Stockings

Want to save some money this Christmas and make your own stockings? Or do you just want to do it yourself so you can make something unique to each individual? Here ya go:

1 and 2. First, cut out your material in the pattern you want. I used red flannel. I borrowed a stocking from a friend and traced that with chalk onto a piece of flannel that was folded so I could cut out two pieces at once. If you cut it so the long straight side is on a fold, it'll save you a step. If not, keep your pieces like this and then sew a seem down the long side.

3 and 4. Next cut out a piece of fabric for the top. I used white fleece. If you use fleece you don't need to hem it as it will not fray. If however, you use a material that will fray, insert a step and hem the bottom edge. Cut your piece at least twice as long as the width of the top of the stocking. And make it however wide you'll want it to be at the top, adding 1/4" for seams. Then cut out a loop of ribbon, and make it about an inch bigger than you'll want your loop for your stocking.

5. Now lay down your pieces in this order: Fleece, looped ribbon, splayed stocking. Make sure you put the ugly part of the stocking down (the side with the seem showing). So that the nice side of the stocking is on top. Pin where the ribbon is.

6. Now sew a seam. Make sure the fleece is on bottom and the nice part of the stocking's on top. When you get to the ribbon, go back and forth across it to reinforce it so it'll hold up when you're stockings hanging up full of goodies! 7. NOW, start to really pay attention or you'll be ripping seams like I did.... When you've sewn your seam through the fleece, ribbon, and flannel layers, lay it out and flip the fleece up. Keep it oriented so the nice side of the stocking is facing you. Now, fold it in half so it looks like a stocking, (make sure that first long seem you've sewn on the edge of the stocking is on the inside). Line up the red flannel on top, the part that's right below the white, and put a pin in just to keep it in place. NOW you're going to hem the white fleece ONLY! When you get to the end of the white, stop. Try to hem it so it's about even to the width of the red, and cut off the extra bit of white when you're done. 8. So the top part of your stocking is now sewn together, but none of the red part should be EXCEPT for the long side you sewed a seam in at the beginning. Now, turn your stocking inside out, and fold it in half so it looks like a stocking. You should be looking at the side with the rough seam. Now pick up where you left off and continue from that seam, and hem around the rest of the red part of the stocking. Don't sew into the white fleece. If you sewed down a little bit into the red when you hemmed up your fleece, it may look a little funny when you hem it up on this side.... but don't worry, just leave it. The white fleece is going to fold down and cover it up! I did this on all mine, just to make sure the fleece and red would be a sewn together without a gap. And it worked out fine.9 and 10. Now turn your stocking inside out, and push out the toe and heal real well. You can iron it to make it hold it's shape a little better. Fold down the white fleece, and pull out your loop, and you're done!!!!! Now hang it up!!!