day five: stockings

Though my first attempts at Christmas stuff, so far, hasn't been so glamorous (both baking and sewing went poorly) I am happy to at least say that we have some stockings on our mantel. I didn't get too hard on myself about this one since I had originally picked a pattern that was much too confusing for a beginner, equipped with things like inner lining, complicated seams and a patience I couldn't imagine mustering up in the mix. So because I wanted to just get comfortable with the machine and make the experience fun and less frustrating than my first attempt at sewing, I decided to go for the easiest method I could; trial and error.


First, I made up my own little template to trace around so that when I followed with the machine, I'd have a nice pencil line for guidance in keeping things straight (or at least appear to be straight from a distance* Wink.) Then I pinned things down, left it at that for the night and then pulled out the machine the next morning, after some deep breathing and telling myself to take my time and enjoy it for all that I could. Over thinkers sometimes need to shut things off before they turn things back on again.


So it looks like Ikea has saved Christmas this year, as we now have two stockings in bold terrific patterns hanging from our mantel. The fabric is sturdy and affordable so there was no stress in mind while I gave it another whirl. No inner lining, no fancy seams, just utter simplicity at its best. To add a little bit of flair for detail I sewed on a little bit of ribbon (for hanging) and a button (for fun.) I love fat buttons.


And so, here are my first stockings.