I was walking around doing gift shopping when I stumbled upon some Christmas stockings. Not too sure about your thoughts on the traditional Christmas stocking; but I think they’re bland and boring. I’m not too in love with the idea of hanging a giant Santa sock on my fireplace. So then I started wondering: what would make them more exciting and appealing? What could I possibly do to be able to proudly gift it to a Fashionista friend? I thought, why not take a favourite shoe and replicate it in stocking form?
Well, here’s a how to on making your very own fashion inspired Christmas Stocking! A little word of warning: this tutorial is a little more advanced and may require basic sewing skills but I will do my best to explain every step! There are many alternatives to this project and yes it is possible to do it even without a sewing machine!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- Sewing Machine (optional)
- Serger (optional)
- Your favourite shoe (or a photo of one)
- Fabric (I used one for the Lita’s upper shoe & one for the Lita’s heel) -Yardage may vary
- 3” of Thin Ribbon
- Paper -size may vary
- Fabric scissors
- Paper scissors
- Pencil
- Ruler
TUTORIAL:
[ TRACE ] – Trace or hand draw your favourite shoe on a large piece of paper. If you are using a shoe with a heel like Lita you will need to trace the shoe on one piece of paper and the heel on another piece of paper (if you would like to be creative and use two types of fabric like I did)
[ CUT PATTERN ] – Before cutting the pattern, I added about 10” in length to my Lita bootie to make it more stocking-like. Draw a consistent 1/2” seam allowance around the whole boot pattern. Add a 1/4” seam allowance around the heel but 1/2” seam allowance on the top part of the heel that gets sewn into the rest of the shoe. Now cut out the patterns of your shoe and your heel.
[ PIN PATTERN ] – Fold your boot fabric in half, pin your pattern onto the two layers of fabric. Repeat this step for the heel (if applicable)
[ CUT FABRIC ] – Now slowly cut around your pattern piece and remove your pins & pattern. You will need to make sure that you have two mirrored fabric pieces to know that you have done this step correctly.
[ SEW HEEL ] – Take the pattern pieces that you have cut for your heel and make sure that the right sides of the fabric are together. Pin & sew around the heel with a 1/4” seam allowance but do not sew the top of the heel. Flip the heel right-side out and serge the top of the heel (this is so it will not fray).
[ SERGE BOOT ] – Now take your two boot pattern pieces and serge all the edges of the pattern pieces. You are not serging them together but as individual pieces to ensure that the fabric will not fray. This step is completely optional because unlike an article of clothing, this stocking is decor and will not have as much wear & tear.
[ PIN FABRIC ] – This step might be a little tricky if you are working with a separate heel. Take one side of your boot and lay it on the table with the right-side facing up and the wrong side making contact with your work table. Position the heel, as you can see in the photo: it’s an awkward angle but if you align the edges it should be fine (make sure it’s not positioned backwards). Now once you have positioned your heel, you can take the other side of the boot and place the right-side of the fabric down making contact with the heel as well as the other right-side of the boot. You should just be looking at the wrong side of the fabric. Now that your fabric is all in position, pin the layers together.
[ SEW ] – Sew around the boot. Make sure to start at one end of the opening of the boot and end at the other. Do not sew the top of the boot together.
[ FINISH TOP ] – Now you can flip your boot right-side out and your boot will look like it’s almost done! However, you will need fold down the opening of the boot 3/4”, pin it, and sew it at 1/2”. The very last step will be to take the 3” piece of ribbon and to sew it onto the back part of the opening of the boot.
MORE IDEAS
- No serger? Use a knit fabric! No serging needed because knit fabrics will not fray! (My checkered heel-less shoes are made from a knit fabric)
- No sewing machine? Use a knit fabric and put your hand sewing skills to the test!
- Sewing not your forte? Use felt! No sewing required, just glue it together!
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Thanks for reading! Are you gonna try this DIY? Tweet us a photo @everybodyisugly
by Samantha of lipglossandblack
Images by Syl and Sam
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