Saturday 8 November 2014

Quilted Christmas Stocking

So suggestion number one was to make Christmas Stockings.  The lady at work brought in some upholstery weight material in green and gold, some nice beige for the back (left over from re doing some chairs) and wadding too.

I looked at some images on Google then ritualistically sacrificed a cereal box to make a pattern and set to. 

I had a simple plan. Stocking shape in the material with predominantly green colour as the right side, add the wadding with lining material as the backing for that and quilt it.

Cut a rectangle of the same material for the cuff sew it on with the green as accent as the right side, fold down.  Sew back and front right sides together (which also sews in the sides of the cuff). Sew the ribbon for hanging into the seam then turn it out.

And done.
                                                 
Christmas Stocking

                                                                          The gold ribbon on this and the first few like it was originally wrapped around a large box of chocolates I received as a gift (yum), I do like to recycle things were I can.

Sadly or perhaps fortuitously I ran out of the backing material before I ran out of the green.

So a trip to one of my favourite places to shop, Northern Textiles.  They make curtains, and in the back room sell end of rolls at very reduced prices.

Of course looking for more backing resulted in finding some more green and gold material for the front.

I had picked another material that could be turned for the cuff.  Whilst it was being cut I mentioned there was some material with the right sort of pattern and contrast but it was pink and not in a traditional colour.  The very friendly and helpful lady doing the cutting remarked not everyone is into traditional and that pink might be just the thing and the best seller to boot (that was a pun).  So some of the pink came home with me to and I set to sew stockings. 

The new green material lent itself to FMQ rather than the straight line quilting from the first material, the pink however was just fine with the straight line work. 

FMQ Christmas Stocking
Pink Christmas Stocking
Trio of Christmas Stockings


I had enough wadding and lining material (from my stash), the re-purposed ribbon ran out but I had some nice cream ribbon that worked fine for the rest.  Marathon runners talk about hitting the wall during a run and I hit the wall with my stockings, I am not too good at doing the same thing more than once, in this instance the changes in colour helped me keep going however at 19 my sewing energy all petered out, an odd number (in more ways than one) to feel the need to stop but that.s how it worked out.



19 Christmas Stockings all in a row
 Wish us luck in selling these at the Christmas Fair and raising money for Sarcoma Research UK. I'll let you know if the shop lady was right and and the pink is the most popular.  

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