The Interesting Origins of the Sock Monkey
Uncovering a story behind the story and the red lips mystery
A shout-out to Rockford, Illinois for this wonderful piece of history. What I love about researching are all the details you learn and the opportunity to find all the stories behind one story.
A Sock Monkey is made from socks and made to look like a monkey. This stuffed toy animal combines mixing folk art and kitsch. As for kitsch, this is what the Merriam-Webster dictionary says:
Kitsch is an early 20th-century borrowing from German, and it refers to things in the realm of popular culture that are tacky, like car mirror dice, plastic flamingos, and dashboard hula dancers. (Source.)
Usually, the Sock Monkey is brown and white. It also has red lips, long arms, long legs, and a long tail. When making one, you can add details to it such as the hat in the above photo. This toy is part of pop culture.
Did you ever wonder how the red lips were attached?
Where did these come from?
There’s always a story behind a story. During the Victorian era, making stuffed animals was a popular activity during the Arts and Crafts movement in Europe and North America. People were making stuffed animals for their children. The…
