First of all can I say this is the first time I have had a go at writing a tutorial so all feedback welcome…
I saw this fabulous festive fabric in a slider picture over at My Fabric House and wanted some! So, via their Facebook page, I messaged them asking if they had any left, as I couldn’t see any of it in their Christmas Shop. Well, my luck was in as they had just a little left so I snapped it up. It’s a lovely linen kind of fabric and the pattern is oh so wonderfully Christmassy.
So, what did I use to make my stocking?
- 3 Sheets of A4 paper
- Fabric of choice
- Pins and thread
- Embellishments and wide ribbon
1. I wanted to make my own pattern, so I taped together 3 sheets of A4 paper to give me a decent size, but the beauty of making your own pattern is that you can make it as big or small as you want it to be.
2. Use a ruler and a plate to make the boot shapes onto paper and draw it up in pen/pencil. As you can see, I tweaked as I went along!
3. Cut the pattern out. Fold your fabric in half so that the patterned sides are facing each other (on the inside). Draw around your pattern onto the fabric, again tweaking all the time until you’re happy with the shape. (I don’t believe in these things being an exact science, can you tell?)
4. Cut fabric out. I like using pinking shears as the edge is less likely to fray and I wanted to make this as simple a pattern as possible.
5. Still with pattern-side facing together, and starting about 2 cms down from the top, sew around the main body of the 2 stocking pieces. Make sure the 2 cm gap is on the longer edge – this is so that you can fold over the top of the stocking easily.
6. Fold over the top twice to give a nice clean edge, pin and sew.
7. Turn your stocking inside out, or outside in… you know what I mean… and iron it to give it nice crisp lines.
8. Using a piece of wide ribbon, about 10cm long, hem each end and then sew it on the top of the long edge to make a hanging loop.
That, in essence, is it!
I then hand-stitched some gorgeous red bobble trim around the top of my stocking; I’ll be making lots of other ones using all sorts of embellishments – sequins, felt shapes, felt initials (I’ll be making my own)…
Have fun and do let us see your own versions. M x
