Christmas Stocking

This year I finally gave in and made myself a stocking. I can't believe it has taken me this long. Well, I guess that I didn't have a sewing machine in Christmases past. That's a good excuse.

I wanted one that was not too elegant - just fun. And I wanted the top to be folded over with a coordinating fabric. I thought that this would be easiest to achieve by just making the sock reversible. 

It doesn't have a mate - Dooney uses the stocking from his childhood, which he insists upon. Which is wonderful. I could care less about matching Christmas stockings.

These were extremely easy, once I had the concept planned out (i used the same building theory that I had created for my sandwich bags)

I picked two fabrics that I thought were very cute and matched. Dots and stripes are a no-brainer. I drew a pattern on a piece of paper. One thing that I tried to avoid, is making my stockings in an "L" shape, so I made sure that my toes were longer/deeper than the heal of the stocking. I loooooove Rickrack, so I bought two colors that coordinate with the opposite fabric.

I traced my pattern on both fabrics and sewed each one together (except for the top, of course) with the pretty side in. Must be careful about the direction of the stripes. The stockings above look really long but they have to be because the tops are going to be folded. So I made sure to account for that in my pattern.

Then I left one inside out and turned the other pretty-side out and crammed one inside of the other.

Fold over the top, and it looks like this:

The husband insists that this isn't Christmasy enough - that the fabric is too lime green to be about Christmas.

Turn it the other way and you get this:

I like this one too.

 I used a piece of bias tape for the little hook. And I shouldn't tell you this, but I didn't sew these on at first because I wasn't sure how they would go. So I actually took a seam ripper to the area that I wanted to add the tabs and then sewed them in securely. Hopefully my stocking won't unravel. So both fabrics have the hooks. The hook on the green side is underneath the folded part of the stocking, so it doesn't get in the way of the inside.

Sooooo easy and fun. 

I look forward to making many more for future Lan-Dooney Jr.s some day