Day 2 -- 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop!

welcome to today's edition of the '12 days of christmas' blog hop!   my focus today is on christmas stockings, specifically string-pieced stockings.  about me?  i'm a recent transplant to western maryland from my native new england, gave up lobsters for crabs--a southern yankee i guess!  60 years ago my mom sent me to 4-H where i learned to sew and was primarily a garment sewer--including a wedding dress and soft dolls--until 1979 when took my first quilting class at adult ed.  this was my first quilt...the ever-popular sampler!

i was immediately hooked and gave up all other crafts for quilting, though i still sew some garments.  amish quilts were the sirens that lured me into quilting...hand quilting is my favorite part!  in the 80s, string piecing was BIG and i made simple vests for myself and my daughter.  i branched out into potholders, christmas ornaments and stockings, pillows etc.  being primarily a scrappy quilter, had a plentiful supply of fabric even then.  strip piecing is limited only by your stash and your imagination.  i hope you enjoy the ideas here, and hopefully they'll fuel your mojo to make some for yourself or somebody special!  these stockings were my first and were made using a commercial pattern featuring the court-jester style of cuff with little bells sewn at the points.

you can see i kept to the traditional red/green colors.  that was me, the cautious, matchy-matchy grace who, thanks to bonnie hunter, no longer exists!   yes, they are nice and i liked them, but now that i have time to play in my stash, creativity has flourished and have branched out to other quilting styles!  here are some examples...

first, some kaffe fassett fabrics that make me swooon! i think i'll hang this year round....and how about a patriotic stocking for a vet or a summer holiday?  the stars on the cuff were done in a polyester lamé fabric, backed with a stabilizer, paper pieced.  yes, they are washable but be careful with the iron.

then there's a low volume style with some simple ribbon on the cuff....and a civil war repro stocking too...

finally, back to red and green, with something for the tree hugger or rustic retreat....inset paper pieced trees and a bright red ribbon...but a challenge for a beginning quilter as it's more fussy in construction.....then a mod style red/green with no cuff... as i shopped my stash for these fabrics, i was tempted to make a lot more!!!  now i'll show you some construction photos....caveat:  this is the method i use and might not be the method you choose....how to begin?

a muslin backing and piece of poly fleece cut larger than the actual pattern and pinned for stability...

then i begin to add my strips using all the same width or different widths...diagonal or horizontal

continue adding strips, removing pins as i work down the stocking....

once the top is completely covered, then pin pattern and trim.  for backing, i used a double thickness of cotton fabrics.  place right sides together, stitch around stocking (NOT ACROSS TOP) with 1/4" seam and then turn right side out....want to line it?  cut 2 stocking shapes and put right sides together; stitch around leaving a space open on the side about 3" in length....DO NOT TURN RIGHT SIDE OUT

now place stocking right side out INTO lining....NOTE that lining stocking is still wrong side out....the opening on the right side not visible but is there....

with top of stocking and top of lining pinned together, stitch around with 1/4" seam....now pull stocking thru the opening left in the lining....

it then looks like this....the red tree print was the fabric i used for the back side of the stocking...

then, i sewed up the opening on the side of the stocking lining and tucked it down inside the stocking...i made a hanger and pinned it to the outside (right side) of the stocking before adding the lining....this is the finish with lining for the stocking WITHOUT the cuff....

when i wanted to add a cuff AND the lining, here's how  i did it....first, i sewed the lining as usual but without the side opening....then i turned the lining right side out and slipped it inside the stocking, which left me with raw edges of both lining and stocking around the top.  then i made my hanger and pinned it to the INSIDE of the stocking to the lining fabric.  i measured across the top of my stocking, added seam allowances and chose my depth measurement....my stocking measured 7" across the top (added seam allowances) and for most i chose a 4" depth, ending up with a 3.5" cuff after finishing.  

this is my cuff and facing with right sides together, both pieces stitched first at sides and then around the bottom.  if you're not math phobic, you could cut one piece of fabric and then fold it instead of using 2 different pieces.  if you want to add trim as in the civil war stocking, though, you will need 2 pieces, pinning the trim on before sewing the facing to the outside piece.  now turn right side out.  i then pinned it to the INSIDE of the stocking to the right side of the lining with my hanger pinned to the stocking and inbetween the stocking and cuff; then it was stitched 1/4" from the top, making sure all raw edges (stocking, lining, cuff) were evenly pinned together.  

then just turn the cuff to the outside....now, for those of you who want to tackle the inserted pieces as i did with the trees....first, i paper pieced my trees.  then i sewed strips to either side, essentially making it one very wide strip, then just pinned to stocking, sewed and flipped...sounds simple but the mechanics are more complicated than with a single, narrower strip.  i had originally thought about paper pieced letters spelling J-O-Y, but found the trees that i liked better...maybe another stocking? each insert must be treated individually by adding the strips to the sides first and then added to the stocking one by one. before trimming the stocking to the pattern shape, i made another pattern using a see-thru interfacing to make sure i trimmed the stocking with the trees equidistant as possible from all sides. so that's about it.  the first one of any of these is a bit time consuming, but additional ones go quickly, even with the cuff and lining.  as mentioned, i could have made a lot more very easily inspired by fabrics in my stash....indigo fabrics, some other pretty christmas-y fabrics, some rich-looking reds and plaids....oooh plaids!  now it's your turn and i hope you will find them as fun as i have....thanks for stopping by....now check out these other great ideas!

Saturday, July 15th

Citymousequilter

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Quilting Fun

Sunday, July 16th

Swimming in a Sea of Estrogen

Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting

Monday, July 17th

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

Crayon Box Quilt Studio

Tuesday, July 18th

Seams To Be Sew

Stitchin at Home

Domestic Felicity

Wednesday, July 19th

The Colorful Fabriholic

Smiles From Kate

Thursday, July 20th

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting

The Inquiring Quilter

Selina Quilts

Friday, July 21st

Katie Mae Quilts

Quilted Blooms

QuiltFabrication

Saturday, July 22nd

Devoted Quilter

Kathy's Kwilts and More

All Points of the Compass

Sunday, July 23rd

Mel's Quilting Blog

Resourceful Momma

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting

Monday, July 24th

Anja Quilts

PickingandStitching

A Dream and a Stitch

Tuesday, July 25th

Christina's Handicrafts

Abyquilts