More stockings - completing a family set

 

Back in 2017, I blogged about making a stocking for my new niece, to go with the stockings for her parents (wedding gift) and her big brother. This year, there are two new additions to the family, so I had to whip up stockings for them. (As an aside, why is JAF sold out of tobacco hopsack linen, and will they get more in?!? I got lucky and got The Last to be had in my area.)

And even better, I got them done in plenty of time for Christmas! Now to get them out of my house.....

Christmas sewing

Back in 2014, I made a set of Christmas stockings as a wedding gift for my sister and her new husband.  Since then, I made a Christmas stocking for my nephew - just realized that I never blogged it, so here it is.

And so this year I needed to make a new stocking for my new niece.  Kept to the same font, same simplicity.  But decided that purple would go well for a girl.

And then my nephew got a set of new PJs for his gift.  The pants are from KS SFT, and the shirt was embellished to tie it together with the pants.

And still more stockings!

We have previously documented my love for the StudioCherie Burlap Stocking pattern (minus the burlap).  Well, I'm at it again.

First up, monogrammed stockings for a wedding gift: I don't know the couple's tastes and preferences, so I didn't want to use novelty fabric.  Instead, I went more classic.  She has always liked more of a bright blue or turquoise, and he is a soldier, so I chose a darker blue.  Both colors are remnants from my last set of stockings, and the red print used for the piping was also a remnant from the last set.  All I had to buy to make these were the linen blend and the muslin lining.

While I was getting my sewing mojo back, I decided to throw in a stocking for my buddy.  She's into martial arts, and I had made her a scrub shirt for her birthday, using fabric I found on eBay.  I still had plenty of remnants left, so I used that print for the cuffs and back of the stocking.  The red print used for the piping on the above stockings is the one used for the front here.  I found a black print in stash which became the piping, and I bought another black print for the monogram.  Here's hoping she loves it!

And the back....

Christmas stockings (yes, I know it's February....)

I have a friend with a husband and six kids, and I thought it'd be fun to make her family a new set of Christmas stockings for Christmas.  Yes, I realize we're past Christmas 2013, which is what these were intended for.  Oops - my bad.  The saving grace is that they have no idea these were coming, and they'll be plenty early for use in 2014!

I used my trusty StudioCherie Burlap Christmas Stocking pattern - minus the burlap.  (Remember, I won this pattern as a prize for participating in a PatternReview contest?  It's totally worth the $2.50 it costs - I've now used this 15 times over, and I would happily have paid for it.)  I've been collecting fabrics for this for months.  I used the same brown linen blend for the main fabric as I did for my family's stockings.  And I used different fabric prints to reflect each person's interests for the cuffs and backs.  These stockings are monogrammed, using a free font.  (I like the uppercase letters in this font, too, but I thought that lower case would be kind of cool.)  The monograms and the piping are made from the recipients' favorite colors.

And here's what the backs look like!  The Bears fabric was from my stash - I think it came from WM 5+ years ago.  The book spines and golf fabrics are from Nancy's Notions, the tennis shoes fabric is from HF, the photography fabric is from JAF, the cars fabric was from a thrift store, and the tattoo and zoo animals fabrics are from a local quilt store.

I hope that they like these and use them for years!

Some stockings....

Remember my awesome tree skirt, 6 years in the making?  Well, each pre-quilted panel came with two pre-quilted stocking pieces.  And when you use 4 panels to make two tree skirts, you end up with enough for 4 stockings.  I've been ignoring these stocking pieces for years, because as gorgeous as I think the print is, I just didn't need them.  (I made us our own awesome stockings two years ago!)  However, I'm trying to be mindful of not wasting things, and sewing down my stash, etc.....so I decided that I would go ahead and make up these stockings, and then I could find recipients to fit them.  

I used my Three Kings cotton print as lining, just because I could. ;)  And I used different bias tape to trim the tops, so they can be easily distinguished.  The blue, skinnier bias tape is the commercial stuff I used on my aunt's tree skirt.  The navy is actually made from the Three Kings print - I had thought about using it on my tree skirt, but decided against it.  And the gold swirls is left over from my tree skirt.  My aunt is getting one of the gold swirls, even though it won't exactly match her tree skirt.  I just think it's super cool-looking.  I'm glad I finished these.

Christmas Stockings!

I enjoyed the stockings I made last year so much that I decided to make more!  Well, sort of. :)  My niece was born just before Christmas last year, and I knew that in all the rush of welcoming their daughter, my brother and sister-in-law hadn't gotten family stockings then.  So a couple of months ago, I checked with my brother regarding the current state of stockings.  He confirmed that they did not have any yet, and he also looked at the pictures of our family stockings and approved the snowmen.  So I made three new stockings from a lighter linen blend this time and used their favorite colors for the cuffs and accents.  (My niece obviously hasn't indicated a preference yet, but her nursery is purple.)  The pattern is again the StudioCherie Burlap Christmas Stocking (which is currently available for $2.50 - trust me, it's a steal!), and the appliques are from the snowman wall hanging in McCall's Quick Quilts (Dec/Jan 2012).  One of these days, I really will make myself the wall hanging!

The only thing I did differently this year was to make my own piping.  There are a myriad of tutorials out there, and I don't remember which particular one I used.  I tried using kitchen cotton yarn as the cording for the piping, and I don't recommend it.  Unfortunately, I didn't give myself enough time to correct that error and get something stiffer.  Don't make my mistake!  These came out looking more like flat piping, but fortunately, it still looks cute!  Next time I'll just cut loose with some change and buy cording....

I'm told that these are hanging by the mantel. :)  And I was especially pleased that they were in the mail by Dec. 1st.  Go, me!

Stockings!

It's time to be decorating for Christmas - some would say past time! - and I had the sudden realization that we'll be at our own home this Christmas, and that stockings should be hung over the fireplace. And then I remembered that my boys do not have their own Christmas stockings! Fortunately, I had requested the Burlap Christmas Stocking pattern from StudioCherie as my prize for entering the ThinkPink contest at PatternReview. So I got to work on new stockings for the entire family!

The pattern, as you may have guessed, calls for the front to be made from burlap. The "cuff" on the front, as well as the entire back, is made from the fashion fabric, and the lining is from a broadcloth to match the burlap. I want to be able to wash these through the years (we live with a cat and a dog), so I chose a linen blend instead of the burlap. And I ended up with a tan muslin instead of broadcloth, just because it coordinated better and was on sale. And I love the results!

The pattern describes how to do appliques on the stocking fronts, though it doesn't contain any applique patterns. The ornaments on the stocking on the far right are from the fabric used for the cuff and back. The two snowmen are from a wall hanging pattern in McCalls Quick Quilts (Dec/Jan 2012). And the penguin on the left was adapted from the fashion fabric - I scanned the fabric in, cropped out the penguin, and then blew up the image large enough for my purposes. My boys are going to be very excited when they see these!