Wayward Socks Mermaid

I always have a bin of wayward socks missing their mates. With a couple of these socks, some yarn and buttons or beads can transform these into a cute mermaid sock dolls.

Solid color sock (body)
Patterned sock (tail)
Yarn (hair)
2 small buttons or beads (eyes)
Embroidery floss (smile)
Sharpie
Sewing needle
Darning needle
Thread
Scissors
Sewing machine (optional)

With the solid color sock, turn it inside out, laying the toe flat. Using the shapie, draw a head shape at the toe. Add in the shoulders and arms. Define the underarm and waist. Stop at the heel of the sock. (The heel will be cut off after sewing.)

Sew along the lines. This is an excellent step for the machine but hand stitching will work as well. Use a very small backstitch if sewing by hand.

Trim 1/8" around the stitching. Cut off the heel & cuff (put to the side for later). Be careful not clip too close to the stitching otherwise holes could appear when turning right side out.

Flip right side out. If the arms are being difficult, use a chop stick or the stick in of a paint brush to help turn. Just be very gentle around the wrist and work slow.

Turn patterned sock inside out. Cut sock off at heel (put to the side). Laying the toe flat, draw a line down the middle of the toe. Sew on up one side of the line and then down the other. Cut along the line, but do not cut the stitching. Turn right side out.

Fold the fabric outside the fin on top of itself on both sides. Secure with a pin. Sew across the the fins to secure.

Take the heels that were set to the side. Cut off any excess fabric around them and discard. Using a contrasting heel, use a running stitch in the middle to gather the center. Use a blind stitch to hand sew the "seashells" the front of the body. (I used the side of the with the toe for the front.) They won't connect in the back. I attribute it staying on to mermaid magic.

If you are making a merman or if your mermaid has more of a hippie spirit, you can skip putting the seashells on.

Pick the eyes (sew-on googled eyes, beads, buttons). Hand sew them on about half way down the the head on the front.

Stuff the head and body. Don't worry about putting stuffing in the arms. If you want the arms posable, put pipe cleaners in them before stuffing the body.

Sew a running stitch around the top of the tail using 1/8" seam allowance. Pull to gather top bit do NOT tie off. Stuff tail. Gently insert the body the tail. Adjust the gather on the tail to fit around the body. Pin if needed. Use a blind stitch to hand sew tail to the body.

Cut 50-100 pieces of yarn 10-12" long. Using the darning needle, thread 1 piece of yarn through. Pull it through until both ends meet, then secure with a double knot. Work in rows, starting either from the toe seam moving back or from the top and working both directions until all pieces are desired. Trim hair if desired.

Note: The blue hair mermaid has 50 pieces of yarn and the purple hair one has 60 strands, doubled the over.

Knit or crochet a swatch. Soak through and wring out. Lay flat to dry over night - 48 hours. Bigger/looser stitches will make wavy hair. Smaller/tighter stitches will make kinky, curlier hair. The longer the stitches stay in the swatch, the better the curls will stay.

Unravel swatch. Cut into 10-12" pieces. Using the darning needle, thread 1 piece of yarn through. Pull it through until both ends meet, then secure with a double knot. Work in rows, starting either from the toe seam moving back or from the top and working both directions until all pieces are desired. Trim hair if desired.

Sock Size - use socks that are roughly the same size or have the tail sock be bigger. On the polka dot mermaid, the body sock was an adult size and the tail was a child size. The proportions are off.

Merman or short haired mermaid - if you wanted to skip adding hair, use a sock that has a different color toe, like the heart tail mermaid.

Yarn thickness & hair - the thinner the yarn, the more strands you will need for the right thickness of hair.

With black embroidery floss, use the back stitch to sew a smile.