Mid-Century Vibes Christmas Stockings

While trying add Christmas décor that is decidedly mid-century, I found so many ideas online. Pinterest, of course, is my go-to place for inspiration. I ended up copying an idea from some Christmas tree ornaments I saw, and putting together my own design.

I had a piece of white minky bubble fabric left over from a previous project, and a package of multi-colored felt. A little hand sewing, machine sewing, and some hot glue, and …voila!

Making Your Own Pattern

It is actually easy to create your own pattern. You can do a google image search for “ornament coloring sheet”…or any other item you want to do. Then print out the one you like. If you want to change the size you can copy it again with the enlarge setting, or the decrease setting on a printer.

I decided not to use the cat on these stockings, but I think he is adorable! I will find have to find another way to use him

I used a few sheets of scrap printer paper to put the stocking together. It really was just sketching and trimming until I got the size and shape I wanted. Then I laid it out on the fabric and added 1/2 inch all around when I cut it out.

Then I stitched the ornaments with black embroidery floss. I stitched the little diamonds onto the stocking with black floss. Then I simply sewed around the edge of the inner ornament with the same color thread as the ornament. This held both of the ornaments in place but added some depth to the outer ornament.

My thoughts about embroidery floss: Get a quality floss, like DMC, or LA PAON. Don’t buy floss that is made for friendship bracelets. It is not colorfast and will fade or bleed if damp. It isn’t that much more to buy a quality thread, especially when you purchase multi-packs.

After sewing on the ornaments and the diamonds, I cut out the stocking backs in a stiff white fabric I had gotten at Walmart for $2, I believe it was a two yard piece. I like to buy cheap yardage in white or muslin to use for templates to see if what is in my mind is really going to work.

The stiffness of this polyester was perfect to give the stockings some shape…the minky fabric is a soft knit and wouldn’t hang correctly on it’s own.

I sewed around the edge and clipped the curves, then turned it right side out.

I had a piece of fur left over from my gnome project last year. It was just enough to top the stockings. I sewed a hem around the top, then hot glued the fur.

When cutting out fur, you have to be careful to cut it out from the back, with little snips of the scissors, so you don’t blunt cut the fur in the front.

The stockings are my first attempt to make my Christmas more Mid-Century Modern. After many years of collecting everything BUT Mid Century Modern, I have some work to do.

Now, what shall I do with this cute cat?