Christmas Stockings: Sewing How-To

You don't have to make stockings out of plain felt. You can use regular cotton fabric to create a nice sturdy stocking that has shape. The trick is using Pellon iron-on stabilizer.

Here are easy step-by-step instructions to make a simple Christmas stocking.

You will need:

Stocking pattern

Fabric for your stocking and cuff

iron-on stabilizer (Pellon)

Hot iron

Scissors

Sewing machine

Thread

Pins

*NOTE: This tutorial does not include a stocking lining. You can definitely line your stocking. I chose not to for the sake of easiness and simplicity. The stocking will hold up great without a lining.

1. Cut out your stocking pattern and fabric.

2. Open your stocking and place the WRONG side of the fabric over the SHINY side of your stabilizer- this is the "glue side." (When choosing a stabilizer, pick the thickness you'd like for your stocking. I chose a thinner stabilizer so make it easier to sew and turn my stocking inside out in the end. The exact stabilizer I'm using is Pellon 808 Craft Fuse)

3. Pin your fabric to the stabilizer and cut out the stabilizer.

4. Turn your fabric over so that the non-shiny side of the stabilizer is facing up.

5. With a hot iron, fuse the stabilizer to your fabric using a sweeping motion, starting from the middle and working out. (Don't iron over your pins. You don't want to melt them.)

6. Once most of the middle of your stocking is fused, remove the pins and iron/fuse the rest of the stocking. Make sure that the stabilizer is stuck on there really good. I iron and iron and iron until I'm sure it's stuck.

7. You should have a nice, crisp, thicker piece of fabric.

8. Now we'll work on the cuff. Cut out the cuff piece. If you are embroidering the cuff with a name, now is the time.

9. The cuff will go at the top. You will want to make sure the middle seam of the cuff and the middle seam of the stocking line up. You may have to fold the stocking to get it right. When you sew the cuff, the stocking will be open and not folded.

10. Depending on how wide you want your cuff, hem the top of the cuff and stocking all the way across the open stocking.

11. Sew the hem with a topstitch using a small seam allowance.

12. Do the same thing for bottom of the cuff. Press the seam with an iron and topstitch.

13. The cuff is now finished.

14. Pin the stocking, right sides together.

15. Sew your stocking! Here is what I did with the heal of the stocking where the fabric meets.

16. Turn your handmade stocking inside out and admire your work. Press it once more with an iron to get any wrinkles out. DONE!

Thanks for sewing with me today!