Christmas Stockings

When making 46 Christmas stockings, a good process helps make fun, attractive stockings without taking a massive amount of time, or expense.

The expense was reasonable (about $.65/stocking) for burlap and flannel, plus using Christmas material in my stash for the heal and toe appliqué. The body of the stocking is burlap, on sale, and the lining and cuff are different colors (red, green, blue, white) flannel, also on sale PLUS the additional 25% off coupon. Love coupons!


The pattern is hand-drawn and fits on an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper, or card stock. I would suggest printing two copies of the image, leaving one for the outline of the main stocking and lining, the second to cut apart and have patterns for the body, heal and toe appliqué pieces.

With all the pieces cut out as outlined on the image to the right, put together the front and back of the stocking. Start with the back by layering:
    First, the flannel lining,
    Second, the burlap layer on top of the lining.

At this point MARK** the top and bottom ending points of the TOE and HEAL of the stocking. This is important for final outside seam and successfully matching the toe and heal on the front and back sides.

**Marking the heal/toe can be a challenge, especially on burlap. Another alternative is to use the yardstick template of the body of the sock where the HEAL and TOE are cut off to use as their pattern pieces. The remaining BODY section of the pattern can be laid on the stocking and the heal and toe fabric pieces put in place like a puzzle. I actually found this was faster and easier than trying to mark.

With the top and bottom marks made, line up the HEAL of the stocking and top stitch ONLY the inside of the appliqué. The other, outside edges will be caught in the outside seam joining the front and back of the stocking. Two things about adding the appliqué TOE and HEAL:

1. If adding to a cotton material, would recommend using an adhesive, iron-on interfacing (double-sided is best). In this case, I didn't want to add more bulk nor did it seem likely the adhesive would work well with the burlap, so I skipped this step.
2. Since the appliqué has raw edges, it is wise to use a satin, zig-zag stitch or one of the more solid decorative stitches on your machine to cover the raw edge while adding a little interest to the stocking.

With the HEAL attached, repeat with the TOE of the stocking.

Repeat the above steps to create the front of the stocking. With the front and back of the stocking ready, it's time to sew them together.

With right-sides together, match the front and back of the stocking paying attention to the toe and heals, trying to match them as closely as possible. Stitch the two sides together with a 3/8 inch seam, leaving the top of the stocking open. I like to do a second round of stitching in the seam allowance. The best is using a serger to secure the seam allowance but I also use a zig-zap stitch, especially with these stockings, which will likely only be used for one year.

(NOTE: I ended up using the serger on most of the stockings. It was faster and resulted in a clean cut/smaller seam inside the stocking. No serger, the zip-zag option works, too.)

Once the body of the stocking is together, turn right-side out and use the rounded end of a Point Turner-Seam Creaser to shape the stocking.  Now it's time to work on the cuff.

NOTE: When doing lots of stockings, like 46, make all the "bodies" of the stockings first. In fact, adding all the TOE and HEALS first is another way to speed up the process. Stack the front and backs together. Do this for all the stockings where the same color thread will be used, minimizing the number of thread changes helps speed up the process.

CUFF

The cuff is roughly 12.5 inches by 4.5 inches in size. It is important to resize it once the stocking body is complete in order to size it up closely.  To do that, fold the cuff material in half and match the outside of the left side of the stocking to the folded edge of the cuff. On the right side, put a ruler along the edge of the stocking and up over the cuff. Draw a stitch line on the cuff using a marking pen.

Unfold the cuff and re-fold the long way. Make a straight line 2.75 inches from the fold line on each side. This is the stitch line for joining the cuff to the stocking body.

With the seams marked, fold the cuff in half length-wise and then in half again, putting it over the top of the body of the stocking to double-check measurements.

Find the CENTER of the front of the cuff by laying the ruler diagonally from the lower left corner to the upper left corner of the cuff. Draw a line in the center using a marking pen. Repeat laying the ruler from the upper left corner to the lower right and draw another line. You should have an "X" in the center of the cuff. This is the center for embroidering the name on the cuff.

EMBROIDERY

To machine embroider the names on the cuffs, I hoop the tear away stabilizer and then float the flannel using a very light spray adhesive. If you don't want to use adhesive, pinning along the perimeter would also work. For a short name, I use the 4x4 hoop but for longer names, I would use the repositional hoop. Center the "X" in the middle of the hoop and make sure the material is straight using the grid that came with the hoop.

CORRECTION: the name should be rotated 180 degrees from what is pictured to the right. The bottom of the name should be parallel to the fold of the cuff.

With the name embroidered, it's time to sew the seam along the short end of the cuff. Making sure the cuff is completely open/flat and the name is folded inside, stitch the seam along the drawn seam line. Trim to 1/4 inch from the seam. Turn the cuff right-side out so the name is showing, then fold in half again the "long" way.

With the cuff upright and above the stocking, insert it into the body of the stocking, matching the raw edges of the stocking body and the cuff. Seam a 1/2" seam around the perimeter of the top of the stocking. Like with the outside seam, secure the raw edges by either serging or zig-zagging in the seam allowances.  Fold the cuff out to expose the name.

TO ADD A HOOP TO HANG THE STOCKING: Add a strip of fabric about 2 inches long and 3/8 inch wide. It should be folded under and top-stitched to reinforce the fabric for strength.  Put the strip between the cuff and the stocking at the right seam, top raw edges together, prior to stitching the cuff and body together.

Each stocking uses minimal fabric. If purchasing, a Fat Quarter would make a stocking or a 1/4 of a yard of fabric for EACH the outside and the lining/cuff.

It took me about 2 hours to make one stocking, but it gets faster with every stocking and more confidence in the process.

2017 UPDATE: Five stockings were left. The only thing needed to finish was cut out, embroider, and attach the cuff at the top. This year the Santa4Senior project is for a small group home with only five residents. Amazing. It was a quick project to get stockings done this year.