More stocking making pics

Just in case you were actually waiting to see if I did post up any more pics of the stocking saga here they are ...

As mentioned before I made a design error and this it:
 

 The cuff, which was 4 separate pieces, would have been much better if I had made it from 2 bigger pieces with only one side seam.

As it was where those 4 seams joined up at the main point was pretty tight on for space once you turned it out, leaving quite a noticeable lump. 
This is after trimming inside corners and pressing (a wooden clapper would have come in handy here):

 And in case it wasn't obvious :

 Once that had been dealt with it was just a matter of pinning it the hanging loop (ric rac )...

...and making sure I pinned the cuff on the right way so that it faced the right way once turned right side out...

Pinned up and ready to sew with the very un-glam calico lining on show:

 The seam where the cuff joined the stocking would be hidden once everything was turned right side out and the cuff folded over, so I just zig zagged it after a final trim. If it was something I was going to sell or use more than once a year I would probably neaten it with some co-ordinating binding.

And there you go, stockings sewn:

Happy sewing :)

In the meantime...

We've been very busy here recovering from Christmas/New Years and potty training (so much fun with twins...), so sewing has gone on the back burner AGAIN!
 I do have a couple of mega-large cushion covers ready to sew up, but honestly I don't think anyone wants to see photos of them cut out ;)

I thought I'd put up some pics of the stockings being made up, so you can see all the fiddling around I sent myself part crazy with in the lead up to Christmas!

This is what took up the lions share of sewing time, hand stitching the names:
 

Close up of Millie stitching front

Originally I just intended to do small circles for the "i"s on Millie's name, the spirals came about by accident.

Millie stitching back

 Tried to keep the backs as neat as possible, but sometime lack of thread or sheer tiredness made it a little sloppy...luckily the fabric was interfaced so threads being run behind don't show through.

Close up Kate stitching front

Back of Kate stitching

And of course I decided that the name embroidery alone wasn't enough so I added some holly:

Button and felt holly decoration

 

 

The finished cuff fronts:

Cuff fronts embellished and ready to be sewn to cuff back and sides.

There were a few more issues with making these stockings, mostly a design error on my part that I would fix if I ever were to make them again. I'll post more pics up of that when time permits.

Happy sewing!

Stockings are DONE!

Yaaaay! 
Thank all the Christmas fairies that this project is done and dusted!!!
These stockings were a LOT more fiddly to make anticipated. 
A lot of that is my own fault (of course), with a cuff design error leading me to have to wrangle some unwieldy cuff points in an effort to get them to lay flat and  -as if that wasn't enough fun- I also decided that it would look really "nice" to hand sew the names and applique the cuffs. *Sigh*

 Still now they are done the pain of making them is fading and I have to  say I'm pretty happy with the end result :

I finished them yesterday afternoon, which is amazing by my last minute crafting standards, nothing like a deadline to inspire creativity ;) 

Soo 48 hours to go til the big man makes an appearance by the yule tree.. guess that leaves me time to whip up those Santa sacks!

Thank goodness it's only once a year :)
 

Happy Festive Sewing!

:)

Pre-Christmas-op-shopping bargain

Swinging by a local charity store on the way home one day netted me this Christmas crafts magazine for 20 cents:

A bargain I think given that we are in November and every op-shop is starting to do their Christmas stock displays, pulling out all the tinsel and whatsits.While some of the fabrics and styling are a little dated I had been hoping to find just a basic stocking pattern to play around with and inside was this:

 Might not go the whole teddy bear motif but the shape is right.
Have been mentioning to hubby that I might try making Santa sacks this year to cut down on the amount of wrapping paper we throw away. Guess what else was inside ?

Again not quite my choice of colours (I'm not super into the "country decor" look) but just think how wonderful it will be for using up odd leftover bits of Christmas fabric. Given my fabric choices I think these will be some very BRIGHT and rocking Santa sacks!
Watch out Mr Claus, you are going to need your sunnies when you visit us this year! ;)