Would your friends like a stocking full of Cotton Mako for Christmas?

I had been wondering what I could use for Kris Kringle gifts for my textile buddies this year when I found  this lovely little Christmas stocking in the box of decorations.

This Christmas stocking is just the perfect size to hold a couple of spools of thread.

It is just the perfect size to hold a small gift, a spool of thread, a packet of needles or an other little stitching tool so I am planning to make my own version of small stockings.

The pattern is really quite simple.

1. Trace around a sock to draw up a small stocking shape. Choose a sock with a heel rather than a tube design, it doesn’t have to be fancy, in fact a simple shape is best. You might have to re-draw the shape to shorten the length of the foot. My stocking is 16cm (6″) H x 12cm (5″) long in the foot.
2. Cut 2 stocking shapes from the main fabric, remembering to add a 1/4″ seam allowance on all edges.
3. Cut 1 strip of feature fabric for the top facing (twice as wide as the finished “height’ of the facing band by the length to go around the top of the stocking, plus seam allowances ) The band on my stocking is 5cm (2”)  finished height.
4. Place stocking pieces right sides together and stitch around the ‘boot” shape leaving the top open.
5. Turn stocking right side out
6. Stitch narrow edges of the feature fabric together to make a circle, the same diameter as the top of the stocking
7. Fold the circle of fabric in half with wrong sides together so that the band is now approximately the finished “height”.
8. Tuck the “facing” circle inside the stocking and stitch around the top edge of the circle to attach the facing to the stocking.
9. Turn the facing out, & over the top of the stocking, to cover the seam.
10. Now fill with treasures.

If this stocking design is not suitable you will find a wonderful selection of  ideas for other designs with a google search.

I found this delightful design for a stocking with applique fairy lights.  It is a free pattern by Helen Wright :  “Fairy Light” design

For the machine embroiderers, I found a curly Christmas stocking motif  on the Azile Embroidery  website. This design is  not free, but it did make me wish that I knew more about computerised machine embroidery.

Of course when you have made your little stockings, there could be nothing better to fill them with than some of the threads from Aurifil.

Have fun hand crafting some Christmas gifts.