Haul Out the Holly................

My handmade Christmas is coming along nicely. It is really hard decorating with cute and cuddly when your house is cold and modern. "Minimal Chintz" doesn't exist. "Monochromatic Country" doesn't exist. "Anti-Clutter Clutter" doesn't exist. Time to start making my own rules.

Featured in this shot here are:

• handmade stockings (instructions below)
• 5 minute cushion covers (instructions will be in Friday's blog)
• A quilt hand made by my daughter's Godmother that we pull out and cuddle under every year

Featured in this shot are:

• A bit of my tree
• Reindeer banner (instructions will be in Thursday's blog)
  

All of these projects are: available for free from the Internet, quick, easy, and perfect for the beginner.

How I Made Our Christmas Stockings.

Step 1 : I went to Craft and Fabric Links and downloaded all four pages of their free pattern. I printed them out and taped them together. They have a tutorial to follow, but I found a few short cuts. Keep following along to see what I did.

Step 2: I decided all the padding was way too much of a commitment for me, so I skipped the fusible fleece. That little loop of ribbon wasn't going to cut it, either. First of all, I needed to tie our stockings on to the banister railing, not hang it on a hook. Second of all, we really pack our stockings and all those chocolate, oranges, nuts, and little surprises are pretty heavy. I instead cut out a long strip of fabric about 30" long and 2"wide to make the hanger.

Step 3: Time to start sewing! I matched up each front of the stocking with its piece of the lining, and each back of the stocking with its piece of the lining. Being sure to keep the right sides together (facing each other), I sewed on the wrong side (or the back) of the fabric. Starting at the top, I stitched down one side, around the foot, and back up the other. I didn't stitch across the top. And I also resisted all temptation to put the stockings on my feet and walk around the room in them. Maybe.

Step 4: I clipped the seam allowances all the way around, then turned each stocking piece right side out and ironed it flat. Next, I tucked in the top to make a sort of cuff, but turned inside instead of outside. I tucked all the way around. Once the cuff was in place and all the frayed messy fabric edges were cleverly hidden inside the stocking panel, I ironed it flat and top-stitched (sewed along the top, pretty close to the edge). Now I had 6 stocking halves, all nice and neat with no frayed bits. 3 facing one way (fronts) and 3 facing the other way (backs).

Step 5: I used some pieces of felt left over from my felt play set project, and free-handed our initials directly on them. I cut one set out in red, and one set out in green. The green set is a teeny bit larger than the red- about 1/8". Using only the "front" stocking pieces, I layered the felt pieces and did a quick stitch through both layers to sew them in place. This I did by hand. I wasn't especially careful with my stitch size. I thought the irregular stitches made it feel more old-fashioned and homey.

Step 6: Time to sort out that hanger. Ever do fabric origami? I ironed each long strip of fabric so it was nice and flat. It was still on the ironing board in front of me, right side down and wrong side facing up. I folded it in half (along the long side, so it was 30"x 1" looking) and ironed in a nice crease, then unfolded it again. Using the center crease as a guide, I folded the bottom edge up to the middle, and the top edge down to the middle. The two rough frayed fabric edges now met up in the middle along the crease. I ironed it again to make 2 new creases. Lastly, I folded along that middle crease again, matching up the newly made top and bottom creases. It made a sandwich of fabric- 4 layers deep- with the rough frayed fabric edges tucked way inside. I ironed again. Then once more just for good measure.

I top stitched along all four sides. Yes the little ends will fray (they are starting to already), but for now I am ignoring it. I took the long fabric strip and folded in half, and stuck it where I thought it should go on the stocking. I think this unit of measure is called "looks about right".

Step 7: I matched up each front stocking piece (with the strap pinned in place) with it's back. I matched it up exactly how I thought it should look in the end- with the lining in the middle. I knew that stitching then turning then pressing was going to be a nightmare- so I didn't bother with it. Instead, I just top stitched the same way I sewed in the third step above: along the side, around the foot, and back up the other side, leaving the top open. I went back and forth over the hanger part a couple of times to make sure it was really sewn in and extra strong.

You can see in all the pictures above, the little bit of stitching around the outside of the sock. Because I was going for the old-fashioned handmade look, this stitch just added to the final look.

I made all 3 stockings, start to finish, in under 2 hours.