A warm cuddly feeling, fur in front of a fireplace, no Christmas without sheep. Sheep, flock, lamb, one wonders why sheep aren't more used as Christmas symbol. So make yourself a sheep for this Christmas or home decoration the rest of the year.

All is needed is a piece of fake fur, some socks and bits and bobs. You could probably use an old coat liner and old socks. I bought half a meter of fake fur and the cheapest ( sheepest?) packets of socks I could find. I made mine to cover a footstool, but as you can see in the last picture you could make one lying down as a pillow.

Step 1: Flock of Utensils

A piece of fake fur ( 50 x 140 cm)

7 black socks ( 8 will do as well)

some filling

A plastic ball ( table tennis)

two buttons

thin elastic band

Some tools:

hacksaw

scissors

sewing machine

needle

Step 2: Sheep Head

Fill the foot part of one sock with some cushion filling. As I had four pair of socks, and they looked a bit transparent ( they were very cheap) I inserted one sock in another for the head before filling. Fill until you reach the heel.

Take two more socks for ears. Don't fill them, just put them aside with the head

Step 3: Sheep Eyes

I took some inspiration of "Shaun the sheep" and decided to make bog bold eyes. Cut a ping-pong ball in two halves. Make a hole in the middle with scissors or awl. Look for two buttons with rings on the underside. Thread a thin piece of elastic band through a needle and attach the eyes through the head. The best result will be to stick the needle from one eye to the back of the head, and up again to the front for the other eye. The result will be two eyes looking forward. I you put the needle straight from one eye to the other the eyes will look left and right like birds eyes.

Step 4: Sheepskin

Measure your footstool and draw a circle on the back of the fake fur about 2 cm bigger for seam. Then cut a rectangular piece of 20 cm high ( may vary depending the size of your footstool) as long as the fabric goes. I used two piece sewn together to make a "scarf" 20 cm high and 130 cm long. Cutting works best with a x-acto knife on the back on the fabric. This way the fur stays intact round the rim.

Sew the long side of the scarf on the outer rim of the circle, furry sides in the middle. leave a gap open of 8 cm somewhere on the rim.

Sew the beginning and end of the scarf vertically together, Remove excess length of the scarf if needed..

Turn your work inside out an test it on the footstool.

(If you make a pillow sheep without feet you could just sew two rectangles together)

Step 5: Sheep Assembly

Pull the socks from head an ears through the opening you left at the rim of the body. Strangely the result is best when the ears are UNDER the head. Although is is a big packet of layers I could fit it under the machine needle and with the biggest stitch available sew everything together. Take a look at the last step where I added a bit of fur on top of the head. . You could try to stitch in one go it in this step.

Step 6: Sheep Feet

This is a silly step: Cover the legs of the footstool with four socks. The bold legs of my footstool did not need any further attachment. The socks stay on with their own elasticity

Step 7: Cowlick??

Yes, cowlick on a sheep. I thought he looked a bit bold, so I added a little piece of fur on the head. ( remaining corner from cutting out the circle.) Take a look at the last picture: you don't need a footstool. Just laying on the ground the sheep looks just as funny. You could put a pillow in the body to create more volume.

Have a mêêhry Christmas!