Stockings - Simple Photo Tutorial

As promised, I have a mini "how to" with photos for the stockings I made over the weekend.  I had a LOT of help from this 3 part series of videos on YouTube, so if my directions aren't clear enough be sure to check them out.

First, I took an old stocking from our Christmas stash that had a nice size and shape.  I traced it on butcher paper - leaving 1/4" for seam allowance.  Then I cut it out.

I had purchased a collection of fat eighths from the fabric store, because I wanted the quilted look.  These were great because they had 8 different fabrics, in a nice gradation of colors from dark to light.  I used 4 fabrics per stocking.  I cut the 9"x21" pieces down to 4.5"x21".  If you were making a stocking from 1 fabric for the outside, and 1 fabric for the lining, then you would only need about 1/2 yard of each (depending on the finished stocking size).

The next step was piecing the fabrics together (I did 2 sets - one for the front and back), then I pressed the seams.  I placed the 2 panels of fabrics right sides in, and used my pattern to cut out stocking shapes.  I was able to get 2 stockings from each set of panels.  I also cut out interfacing and a lining using the pattern.  The lining I cut 4.5" longer in the top part of the stocking to create a nice cuff.   Before sewing the stocking outsides together, I ironed on the interfacing.

This photo was taken after I sewed the stocking together, clipped the rounded edges, and turned it.  I pressed it lightly and then sewed on the tab made from excess fabric.

I sewed the lining - leaving a 4" gap on the back of the leg.  Leaving it right sides in, I put the stocking (already turned) inside.  Then sewed the lining to the stocking outside by lining up the raw edges at the top.  Then I pulled the stocking out of the gap, turned the lining right sides out, and sewed up the gap.  (don't forget to clip those rounded edges!)  When I put the lining back into stocking, the excess 4.5" creates a nice cuff.  Finally, I stitched around the top of the cuff to create a nice finished edge.  And that was all there was to it!

Here are the other 4 colors that I purchased to make more stockings.  Today I cut out the yellow and green fabrics.  Can't wait to see how they all look sewn up!

Sewing Stockings

Last December I started knitting stockings for our family.  I finished two of them, then put them aside, because it wasn't Christmas anymore.  I figured that I'd finish the other 2 this year.  February and March and April came and went, and I did nothing with the stockings.  Then May hit and I had to start getting my inventory up for markets.  Then June - September came, and went.  Still nothing happened with the stockings.

Now we are in October - and I'm in my busiest knitting part of the year (for Christmas shows).  I did pull out the stockings, and sadly, decided that they were ugly, I didn't want to knit (now) 3 more of them, and the yarn would be better used for owl hats!

Yikes!

So I went on an etsy prowl for stockings, thinking I could purchase them.  I did find some very beautiful ones.  But at $50 a pop, that comes to $250 for stockings for our family!

Double Yikes!

As this is transpiring, the nutty, creative part of my brain piped up and said - "Nona - you are sewing now.  The stockings you love don't look "that" hard.  Why don't YOU make them?!?!"  :)  And for once, this part of my brain wasn't over stepping, or getting bigger than my ability (although this does often happen).

I popped over to YouTube for some instructional inspiration.  Then off to the fabric store I went to gather supplies.  I came home with some "trial" fabric, and within 2 hours, had whipped out my first stocking!  It was so cute!  And best off all, with the supplies I purchased, I was able to make 4 stockings, not just one with that fabric.

So back to the fabric store I went to get supplies in a few more colors.  And as of this morning, I have finished 8 stockings!  Whoohooo!!!   I'm going to keep working on them this week in the other colors.  I decided that we'll keep one of each color for our family, and then sell the extras.  Hopefully I'll have a nice assortment finished by the 22nd for my next big show.  And hopefully people will want to buy them!

Here are photos of the finished ones.  :)  Tomorrow, I'll post the process.  It's not quite step-by-step, but enough to get the idea of how I made them.

You might be wondering about names/personalization.  At this point I don't have a way to machine embroider them.  Our family isn't going to put names on ours.  That way, every year the kids can pick a different color and no one has to complain that "they always get stuck with the ugly yellow one".  It would be totally possible to hand embroider a name on, but I want to keep the price low, and can't do that if I have to personalize them.

PS... Don't forget to leave a message on THIS POST to enter to win 30 cards!  I'm less than 300 hits away from 200,000 hits, and that is when I'll pick a winner!  I'm guessing this will happen tomorrow - Wednesday at the very latest.

Reindeer Games

We took the girls to get their Santa pictures (in their matching Christmas dresses!) a few weeks ago.  We had heard some good things about a local Nursery in our area that had a great Santa, and reindeer for the kids to pose with, and a camel!

When we got to the nursery, we discovered the Santa did not have a real beard (pet peeve of mine), the camel was sleeping, and the photos would take over a week before they could be picked up.  I needed the photos that same day for a scrapbook project I was working on, so we decided to head over to the mall instead.

Before we left, however, we did get some cute pictures of the girls meeting Blitzen.  This was the best shot, and it may be our Christmas Card photo - assuming I get around to making cards this year!  Sammie was being so protective and loving of her sister.  She was holding her and whispering sweet things to her while we took the photos.  I'm so proud of my girls - and thankful to the Lord for blessing Dave and me with such great kids!