Kids’ 15 Minute Halloween Craft: Black Sock Cat

I’m part of a fun little group that puts together seasonal 15 minute craft tutorials–and with Halloween so close, we’ve got a whole bunch of great Craft Lightning Halloween projects coming your way! My project was inspired by a recent purge of my husbands sock drawer. There were so many with out matches, we had to get rid of a whole bunch of perfectly good socks. So instead of throwing them away, I re-purposed them into this fun Black Sock Cat craft your kids can do in a jiff.

This craft was field tested with a dazzling group of 8 year olds, and it was easy enough for this age as it only required very minor sewing skills. And since every witch needs a black cat, it was the perfect craft project for our witchy tea party.

Black Sock Cat Tutorial Materials

• Black Sock – any size
• Poly-fil
• Buttons
• Pink felt
• Ribbon for neck
• Black thread and ribbon
• White thread (optional)

STEP 1. Cut your sock.

You’ll want to flatten the sock out so the heel is on the back before you snip any material. Eyeball how large you might want your black cat to be and then cut the sock in an arc that points down to the toe of the sock. Be sure to leave some big pointy ears for your cat!

STEP 2. Stuff your cat.

Take a good size handfull of poly-fill and stuff it into the toe of your sock. Try to make a fairly firm ball in the sock. This will be the cat’s belly.

After the belly is stuffed in, push another ball of poly-fill in to make the head. If at this point, you realize you might have been too generous with cutting the height of your cat, you can trim your sock down a little more so your cat looks proportionate.

After the belly and head are in, I like to push the poly-fill around a little bit to make sure I’ve got a pretty defined head and tummy area.

STEP 3: Sewing up your cat.

Starting with the point of one ear and working towards the other, put a quick whip stitch across the top of your stuffed sock using black thread. This will be enough to keep the sock closed and the slightly irregular kid stitches will give it lots of charm!

STEP 4: Black Sock Cat glamour!

All that’s left is to add the little pieces that will make your black cat extra cute. Tie a bow with ribbon around the neck (this is 7/8 inch ribbon in this photo), and glue gun on two button eyes and cut a pink triangle from felt for the nose. If you want to go an extra step and have a few extra minutes, use white thread to stitch on wiskers and a mouth.

And that is it! You can make these kitties out of all different sizes and patterns of socks, and I’m betting they’d look marvelous in a group as a neat Halloween decoration. For more 15 minute crafts, be sure to check out The Country Chic Cottage and 30 Minute Crafts!