Last year, I made a stocking for Hubs by hand. It went pretty well, even though it took forever to sew since I didn’t have a machine. He had made mine several years before as a Christmas gift when we were dating. (I was still in high school at the time!) And while I love those stockings, they are pink and blue, not very “pretty” for Christmas considering they don’t match any other of the decorations we have.

So, this year, since we have a mantel to decorate, I wanted to make new ones that would be more simple and subdued.

I had originally wanted to make them out of burlap, like the pillow and tree skirt I made, but I realized they just might not hold up all that well if I did that. Plus, I’d need to make a liner for them and that would be a lot more work.

My next plan was to buy red fabric to make them…except I hate spending money on things that I’m not sure how they’ll turn out (remember how my last adventure with the sewing machine went? Not so hot…)

Anyway, so I decided that I would make them out of the sweater that was left over after I made the DIY Boot Socks. I had only used the sleeves, so I still had plenty left over for two stockings.

First, I laid out the stockings we already had from last year and traced around them.

Because I wanted to use the knit pattern of the sweater as well as I could, I positioned my stockings to have toes that were different than the rest of the sock, using the seams between the body and the sleeve. See how creative you can be with a thrift-store sweater?

It’s almost all the way used up, but I still have plans to use the collar part for something…eventually.

Then, I cut out the shapes a little wider than the lines and headed down to the sewing machine. (Luckily, Wyatt fixed the sewing machine after I sort of broke it the first time. )

Like when I made this pillow, I put the insides together and sewed along the edge, it’s really an easy project. The hardest part is mustering up my courage to use the sewing machine, I swear!

Now, I’ve since learned that I shouldn’t pull stretchy fabric tight when sewing or else it will look bunchy and odd when you aren’t holding it tight. However, it wasn’t too bad, and I think they turned out pretty well for my first on-my-own sewing machine project ever.

Then I cut up a scarf my mother-in-law made me several years ago (that had been forgotten at my parents house for a few years–oops) to make the little loops. (Sorry! I promise it makes these stockings more special, and I still have lots of other scarves that I haven’t forgotten about that get more love than this one did!)

I could have just used yarn, but this yarn was cuter and I liked that it was already knit into a braid-like loop. I’ll use the rest for something else someday…just not sure what, yet.

And they were done!

Not amazing, but fairly good. And I think they’ll be just fine for us, I mean, Santa, to fill up!