Christmas Stockings

December has definitely slowed me down with getting ready for Christmas, working and trying to get neighbor gifts made and delivered. So if your checking in make sure to check the next few posts because even though I haven't been posting I have been crafting!

Growing up we had the best stockings! My mom made them for us and they were awesome. They were a good size so we got tons of stuff in our stockings. I have wonderful memories with our Christmas stockings. Our stockings growing up were all the same color (green and white) so we didn't have our own stocking. But every year we would write our names on a piece of paper and pin it to our stocking. Christmas morning we would sneak upstairs to find all our stockings in a row on the couch filled to the brim with stuff! Christmas morning always seemed so magical to me. We always got Oranges and Apples in the bottom of our stocking along with nuts. We also got toothbrushes and a few wrapped gifts. The wrapped gifts we could open before our parents got up. Everything under the Christmas tree had to stay untouched until Mom got up. As we got older we each found olives in our stocking... yes my family was crazy about olives. Mine were always green olives because I loved them so much! And we'd also get our favorite soda in our stocking (along with all the regular goodness).

So as you can see the stockings were a major part of our Christmas. And I want our kids to have the same kind of memories. So this year I finally got around to making the kids a stocking of their own. Zack's first two Christmas's he just used a store bought stocking.



So here is how I made our stockings:

First I traced my stocking onto the fabric that I picked out for the boys (Zack's was blue and Gavin's was Green). I don't have an exact measurement though. If anyone is interested in making their own let me know and I can get measurements or a .pdf of our stocking

The best material to buy is the already quilted Christmas fabric. I didn't do that so I had to quilt my own. I also didn't buy enough fabric because I forgot that I had to quilt it so the inside of my stockings are a plain coordinating fabric. (excuse the sideways pictures, blogger keeps turing it this way... Ugh!)

After you've traced and cut out the stocking match up the the inside, stuffing and outside of the stocking. (again stupid blogger rotated the picture)



To make the quilted effect I traced line on the inside of the stocking of the quilted pattern that I wanted.



I then quilted overtop of the lines. I'm not a quilter and a beginner seamstress so I know it's not perfect but it worked for my first stockings.



Once I got both the front and the back quilted I sewed the stockings together. Make sure to leave the top open. As a little bit of decoration I wanted to line the stocking with rickrack. I've never sewn rickrack before so that was an interesting process. It took me a few tries but I think it looked okay. Next time I would definitly make use a bigger rickrack though. Basically for the rickrack I pinned it on the inside of the stocking. That way when I sewed the sides the rick rack would be lining the stocking. Rickrack was definitly a learning process for me. I still haven't mastered how to use it but I am a little bit closer. I'd do a few practice runs just so your familiar with it if you haven't used it before and your going for the same effect.

After I sewed the sides together I wanted to add a fur cuff to the top of the stocking. Again another learning experience as I have never sewn with fur before.

First I cut the fur to the desired width. for the length just make sure it's the size of the top of your stocking. What I didn't do with the first stocking but did do with second stocking that is pretty important is to sew the sides together so it makes a tube. Then pin the fur to the inside top of your stocking. The picture shows the fur the wrong way. Make sure to pin it so you see the back side of the fur or when you turn it to make the cuff you will have the wrong side. Learned that the hard way.



Once you've finished you will have a beatiful stocking that you and your family will be proud to display all season long.



The two red stockings are stocking that my mom helped me make a few years back for the husband and I. They were also my templates to make the boys stockings.