How to Sew a Stocking

Christmas stockings are integral to the celebration for many people.

Cherished traditions that you perpetuate through the years enrich the Christmas season. Hanging Christmas stockings is one of the most time-honored yuletide traditions. The price of some retail stockings is so high that the stocking itself would have to be your Christmas present. Alternatively, you can sew and embellish your own stocking. There are no set rules for stockings beyond making it in a stocking shape. You can personalize it to celebrate what the holiday means to you. Making your own stocking may even become your new Christmas tradition.

Things You'll Need

• 1 yard fabric (felt, velvet, thick silk or brocade)
• Stocking template
• Dressmaker's chalk
• Scissors
• 1 yard fusible interfacing
• Thin towel
• Iron
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Embellishments (paint marker, iron-on patches or letters, rhinestones, sequins, jingle bells, fabric trim)
• Adhesive for embellishments

Instructions

1. Select a base fabric that is thick and does not wear easily, to accommodate the contents of the stocking when it is full. Felt, velvet, velour, thick silks or brocades are all suitable. One yard of fabric is enough for even the largest stocking.

2. Lay the fabric front side down on the work surface. Trace a stocking template onto the fabric with dressmaker's chalk two times. Cut the stocking shapes out with scissors.

3. Repeat the process with the interfacing to create two shapes identical to the fabric shapes.

4. Lay both fabric shapes face down. Place an interfacing shape with the shiny side face down on each piece of fabric.

5. Cover the interfacing with a thin towel. Iron the material to fuse the interfacing and stocking fabric.

6. Lay the front sides of the fabric together. Align the pieces precisely. Insert straight pins horizontally around the outer edge of the fabric to hold the pieces together. Leave the top of the stocking unpinned.

7. Sew around the edge of the fabric in a continuous, straight stitch on a sewing machine. Leave a 1/4-inch seam allowance at the edge. Remove the straight pins as you sew. Stitch around the edge a second time to secure the pieces firmly.

8. Fold the top edge of the material at the open end of the stocking 1/2 inch. Pin the fold in place with straight pins.

9. Sew the folded fabric to hem it. Remove the straight pins as you sew.

10. Turn the stocking right side out. Embellish the material to achieve your desired stocking. Write your name with a paint marker. Apply iron-on patches with Christmas imagery or embroidered letters to spell your name. Affix rhinestones, sequins, jingle bells or fabric trim with an adhesive.

Tips & Warnings

• Use an existing stocking as a template, or sketch one on paper and cut it out.

References

• Apartment Therapy; DIY Christmas Stockings; Jeanine Brenan; December 2008
• "Woman's Day"; Holiday Craft: Felt Stockings; Pamela Acuff; December 2009
• "Good Housekeeping": Christmas Stocking Crafts