Holiday Stocking How-to

Add some personal zazz to the holidays with custom-made stockings. Artist Kimberly Haute created the two stockings shown. For the first bright and playful stocking, she simply stitched feathered ornaments to the underside of the cuff of a store-bought stocking. The second stocking was inspired by a pair of her own boots. She drew her own pattern and then assembled the stocking to resemble the boot. “I only wish my real ones had that sexy, black, feathery, boa trim,” she says.

Below are instructions for creating a stocking. Adapt the sizing and materials to fit your own ideas. Stockings can be created from most any fabric and your design possibilities are endless. Try to make one from a collection of old T-shirts or create a camo-cargo stocking for a deserving male in your life.

Instructions

1. Create the pattern on craft or newspaper. You can draw the pattern freehand or use an existing stocking. When creating the pattern, keep in mind that you’ll need a 1/2" seam allowance. FYI: The average length of a stocking is 18" to 20" and 12" to 14" wide at the widest point.
2. Grab the fabric you are using for the body of the stocking (you'll need about a yard of fabric for each stocking), lay on a flat surface and fold in half, lengthwise. Pin the pattern to the stocking so that it is secure and trim around the pattern with dedicated fabric shears (be sure you are cutting both layers).
3. To cut the fabric for the cuff, measure the width across the top of the pattern. Measure out two of those lengths on the cuff fabric and trim to size. Fold each length in half, wrong-side up.
4. Pin each of the cuff pieces to the wrong-side of each of the stocking pieces so that the raw edges meet; only pin along the top edges. Use a sewing machine to sew the seams together, 1/2" from the raw edges.
5. Pin the two stocking pieces together, wrong-side up. At this point, you can add ribbon or a tassel to the top of the stocking so that it can be hung. Lay the stocking on a flat surface so that the toe is pointing right. Fold a piece of ribbon in half and insert (angle upward and be sure it fits inside the seam that is to be sewed) between the stocking pieces in the upper left corner. If you desire, you could also add trim along the length of the stocking at this time.
6. Stitch the stocking pieces together. When finished, turn the stocking right-side out and fold down the cuff so that the sewn seams and raw edges are hidden.