Add a retro touch to this year’s gift giving with Laura Howard’s colourful stocking
HOW TO MAKE… A FELT STOCKING
YOU WILL NEED
■ Pink wool felt
■ Blue wool felt
■ Pink mini pom poms, 8mm (⅜”)
■ Embroidery thread (we used DMC Stranded Cotton, one skein in Blanc, three skeins each in 3706, 3846 and 3844, and eight skeins in 3805)
■ Tapestry needle
■ Matching sewing thread
■ Silver sequins
■ Pinking shears
■ Erasable fabric marker
■ Pom pom maker, 3.5cm (1⅜”)
■ Card, 15 x 10cm (6 x 4”) If there was a prize for best decorated stocking, this would win hands down. Adorned with sequins, tassels and pom poms, we can totally imagine Barbie hanging a mini version on her bedpost, so we’re sure any sparkle-loving little (or big) girl will go crazy for it.
As the whole project is stitched by hand, and the design is simple, it’s an easy project to personalise for your friends and family. Change up the colours, embroider a name instead of stars and add as few or as many decorative elements as you like.
01 Use the templates on page 146 to cut the main stocking shapes and loop from your pink felt, and the top band, heel and toe shapes from your blue felt. Trim the edges marked with dotted lines using a pair of pinking shears.
02 With your fabric marker, mark a line roughly 0.5cm (¼”) down from the pinked edges, then sew running stitch along the line using six strands of pink embroidery thread. Add a row of mini pom poms underneath the running stitch, attaching each one with two stitches of pink sewing thread.
03 Sew another line of running stitch underneath the pom poms, then on the heel and toe, sew chevrons of two stitches between the pom poms. For the band, sew crosses of two overlapping stitches between the pom poms.
04 Using white sewing thread, add sequins to the remaining space on the heel and toe pieces as shown. For the band, add sequins along the length that isn’t decorated.
05 Mark the position of the heel, toe and band onto the right side (RS) of your front stocking piece, then in the remaining space, mark on star shapes. Using three strands of white embroidery thread, stitch on the stars, stitching inwards towards the centre of each star.
06 Cut a 40cm (15¾”) length from a skein of pink embroidery thread, then split the remaining skein into two lengths of three strands. Following the pom pom maker instructions, make a pom pom using one length for each half. Use the 40c
