Menswear-Inspired Stockings

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making our stockings for years, but until I took a class to learn to sew this year, I wasn’t able to. This year, especially since Pete was suggesting it, I decided to make stockings for the whole family!

I wanted a few things out of our stockings. I wanted them to be small enough that they could be filled with a few stocking stuffers, but not so small that you couldn’t put anything good in there. I wanted them to be something we’d like for a long time, so nothing trendy, and I wanted a cozy, mostly cohesive feel about them, but not necessarily for them to all match. Ultimately, I wanted ones that would go with most Christmas decor, but not be super whimsical and make me feel like I lived in Whoville.

After some pondering, I decided I wanted to use fabrics that reminded me of menswear: varying shades of grey, red, black, and white or cream in flannel and wool. I wanted to stick with classic patterns, too, things like herringbone, plaid, houndstooth, and stripes. I found a great tutorial for making stockings, and went to work!

I won’t show much of the process, because it’s the other blogger’s, but just know that it was super easy! The only thing I did differently from her design was to add the applique to the actual body of the stocking instead of the cuff; that’s just a personal preference.

I used different combinations of a bunch of menswear fabrics, including making the hanging loops out of the fabrics. I did line mine and make my letter out of a floral print; these stockings were so handsome, but I wanted mine to be a bit more feminine.

I love them all!

 

 

To make our mantel look special this year, I bought some tiny, battery-operated copper string lights. It helps avoid the whole “string of lights down the side to reach a plug-in” issue, and they looks so pretty and tiny and twinkly!

I love how the fabrics play against each other, and each one is so soft and cozy and warm.

The house is mostly decorated for Christmas, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve for more decorations and some gifts, as well. I’ll blog about them as I get them done! Merry Christmas season from the Huffaker House to you all!!