Tutorial: Add Wire to an Elf on the Shelf

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf in your house?  We have had Larry visiting us for a few years now, the kids get a kick out of him and I have a lot of fun with him too!  When I first pulled him out of the box a few years ago, I was a bit disappointed to find he was a floppy elf that you couldn't bend and pose into all those cute ideas you see on Pinterest.  So this year, I did a little elf surgery to make Larry posable!

This elf upgrade is really easy, only costs a few bucks, and takes maybe 20 minutes.  It will have your floppy, unposable elf doing yoga in no time!

To upgrade your elf, all you need is some wire (I picked mine up in the craft section of Walmart), needle and thread, and a seam ripper...

Start by lifting one of the elf's arms and carefully removing the stitches in his armpit.

Cut 12" of wire and fold back the very ends of the wire on both sides as shown below.

Push one end of the wire into the elf's armpit.  You will feel the bottom of his head inside, push the wire behind his head and into the other arm.  Feed the wire all the way in so the wire ends at his opposite hand.

Bend the wire so you can feed the other end into his arm.  Feed the wire all the way to the end of his hand.  

With your red thread, stitch the hole in his armpit closed.  This will be covered by his collar, so don't worry if your stitches aren't perfect, but you want it to be secure.

Next carefully remove the seams at the elf's bottom.  I went ahead and took the tag out too, I figured at some point my kids would wonder why he had tags and think maybe he didn't really fly in from the North Pole.  

You will also have to rip a few stitches at the top of his legs where they are attached so you can get the wire down inside his legs.

And remove the stitches at his knees.

Cut 20" of wire.  Fold back the very ends of the wire, and then fold the wire in half as shown below.

Insert the fold of the wire into the elf's back.

Then bend the wire so you can push the ends into his legs.  Push the ends of the wire all the way to his feet.

With your red thread, stitch the elf's bottom back up.

Re-stitch the elf's knees (you could leave these unsewn if you want)

And your elf surgery is done!  No more floppy Elf!