Memorial Christmas Stockings, Plus Tutorial

Welcome Blog-hoppers!  I'm Alla and I love whimsy, creative design, and all things new and shiny and fabricky.  I hope you enjoy your stop here.

Not new or shiny: this quilt has known love!

I'd like to invite you on a journey of rebirth: taking beloved items and making them into Christmas stockings.  There are two options here, maybe they will give you ideas...

From this

To this

From this

To this

Option A: using an embroidered sweatshirt as the stocking front

Option B: using a vintage quilt as the stocking front

The basic method is similar for each option.  Sarah asked if I could make a tutorial for these, so that's what I will share.

But first, a little bit of love to the women who are memorialized by these stockings.

Angel in reverse

The sweatshirt was among my stepmother's clothes--a slightly-dated Christopher & Banks design that was definitely her signature look.  As I was the one to clean out her closet after she died in January, I took the opportunity to remove a couple items of clothing, hoping I could turn them into mementos at some later date.  The 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop turned out to be perfect timing for me.  The angel stocking will go to my step-brother, her only son.  It turned out so well; I am super pleased!

The vintage quilt was among my mother's possessions that I inherited.  The stash included four vintage quilt tops and one completed quilt.  The completed quilt is the one I used here, and it has seen a lot of love.  It was our "couch quilt" when I was growing up, and was adored by three growing children and one cantankerous dachshund.  I'm not 100% sure who stitched it--maybe my great-grandmother?  Anyway, I had my siblings' permission to cut it up and try to reuse it somehow.  Even so, I needed steadying before I made the initial cut (there were phone calls and a bit of hand-holding involved).  I need to make two more stockings now: I'm sure each of my siblings deserves their own.

My inspiration for actually trying to reuse this vintage quilt came from the book

Recycled Hexie Quilts: Using Vintage Hexagons in Today's Quilts by Mary Kerr.  She gives hints on techniques as well as projects.

On with the Tutorial!

Materials and Equipment

Sweatshirt, including bottom band*
1/3 yard (or 1 fat quarter, FQ) cotton quilting fabric for stocking back
1/3 yard cotton quilting fabric for stocking lining
1/3 yard fusible fleece
1/3 yard fusible light/medium weight interfacing

Basic sewing supplies
Clover Wonder Clips, or other pins or clips to hold bulky fabrics when sewing
Walking foot (optional, for multiple layer sewing with no fabric shifting)

Pattern for stocking: I traced a commercial stocking and added 3/8" seam allowance

If you don't have a pleasing stocking to copy, you might try and reproduce mine by checking out the 1" grid from my cutting mat.  Or there are free stocking patterns available online, such as from Craftsy. 

Cutting

1. Cut the bottom band off the sweatshirt and set aside for a cuff
2. Cut one stocking front from the sweatshirt fabric, paying attention to placement of any design
3. Cut one stocking back; make sure to reverse the pattern from the stocking front
4. Fold the lining fabric right sides together and cut two stocking linings
5. Cut and fuse the fleece to the back side of the sweatshirt
6. Cut and fuse the interfacing to the stocking back piece
7. Cut a 2" by 6" rectangle from leftover fabric (either stocking back or lining, your choice); this will make the hanging loop

Sewing

1.  If desired, embellish the heel and toe area of the sweatshirt prior to assembly.  (My version has a fused applique heel that matches the stocking back, and two rows of hand embroidery along the toe line.)

2.  Make the hanging loop by folding the 2" by 6" strip in half lengthwise, then folding each side in toward the center.  Press.  This makes a strip 1/2" wide.  Topstitch along both long edges.

 
3.  Place all four stocking pieces together, in the order shown: both lining pieces, right sides together; sweatshirt/stocking front, facing up; stocking back, facing down.

4.  Fold hanging loop in half and place along seam allowance between the two lining layers, 1/2" below the top. Secure all the layers together with Wonder Clips or other clips or pins; sew along the sides and foot with a 3/8" seam, backstitching to secure at both ends.

5.  Clip curves along the seam, notching the outward curves and cutting toward but not through the seam on the inward curve.

6.  Turn stocking right side out, gently pushing all the curves out.

7.  Make a cuff: measure the width of the top of your stocking, double this and add 1/2".  Cut one layer of the sweatshirt bottom band 3-1/2" tall by the width you need (e.g. my stocking was 7-1/2", so I doubled this to 15" and added 1/2" = 15-1/2").  Cut a second rectangle, 3-1/4" by the same width.  Sew these two rectangles together along the long edge in a 1/4" seam.  Make a loop by sewing the short edges together in a 1/4" seam.  Turn the cuff so that wrong sides are together and raw edges even; press.

8.  Place the cuff, sweatshirt ribbing side out, inside the stocking.  Align all raw edges, use clips or pins to secure, and sew all layers together in a 1/4" seam.  Be careful to keep hanging loop out of the way of this stitching.  Finish seam with a row of zigzag stitches, if desired.

9.  Fold cuff toward the outside of the stocking.  Press as desired.

10.  Admire your work!

Many thanks to Sarah for hosting this blog hop!  I am so happy to be in such amazing company, and I'm busy planning some August stitching with the designs I am seeing from my fellow sewists.

July 14th:     Sharon Vrooman @ Vrooman’s Quilts

                    Carole Carter @ From My Caroline Home

July 15th:    Yanicka Hachez @ Finding Myself As An Artist

                   Chris Dodsley @ made by ChrissieD

July 16th:     Marsha Hodgkins @ Quilter in Motion

                    Leanne Parsons  @ Devoted Quilter

July 17th:     Tonia Conner @ All Thingz Sewn

                    Selina @ Selina Quilts

July 18th:     Lara Buccella @ Buzzin Bumble

                    Soma Acharya @ Whims and Fancies

July 19th:     Joanne Harris@ Quilts by Joanne

                    Suzy Webster @ Adventurous Applique and Quilting

July 20th:     Vicki in MN @ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

                    Jennifer Fulton @ The Inquiring Quilter

July 21st:     Michele Kuhns @ Crayon Box Quilt Studio

                    Jan Ochterbeck @ The Colorful Fabriholic

July 22nd:     Alla Blanca @ Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.

                     Zenia Rene @ A Quilted Passion

July 23rd:     Joanne Hubbard @ Everyone Deserves a Quilt

                    Paige Alexander @ Quilted Blooms

July 24th:     Carolyn Jones @ …by CJ

                    Tisha Nagel @ Quilty Therapy

July 25th:     Susan Arnold @ Quilt Fabrication

                    Beth Sellers @ Cooking Up Quilts

                    Linda Pearl @ One Quilting Circle