Subject: Christmas Stockings

Melissa -

As with our other Christmas decorations, for our stockings I once again drew inspiration from the Secrets from a Stylist holiday special, especially this picture:

I love how these stockings still look like stockings when they're hung over a mantel, but they're not the faux fur-lined numbers I had growing up. However, I did want something that had more traditional Christmas colors in it (like, red) and I did not have a ton of time to spend on creating stockings from scratch (or the patience really).

At Target I found stockings in the $1 section that I thought would be good to work with - and hello, you cannot beat the price! So even if I only use them a few times, I don't have that much invested in them. I went ahead and bought four so I would have all that I would need (and matching!) for Christmas next year. Next I went to Joann Fabrics and checked out their flannel selection. Not great, but I did re-find some flannel that I have been loving from afar for awhile but had no projects designated for it...until now. I kind of liked the idea of each stocking having different flannel trim on it, but given the limited selection I decided to make them all the same. Finally, I printed off some letters from Word to use as stencils. Here are my supplies:

I created little foot and heel patches by tracing the end of the stocking on to paper and cutting it out to make a pattern. Next I started on the letters. After I cut them out from computer paper, I then traced them onto a file folder and cut them out again, because I felt like the thicker paper would work better for tracing onto the actual fabric. It was a little more time-intensive, but I think the results were worth it. To adhere, I used fabric glue (because why sew???) and I love the results!
Right? Here is a close-up:

I think they look really interesting but not mass-produced, which is totally what I was going for. I also kind of like that the flannel isn't a traditional red-and-green theme, but still has red in it to make it work with the red stocking. I also liked how Emily didn't use traditional stocking hangers over the mantel but instead strung them up using gold chain from the hardware store. I did not have any gold chain so I used some twine. Maybe next year I will come up with something even more creative...we'll see! But for now, I am just glad I can mark stockings off my list.

And yes, I bought enough fabric to personalize next year's addition!

Season's greetings!
Kara