Sewing: Christmas Stocking

This was my fun project for the Christmas season, and my new grandson.

I took the pattern from the Craft Stylish website. The paper pattern was downloaded from here

And then I modified it. I made the base stocking out of a scrap piece of red velvet, the cuff out of a creamy satiny scrap, and the lining out of a red lining scrap. So the stocking was FREE!

It's not a big stocking - the pattern fits on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. But it is just the right size for tucking in a little something for the munchkin - like a statement from a freshly opened bank account.

Because I am not super-skilled on my embroidery machine, I did the embroidery first, and then cut out the cuff - that way, I could guarantee that the embroidery would go where I wanted it to. Before embroidering, I used the Palmer/Pletsch product Perfect Sew to stiffen the fabric, instead of using stabilizers.

Sewing velvet is something that can be frustrating, because the nap can cause the layers to shift as you are sewing them. My solution was to use a LOT of pins. I also had ensured that when I cut the two stocking pieces out, that the nap ran downwards for both of them.

Because this is a fairly small stocking, I did have some challenges with the final sewing, where I sewed all of the following together at the top opening:

• The stocking
• The cuff
• The lining (which had an opening at the bottom to be able to turn everything right side out later)
• The loop

There were a lot of layers of fabric, and I used a lot of pins to hold them together while I was sewing them. The sewing was fiddly, but the result was good.

If any readers of this article have tried a similar project, I would be interested in hearing from you. Please email Crocus Needle Arts School.