Wednesday Sewing - The Stockings Were Hung ...

Well - not exactly!  I made these stocking for a local toy drive.  Since both boys, their wives, and little c will be here for Christmas, I decided new stockings were needed!  Plus, the previous ones we used for years were huge and pretty hard to fill.  The new pattern is a big enough size to put just enough goodies in without taking out a second mortgage.  Now I just need to make seven more - knowing me, I'll be up the night before everyone arrives finishing them up!

Materials List:

*Two stocking pieces cut from pattern found here (it takes about 1/3 yard of felt)
*one piece of 1" x 4" felt for hanging loop
*felt motifs to sew on
*beads, sequins, ric rac, ribbon, embroidery thread, buttons ... whatever else you can think of to decorate the stockings with
*freezer paper if you're making snowflakes
*felt glue

1.  I decided to decorate one stocking with holly and the other with snowflakes.  To make felt snowflakes, first cut a square of freezer paper around the size you want your snowflake to be.  Fold it in half so you have a rectangle.

2.  Fold again so you have a square.  Fold diagonally.

3.  Cut the top decoratively.  Cut one or two shapes from each edge and the tip.  These are much easier to cut out of the felt if you keep the design simple.

4.  Some felt has a "right" side - lay the cut snowflakes shiny side down on the wrong side of the felt.  Sometimes taking the paper off fuzzes the felt up a bit.  Iron to attach.  Cut out and remove the paper.  Use a really sharp pair of scissors with pointed ends.

5.  Attach felted pieces to the stocking fronts with a few small dots of glue.  It's easier to sew them on without lots of pins.  Sew all felted pieces onto the stockings. You can use a sewing machine to do this or hand embroidery.  I'm not putting names on these stockings, but I'm planning on doing this on the family stockings with embroidery.

6.  Sew any other attachments on.

7.  Pin stocking back to stocking front.  Fold loop piece in half and pin in the corner opposite the toe.

8.  Sew around the sides, toe, and bottom of the stocking about 1/4 inch in from the edge.  Turn at the loop and sew in about 1/2 inch.  Back stitch over that 1/2 inch to attach the loop securely.

9.  With the red stocking, I sewed ric rac across the top of the front piece.  Then when I pinned the front to the back, I also pinned ric rac along the entire edges I'd be sewing.

Two down, seven to go!

Happy Creating!  Deborah