Kraftmas 2015: Baby's First Christmas Stocking

It is December again, which means that Kraftmas has arrived! For the past two years I have made December a month of holiday crafting and cooking, and I am looking forward to sharing with you my did-its this holiday season.

Kicking off Kraftmas this year: baby's first Christmas stocking. After spending too much time on Pinterest looking for ideas, I decided that I really liked the quilted stocking tutorial by milkybeer that I found. Initially I thought that I would make matching stockings for our family of three, but I knew realistically that would be challenging. So, I decided to settle for a single stocking for baby girl. But not just any stocking! I decided that I wanted to make something more nostalgic for her first Christmas.

For this quilted stocking, I used left over fabric from the nursery bed set that I made for her and one of her receiving blankets from when she was a newborn.








Following the tutorial, I started by drawing my stocking onto the receiving blanket. I folded the blanket in half lengthwise twice so that when I cut out the stocking there were four pieces.
 
Next, I cut strips of fabric of varying lengths and widths. Then I laid them across one piece of the stocking cut from the receiving blanket to get a rough idea of how many piece I needed and how I wanted them placed.

Following the tutorial, I began sewing on the pieces starting by placing the first strip of fabric at the bottom of the stocking. I took the next piece of fabric and laid it on top of the first piece with the front sides facing. Next, I used my sewing machine to sew both pieces of fabric to the stocking front.

 

Then I folded the second strip of fabric back so that the back of the fabric was on the stocking. I then ironed the fabric.

I repeated these steps until the entire stocking piece was covered with the fabric strips.
 

I then cut away the excess fabric around the stocking to finish the front "quilted" piece. 

To finish the stocking, I placed the front quilted piece together with one of the back pieces of the stocking made with the receiving blanket. I place the two sides together and sewed them with a 1/2" seam allowance, then turned the right sides out. I did the same with the remaining two pieces of the stocking to make the inner lining, then placed the lining into the stocking. This is not the same way that milkybeer finished her stocking, but I found that part of the tutorial confusing so I did what seemed easiest to me!

Finally, I sewed the lining to the outer shell of the stocking and added a loop of fabric scraps to the side to hang the stocking with care for Santa to come and fill it with goodies for baby girl!