Not quite felt food.

Last year, I made my niece a play kitchen for Christmas.  No, not this kind:

                                                                         Source: martawrites.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Although that would be cool.  I wanted to send something compact since her family lives in an apartment and I thought they might appreciate something that pulled double duty as storage and could be easily tucked away.  Plus it had to be fun, too.  You can see the solution here.  I made her a bunch of felt food which I made up as I sewed, and probably wasn't the awesomest felt food ever, but was pretty cute.


So this year, I wanted to make something along the same lines - something she could add to her kitchen.  I did see a pin for something very like this on pinterest, but alas I have somehow lost it.  In any case, if this was inspired by YOU, sorry I didn't know.


But here's my version of:

Firstly, you will need a pair of standard issue women's socks.  They can be plain or fancy, striped or dotted, new or used.  I used new, though, since they were a gift.  Just plain old crew socks.

Lay one on top of the other

and cut the toes off.

Then turn them both inside out.  Smoosh one of the socks up into the other sock 

and then smooth them out nicely.

Start at the bottom where the toes used to be and there is not an unfinished edge, and start rolling the socks up, together.

Roll, roll, roll, keep going.  Up over the heel part, which is a little awkward.  And when you get to the top, stop.

Your donut will look like this from the bottom:

And they will look like this from the top:

I used two packages of socks - they had the same patterns (a few plain, some dotted and some striped) but one was pink and tan colors and the other was blue and brown.  I liked all the colors and patterns together.  They looked like they could actually be donut colors, but with some added fun, you know?


To frost your socks, cut out some felt circles in colors that match the donuts.  I have vanilla, chocolate, caramel, blueberry and raspberry frosting.  Yum.  Just trace around the donut and cut, then cut a small circle in the very middle.  

Then go back and make the inside and outside of each circle all wavy and random.  Like icing.

Your donuts probably need sprinkles.  They'll taste better that way.  For my sprinkles I just used embroidery floss and made little french knots randomly all over the frosting circles.

Here's a close up of the french knots.  I'll admit that doing the sprinkles this way was mostly due to a new and inexplicable obsession with french knots.  And yes, it did take a long time to do an even dozen donuts this way.  You could maybe hot glue stuff on the top for sprinkles instead, if you wanted.

Just hot glue the felt pieces to the top of the "donuts" - covering up where the seam is.
Then I found a little gift box that looked remarkably like a bakery box and placed six inside.  I liked them so much, I decided to give the other six to my other niece.

For the lid to the bakery box (which I could have sworn I took a picture of but is currently MIA) I needed to make a logo.  I designed this cupcake in picnik:

That's a whole lotta geometric shape "stickers."  Feel free to use it if you want.


Then I put this little graphic on the background I'd created - also in picnik:

I printed it out the same size as the lid and then just mod podged it on.  I used mod podge because I really wanted it to be more permanent and sturdy, but it rumpled up.  If I were to do it again I think I'd just use double sided tape or glue dots.


And there you have it!  Not quite the same as sewing felt food, but still pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  And if you don't have any kids to make them for, just make them for yourself as a fat free treat.  We're all still on our New Year's diets, right?




Added: of note, I received an email from Jenn who authors the blog Rook No. 17.  So glad she found me, because it turns out she is the original mastermind behind sock donuts!  Want to see her post?  Check here!  Nice to meet you Jenn!

*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!