock.

What would Christmas decorations be without the cute little man in the red suit who magically appears to bring kids goodies?

These little Santas are super cute and cuddly and the best part about this project is that it doesn’t require any sewing.

I’ve made this Santa from a sock with a group of young children during a Wacky Workshops class and they had oodles of fun and were thrilled with the end result. Obviously, young children will need help with the cutting and the glueing.

HOW TO MAKE THE SWEETEST SANTA FROM A SOCK

MATERIALS

• Red sock
• Skin coloured stocking
• Pillow stuffing
• Rice
• Ribbon
• Google eyes
• Red pom pom
• White ribbon
• Pink paint or markers
• Scissors
• Glue
• Stapler

METHOD

• The size of your Santa will be determined by the size of the sock you use. I used long knee-high socks and even had a piece leftover from each of them. I’ll share what we did with them as a bonus project below.

• Considering the size of your sock, cut the leg from pantyhose about the same size as the sock. You may find one leg does more than one Santa and you are left with two open ends. Just tie one end in a knot.
• Use a funnel to add about a cup of rice to the bottom of the stocking.

• Fill the rest of the stocking with pillow stuffing.
• Tie a knot at the top of the stocking.

• Squeeze the stocking body where you think the neck would be. This just gives you a guide when dressing the Santa and we’ll secure it later.
• Cut the sock, just above the heel.

• Cut a small section from the heel of the sock.
• If you have an extra-long sock (as I did), cut the top of the sock (about 12-15 cm) away and save the middle section for the bonus project below.
• Cut the top section of the sock on a diagonal to form a triangle for the hat.
• Use a stapler to join the cut edges and then turn inside out so you cannot see the staples.

• Dress the stocking Santa, with the toe of the sock at the bottom and using the hole in the heel as the opening for his face.
• Cut a piece of ribbon about 10-12 cm long.
• Tie it around the Santa’s neck with the tie at the back. This helps to define the head and body.

• Add the hat and secure with glue if necessary.

• Use more pillow stuffing to create a beard and hair and glue into place.
• Use the paint (or markers) to create rosy cheeks.
• Glue on the eyes and red pom pom nose.

BONUS PROJECT

I try whenever possible to come up with ways to use all the parts of materials needed in a craft project. I did this with the No sew Scandinavian Christmas gnome. The Santa from a sock project left me with a long piece of red sock, so I decided it would make a gorgeous reindeer hand puppet.

HOW TO MAKE A REINDEER HAND PUPPET

Little hands will be inside the sock piece, so staples will not do for this project. Therefore, it requires sewing together one open end of the sock piece.

• Once you have done that, let the kids have some fun by designing antlers from pipe cleaners (the sparkly ones add extra Christmas cheer).
• Small pieces of felt can be cut and glued on as ears and nostrils and google eyes are always a fun addition.
• Finish it off with a pom pom nose.

Check these fun Santa crafts and follow my Pinterest board for more fun Christmas crafts ideas.

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.