True to form, I got these cutie little colorful Christmas stockings done with just a few days to go before the big guy arrives. But aren’t they cute? You should totally start making some for next year. Bonus, I did almost all of it with fabric scraps I had on hand (to be fair, though, I have a lot of fabric scraps from various upholstery projects). I was planning on just sharing the finished stockings for some colorful inspiration, but I couldn’t find a tutorial that was simple enough for me. Granted, I really am not good a sewing, like really not good at it, so it’s not them, it’s me. I think my favorite part are the nametags which I really just did because I have no idea how one would go about sewing a name on something. And, yes, Chase the dog got one too.
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Alright, let’s get to it. So you can plan your time, each one of these took me about 1.5 hours (some a little less, some a little more depending on how “on” I was that day). For starters, you’ll need a stocking pattern, or you can totally draw your own if you prefer. I used this one, but I decided as I got going that they were too small, so I added about 2″ all the way around. I’ll try to have a picture for each step as we go along (I’m a visual learner when it comes to sewing). Just to get your mind right, these stockings are lined, so it’s kind of a stocking inside of a stocking.
Here’s the fabric you’ll need. This does have a little extra built in – I find that I’m not good enough to cut it close. I used upholstery fabric, so it was pretty thick on its own, but if you are using thin fabric, you could add a layer of cotton batting to bulk it up.
1/2 yard of fabric for stocking and lining (I was using scraps, but if it isn’t too expensive, I’d buy 3/4 a yard to be sure)
Rectangle of fabric for cuff that is ~10″ x 3/4 yd
3/4 yard of trim
If you decide to add a layer of cotton batting, just treat it just like an extra lining piece in the steps below. In Step 5 it will just go in between the exterior and lining pieces that I’m showing.
1. Cut four pieces: a front and a back for the exterior and a front and a back for the lining.
2. Do “quilting” on two exterior pieces. Sorry quilters for offending your craft; what I did here to give the stockings a quilted look is to just sew horizontal lines about 2″ apart (no need to backstitch to make it go faster). Next photo shows the “quilting” better.
My attempt at a quilted look.
3. Pin two exterior pieces together with wrong sides out and sew together (leave the top open). Trim as tight as you can to the seam you just sewed and turn right-side out.
4. Do almost the exact same thing to the lining piece. The only difference is that I sewed with a slightly larger seam allowance than what I used on the exterior piece just so that the lining fit better into the exterior piece. Also, after you trim, just leave it with wrong sides out.
5. Fit lining piece inside of exterior piece.
Starting to look like a stocking!
6. Cut fabric for hook. Cut a rectangle that is ~ 3.5″ x 9″ (it will be a little longer than you need, but we’ll trim it later).
7. Fold edges to center length-wise.
8. Fold again length-wise.
9. Sew along the edge to make the hook.
10. Cut cuff piece ~10″ by length of your trim piece (~3/4 yd).
11. Fold in half length-wise, wrong-sides out and sew raw edge on long side together. Turn right side out.
12. Sew trim to bottom of cuff (side you just sewed).
13. Measure inner perimeter of top of stocking.
14. Trim cuff to inner perimeter + 1″. Fold in half with wrong sides out and sew together with a 1/2″ seam allowance.
15. Turn right side out.
16. Baste top of stocking together (just sew with no backstitching to hold it together temporarily).
17. Leave cuff right side out and fit inside stocking. Pin to top.
18. Get hook and fit it into place in between the stocking and the cuff with the folded part down inside the stocking.
19. Should look like this. Just make sure to get your hook length like you want. Whatever is inside the stocking will be your hook. Now sew across the top of the stocking making sure to sew through all layers (stocking, cuff, and hook when you get there).
20. Now trim off extra from hook piece, flip cuff down over stocking, and you’re done! Go you!
If you want to add names, I just hand sewed them.
21. Line up tag where you want it, and from the back side of the cuff, push needle and thread through cuff and hole in tag. Leave a few inches of thread on the back side.
22. Go back through front of cuff to back. Cross over 2″ of thread you left before tightening. Do 4 to 5 loops like this.
23. Cut thread and tie off with 2″ of thread you left on back. Do a few knots to tie off.
All done!
Don’t they look fun all together?
I got the nametags from this shop on Etsy, and I just love how they turned out. Overall, I would say these are a pretty simple little project, but it definitely got easier as I went and got the hang of it. Bonus, my kids love them (especially the nametags!). I hope you try these out – I’d love to hear about it!
