DIY Stockings with Hobbycraft
This post is sponsored by Hobbycraft.
My name is Charlotte, I’m 32 and this is the first Christmas I’ve had a stocking! No, don’t worry this isn’t a sob story about how I didn’t get any presents at Christmas when I was a child, I had a sack instead. The rule in our house was that you had a sack OR a stocking, not both - which is fair enough on Father Christmas’ part. As this is our first Christmas in what I keep calling our ‘grown up house’ (we have a drive and a garage) Jack, June and I are starting to make our own traditions…starting with stockings.
I searched for stockings online, and I couldn’t quite find any I loved. Not to mention, what if we add to our family one day. Another baby or a dog and I can’t get a stocking to match! Christmas problems indeed. With that I felt a DIY project coming on, and with Hobbycraft’s selection of stockings it’s hard to not be inspired. I thought maybe I’d like to go for a different colour scheme, but then unpacked all my Christmas bits and remembered the sight of red and green together makes me go weak at the knees! Whatever your favourite colours, you can make a stocking to suit you!
You’ll Need:
Stocking (the plain ones I used have now sold out online, but they have lots of others, and they might be instore)
Heatproof Mat
Glue Gun Sticks
To Hang
Ribbon
Masking Tape
If you are super crafty, you could even make your stockings, but since I’m just getting to grips with my sewing machine I’ll leave that for another year. The best part about this DIY is just to have fun, I’d even suggest a stocking decorating party and make an afternoon of it - just go steady with the mulled wine before using the glue gun. I decided that I did want to personalise them, but I didn’t want all our stockings to look the same, and in truth it boiled down to the fact my name is 9 letters long, so just my initial it was.
For the felt letters I drew straight onto the felt sheets with a pencil, I did deliberate with printing an alphabet off the computer and tracing around cut out paper letters but this way was a lot more freeing and fun. One thing I would bare in mind, is the scale of the letters, place them side by side when drawing a new letter so that you don’t have wildly different sized letters - unless that’s the look you want! The letters on June’s stocking are smaller than the ones with just an initial on but are all in proportion to each other.
I made the pom poms that are attached on the side with this pom pom maker. I also used this tutorial to figure how to use it, yes really! This is my first time using a pom pom maker, previously I have been a cereal box template kinda gal. The difference is incredible, it makes your poms poms so compact and fluffy. This aran wool is definitely my favourite, and you’ll have lots leftover for other pom pom inspired craft projects. When you’ve made your pom poms in different sizes, just trim the edges to make sure they don’t have any stray or wild bits. I attached them by tying a knot on the inside hook of the stocking, so simple and easy!
For each stocking I laid each design out before attaching everything to ensure I was happy with it and it all sat nicely next to each other. The fluffy pom poms on the stockings with just the initial are my favourite, and absolutely everything is glue gunned on, I can’t recommend it enough, it’s so easy, dries so quickly and makes everything so durable! Just before you start gluing, make sure that you have a sheet of cardboard in between the front and back of your stocking so that it doesn’t stick together - otherwise how is anyone supposed to get any presents in there?!
The felt holly on all the letters is a lovely festive finishing touch, but again you could make your own using the other felt sheets.
I don’t know if you’re a hang your a hang your stocking on Christmas Eve person, but I’ll have these hanging up all December long.