Tutorial: Quilted Christmas Stocking

It’s funny. Now that I’m older and my friends are growing up, I notice little things I never would have noticed before, like Christmas stockings. When I was little, we got new stockings all the time. My mom would use puffy paint to put our names on them, but if there was one we liked better the next year, she would pick it up for us. I never really had “my” stocking. It was never special. It was just something you bought for Christmas so Santa could leave you gifts like chapstick and socks.

As I got older, I started getting invited to holiday parties at my friends’ own houses (not their parent’s homes) and I noticed the ratty old stockings hung on the wall. All the stories are similar: Those were their stockings; the only ones they ever had, given to them on their first Christmas. How special, I thought. So, I decided to make Mazer her own stocking to commemorate this, her very first Christmas!



Here’s how I did it:



Materials:

Assorted Christmas-y cotton scraps
Flannel
Batting (I like the Warm and Natural brand)
Muslin, embroidery floss, hand needle and hoop, if you choose to embroider
Stocking template or stocking

We will use ¼ inch seams unless otherwise noted.



Using another stocking as a template for size, sew together wonky rows of your scrap Christmas-y fabric. Make sure to cut your fabric wide enough to include seam allowances (SA). I liked the wonky, off-centered look, so I cut my rows randomly. For you Type-A’s, feel free to cut your lines straight.



Place your first two rows right sides together and stitch with a quarter inch seam.



Press the seam to marry threads. Open the seam and press to one side. I pressed away from the blue fabric since it was lighter in color. Repeat until you have enough rows.



I double checked along the way using my stocking as a template.



Now is time for the batting. I like Warm and Natural, but feel free to use whichever you like. Or, if you have some scraps, you could combine them here. It won’t be washed an awful lot, so no reason to worry about batting separation.



Cut batting and two pieces of flannel to the same size. I used my rows to determine the size. You will be cutting it down to size later, so if your batting and flannel are cut a little large, that’s okay. This should yield two pieces of flannel, your stitched rows and a piece of batting. Sandwich the batting between ONE piece of the flannel and the stitched rows. Put the second piece of flannel aside for later use. Quilt the stocking top using any method you like. I chose to stitch ¼ inch off each seam.



If you are choosing to embroider a name onto the stocking, keep reading, otherwise you can skip this step. Now, I’ve never embroidered anything before, so if you’re looking for a great embroidery tutorial, this isn’t it. I also didn’t look any tutorials up, so I’m not sure if I did this the “correct” way, but it turned out cute, so I’m happy with it. With a pencil, write the name out onto the muslin. Next, place muslin in embroidery loop and tighten the screw until the muslin inside the hoop is taut. Using a backstitch, stitch along the penciled name using embroidery floss. When you come to curves, you may want to make your stitches smaller so the curve is more rounded than sharp.



Remove the muslin from the hoop then press. I added patches by using iron-on webbing and machine stitching. Fold muslin in so all rough edges are tucked then pin to you stocking front. Stitch around the outer edges of the muslin to stitch in place.



Remember that piece of flannel I told you to set aside? Pull that out now. Place the flannel and the stocking wrong sides together and pin. Using your stocking template, cut out the stocking shape.



Now, turn the flannel back and stocking front right sides together and pin. Stitch the stocking together. DO NOT STITCH THE TOP, just the sides and bottom.



Turn the stocking right side out. Almost there!



Lay the stocking on your cutting mat and trim the top so it is straight.



Using scrap flannel, cut a 2” x 10” strip. This will become the loop for hanging the stocking.



Fold the flannel for the loop in half lengthwise (or hotdog, for those of you who remember this from grade school!) Stitch.



Going back to your stocking, turn the stocking wrong side out and fold the top edges down. Take your loop, fold it in half and place it under the fold of the back of the stocking. Stitch along the top, hemming down the edges. I used a 5/8 inch seam here and I backstitched over the loop a couple times for added support. Clara may be getting coal in her future and we need her stocking to support it!!



Turn your stocking right side out and you’re finished! Not too bad, right? I tried to take lots of pictures to show you along the way. I’ll be linking this up at all my favorite linky parties found in the right sidebar of my blog.