Modern Quilted Christmas Stockings

I have a serious obsession with Christmas stockings. Every couple of years, I decide I need to make new ones from some adorable pattern I found online. Luckily, with this years creation, I think I can finally say I have the perfect stockings for my dream house.

I decided that I wanted to create wholecloth quilted stockings. What better way to highlight and play with free motion quilting than to eliminate the patterns in the fabric and piecing and just quilt my desired picture! As soon as I had the thought, I was so excited to get started that I immediately started picking out fabric and playing with quilting designs.

These stockings are perfect for a more modern nontraditional color palette. I chose an assortment of blues, greens, and grays to match my future modern farmhouse. These would be so cute in bright colors, or a traditional green and red combination as well. Really, the sky’s the limit (and with the hundreds of different solids out there, it really is). For the lining fabric, I chose a print to add a little extra something.

Watch the video below, then gather your supplies so you can make your own! They are a fairly quick project and you totally have time to whip up a set before Christmas.

Supplies

To get started, head to our Subscriber Library and download the pattern. If you aren’t a subscriber yet, you can sign up below for instant access to this and many more projects. There are 4 options to download, one of each of the designs and a blank pattern for you to design your own. You’ll then need 1/3 yard of the outside fabric, backing fabric, lining fabric, and batting. You may be able to get a couple stockings out of each 1/3 yard, but you will need a minimum of 12″ width.

Quilting the Stocking

To transfer the pattern to the fabric, I went old school and taped the pattern to the window with the fabric over it. You could also use a larger light table here if you have one. I used heat erase fabric pens that come in lots of different colors. They’ll disappear with the iron and there is an option that will show up on all the different colors of fabrics. After you’ve transferred the design (make sure to trace the back of the stocking on in reverse), make your quilt sandwich. The backing fabric for this won’t be seen at all, it will be hidden behind the lining, so you can use a scrap of whatever you would like. If you are using a domestic, I would sandwich and quilt each stocking individually to make it easy to move around. If you are using a longarm machine, I recommend loading a large backing and then placing your batting and outside fabric on top as you go. This will save lots of time from loading each individually.

For thread, I used a light cream. I wanted the quilting to be the star, so I wasn’t worried about having it blend. You could match your thread a little more for more texture and less obvious quilting. After everything is sandwiched or loaded, just go at it. I did put the main element in first, then went around and filled in the background designs. If there is a little section inside the main element, quilt it as you go to minimize backtracking. This mostly happened in and around the snowflake. If you are on a domestic, I recommend using a ruler foot and ruler, there are a lot of straight lines in the design. If you don’t have one, you could also put them in with your regular foot and then go back and fill in the few free motion quilting areas afterwards.

Making the Stocking

When the quilting is done, trim the stocking to about 1/4″ all they way around the outside line. Now we’ll need to make the hanging tab. Choose your fabric and cut a piece 2×7″. Fold this in half lengthwise and sew a 1/4″ seam. Turn it right side out and iron so the seam is in the back. Fold it in half and place it about 1″ in from the heel side of the stocking back along the top and secure it with a pin. Take your lining fabrics and make sure they match up to the stocking pieces. Layer a lining piece on both the front and back of the stocking, right sides together, and then sew across the top. Your hanging tab will be sandwiched between your outside back and the lining fabric. It will be sewn in place as you sew this seam. Iron the seam then place the stockings on top of each other, again right sides together, matching outside to outside and lining to lining. Starting near the heel of the lining, sew 1/4″ seam all the way around the stocking, ending about 3-4″ from where you started, just past the toe of the lining. You’ll want to make sure and back stitch this seam. Reach your hand inside the Christmas stocking and pull the toe of the outside back through the hole. Make sure that all the seams are pushed out and everything lays flat. Give the whole thing a nice press with the iron. After that, you can sew up the hole in the lining. I just used my sewing machine to stitch it closed. Since it will be in the bottom of the stocking, you’ll never see it. You could also hand stitch it closed for an invisible seam.

After that is done, push the lining back inside the Christmas stocking and you are done! Now, just repeat however many times you need, hang, and enjoy your new mantle.