I’ve had mismatched Christmas stockings for too many years now. Getting ready for my son’s first Christmas inspired me to finally make coordinating Christmas Stockings for the whole family, including our dog Samson.
I’ve always liked cross-stitched ones or thick quilted ones but both would take a long time. The cross-stitched ones I was picturing in my head would take me months to finish. So that quickly became a non-option. I was still thinking of quilting some and left that open as a possibility.
My son and I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to hunt the pre-Christmas sale for the perfect fabric. I found this cute Christmas forest animal fabric that was adorable and it was flannel! I’ve always loved flannel – shirts, sheets, PJs – all of it. So why not Christmas stockings?! I found additional festive flannels for Steve and me and then found a paw print flannel for Samson. I wanted to add a cuff to the top of each stocking and found a perfect flannel that looks like a knit sweater pattern in all the right colors.
With my coupons, I spent about $13 on all my fabric. What a deal!
What type of Christmas Stockings to make?
I was still debating between just single-layer fabric or quilted fabric. To make it quilted, I would have to cut batting as well as an inner liner, so it would be 3 times the cutting work not to mention the sewing. Considering it was two weeks before Christmas time was not on my side. Also, I took inventory of the batting and lining I had on hand and it would have maybe been enough. With those two challenges, I decided to keep it simple and just do a single fabric. So what if they are a little floppy while hanging, they are still cute and festive.
One of my mismatched stockings I already had I had made from dishtowels years ago. I used that pattern as my guide. So once I had my fabric and dug my sewing machine out of the closet, I was ready to go.
DIY Christmas Stockings Steps
There are three sections to the Christmas stockings. The main stocking is the largest and easiest. Then there is the hanging loop and the cuff.
Main Stocking
- Make/trace a pattern
- I taped two pages of printer paper together and laid my dollar store stocking on top of it to trace.
- Make sure to trace at least 1/4 inch bigger than the stocking
- Cut out your pattern
- Cut out fabric
- Fold the fabric in half so that like sides are facing each other. I find it easiest to fold it so the wrong side is out and the right (or pretty) side is facing in.
- Lay your pattern on top of the fabric and place a few pins in it to hold it in place
- Cut through both layers all the way around the pattern.
- Sew together
- Keep the pretty sides together so the ugly side (inside) is what you see, then pin around the edges
- It depends how confident you are, but I put in maybe 8 pins around the entire stocking
- DO NOT sew the top together, that clearly needs to remain open
- On the HEEL side, stop sewing 1/2 inch from the top opening to leave room for the hanging loop
- Turn it inside out and you should have a basic stocking!
Hanging Loop
- Cut a piece of fabric roughly 1.5 inches wide and 6 to 7 inches long
- (This is the non-ironing approach because I hate ironing!) Fold in roughly 1/8 inch on each side of the long fabric and put 2-3 pins to keep in in place
- Fold that strip in half lengh wise and move the pins to the outside, pinning the folded edges in and the two halves together (see images below)
- Sew one line down the edge with all the folds to hold it all together
Cuff
- Cut a piece from your cuff fabric (mine is the fake knit sweater flannel). It should be roughtly 4.5 inches tall and about 1/2 inch wider than your stocking width
- I cut it as one length so I only had to make one side seem, not two.
- Pin and sew a small hem in on one of the long sides; this will be the finished end of the cuff that shows in the end.
- Put right sides together with the dull inside of the fabric facing you, and sew the loop together (see images)
Assemble Christmas Stockings
This part can be kind of tricky. After doing it four times, I finally got the hang of it!
- Sew the hanging look into the stocking
- Turn the stocking inside out with the heel on the left and toe on the right
- Place the loop in the 1/2 inch gap you left on the heel side (if you forgot to leave a gap, take a seem ripper and cut the thread at the top 1/2 inch)
- The loop should be angled up with the ends together and inside the stocking about 1/4-1/2 inch (see images)
- Hold the look in between the two layers of stocking and sew over the loop several times to make it secure
- Sew the cuff onto the stocking
- Turn the stocking and cuff right side out
- With the finished hem down, insert the cuff inside the stocking. The top unfinished edge of the cuff should line up with the top unfinished edge of the stocking (see images)
- Make sure the loop is pressed down into the stocking and not sewn over in this next step
- Pin the cuff in place with the top edges lined up and sew all around the stocking top sewing the unfinished edges together.
- Turn the cuff up and over the stocking and voila! You should have a completed Homemade Christmas Stocking
There you have it, Homemade Christmas Stockings! I made them all in two nights after putting our son down. It took maybe 3-4 hours total. One night I made the pattern and cut all the fabric and pinned and sewed the main stockings together. The next night I did the hanging loop, the cuff, and then assembled them. As long as you have a basic knowledge of sewing (even if it’s rusty) you can make these!
This is what my Christmas tree and stocking scene really looks like with a crawling baby in the house. Actually, normally the ottoman is pushed in front of our electric fireplace and I have taken the stockings down because my son was regularly tempted to pull them down! #honestlife
PIN FOR LATER!
I’m a new blogger and saving this image to Pinterest can help me grow! Learn more about my blog HERE.
Leave a Reply