Homemade Linen Stockings

When Scott and I first got married we bought nice red and green velvet stockings from Crate and Barrel. Then we added to our family and needed new stockings to all match. So I went to Hobby Lobby and just bought some that were so so. I was never very excited about them and was MORE than ready to find something different this year. So what is a super frugal woman to do? Make some!

I decided at the last minute to make them all different, but I did at least plan to do the boys in brown linen and the girls in light tan. I ended up making Scott's nice and manly and somewhat plain, mine has just a touch of frill to it, Casey's looks like a real sock, and Lainey's is nice and ruffled :)

I love them. They turned out just as I'd hoped, which hardly every happens around here!! :) I was planning on waiting until next year to make a tree skirt to go with them but when the tree fell over the other day spilling sappy water all over the old one I decided now is the time. I'm in middle of making Miss Mustard Seed's Ruffled Tree Skirt. It's going well, but a little slow.

Anyways, here's my try at a sewing tutorial! I just winged it, or wung it, or whatever ;)

I started with one of my old stockings and a piece of my kids' art easel paper to make a pattern.

I added a little extra all around to leave room for a seam allowance. Then I pinned that pattern to my lining and cut out 2 pieces. One for the front of the stocking and one for the back.

I then took the piece of lining, pinned it to the wrong side of my linen and cut leaving extra room all around.

After sewing all around the lining as close to the edge as I could I trimmed away any extra linen.

Then I did the same steps for the back of the stocking. Once done I pinned the 2 pieces together with the linen facing toward each other, the lining facing out. I sewed them together going along the inside of the last seam I had made while attaching the lining. I stayed as close as I could to the last seam.

I then turned it right side out and ironed the seams nice and flat. Since this was Scott's I added a cuff. To do that I measured about how long I wanted the cuff and doubled that number. Then I measured across the top of the stocking and doubled that adding a little for a seam. Here's what it looked like.

This is it folded in half with the right sides facing in. I sewed up the side so that from the seam to the fold was exactly the same length as the top of my stocking. After sewing it I folded it over and ironed the seams and folds flat.

I took the unfinished end stuck it inside the stocking and sewed all around.

Then I folded it down and ironed it. To add the loop I cut out a small rectangular piece ironed it in half (hotdog style) and sewed it shut. Then folded it in half (hamburger style) and sewed it into the side of the stocking. DONE!

For Casey's stocking I did the same things to get started. But before sewing the stocking together I added the toe and heel pieces.

I sewed them on in the middle areas but left the edges unsewn. Then I sewed the back and front of the stocking together with the linen facing toward each other and the lining facing out again.

For Casey's I just folded over the top of the stocking and sewed it along the top edge. Then I added a small piece of tan linen sewing along the top of it and on the sides. Nothing fancy, it's a little frayed and I like that about it :)

For Lainey's stocking I made it like Casey's and just folded over the top and sewed it down. Then I made 4 ruffles and sewed them on. To make the ruffles I took a long piece of fabric about an inch wide and sewed along the top with the widest stitch my machine has. I made sure not to back stitch on either end. Then I took one of the threads at the end and pulled on it until the fabric started to gather. I just pulled and gathered and pulled and gathered until it was as ruffled as I wanted. Sorry for the lack of pictures of this process. I learned it while making Lainey's twirly skirt, you can find the tutorial here.

For my stocking I made it like Scott's with a cuff, then I made a ruffle and hand sewed it into the bottom of the cuff. Voila!

Hope that all made sense, feel free to ask me any questions if you have some!