Baby Sock Topiary Tutorial

Back in February I created a Baby Sock Topiary in honor of the arrival of my niece. (See post here). I’m sure most of you know how you would put one of these together, but for those who don’t, or if you’d like to see how I did it, I thought I’d share a little “how-to”.
You’ll need:
– 24 pairs of socks, from newborn to 0-6 mo.
– 1/2″ dowel rod about 13″ long
– 4″ foam ball
– Small amount of tulle
– Glass Head Pins, Size 22 – 1-3/8″ (35mm)
– 8″ Cardboard Cake Round
– Colored or Designed Paper
– Hot glue
– Double sided Permanent tape
– optional: ribbon for dowel
– 3 baby bottles
– more ribbon to surround bottles
Several of these items can be swapped for something else, but this is what I used.

Here we go…
Now for the cute stuff. Fold and Roll as shown. For “D”, wrap the ankle back around roll so the inside of the sock is showing, then flip back out and arrange to your liking. (use ruffle ankle socks for a really cute effect-but don’t flip back out. make sense?)
You can disregard making the base above and just push the dowel into a foam filled planter, or continue as I did. I filled baby bottles with candy (for the new parents), put the sock ball in the center and tied it all together (really tightly) with ribbon. I hot glued the bottles to the base. This is relatively secure but I ended up adding a ribbon all the way around vertically, taping it underneath, just for my own sanity. Voila! (I wish I had found different colored bottles since the orange didn’t really match, but oh well!)
And there you have it! A great hospital or baby shower gift! I’d love to hear (and see pics) if you’ve created one!