Wednesday 25 November 2015

Granny Stocking - pattern release



Just in time for the holidays!
This is a fast and easy Stocking pattern! 


Granny Stocking is 14" tall and 10" wide (from toe to heel), but you can make it larger or smaller only by printing at different scales the templates you will find at the end of the pattern.
The templates include seam allowances, so you only have to cut on markings.
The pattern has 14 pages. The instructions are clear and easy, illustrated by 28 images. 




 The little story of this Stocking is this:

Initially, I only wanted to make a Christmas Stocking using someone's pattern. I did not planned to make my own design. I started to look on the Internet but the huge number of Stockings I found overwhelmed me. Even so, I didn't find a stocking shape that I truly liked.
As usual the first thought was: So, I can't decide what to chose. How about to make my own design?
And again as usual, I did some research into my preferred source of inspiration: Romanian traditional clothing.
This time I aimed traditional winter footwear both for women and men. I noticed the shapes, colors and a few more defining details. I made a few sketches. I chose the fabrics. Only two: classical deep-red and bone-white. Cotton. Consequently, using white cross-stitch embroidery as embellishment came so naturally that I didn't need to think about alternatives.

  
For Granny Stocking you need only a few materials:
*Fabrics: 
-2 pieces of 11" x 15" for stocking body
-about 12" x 12" for cuff and shoe
*Tear-away stabilizer for cuff embroidery
*A piece of ribbon for the loop
*Coordinating threads 

For my stocking I chose the simplest way to beautify it: embroidery using sewing machine's decorative stitches. 
If you don't have decorative stitches on your sewing machine you could use utility stitches as decorative stitches by simply changing the length and width of stitches. Look bellow at my sample:
 
 
Utility stitches
It is preferable to use stabilizer for the embroidered section mainly to obtain a well formed stitch.
If you don't have stabilizer you might use a piece of lightweight interfacing, but you need to reinforce the whole cuff wrong side not only the embroidered area in order to have the same thickness of the fabric allover the cuff.
 



Granny Stocking might be even a graceful decoration long after the Christmas holidays are over. Of course, if the chosen fabrics will not betrayed this!



If you want more for your stocking, giving it a deeper traditional accent, you might add crossed ribbon or cord over the stocking body. Like here:



 
It can also be sewn with modern fabrics to give a chic look. 
I designed Granny Stocking to be graceful but also to be easily sewn and to give endless possibilities to show your creativity.
Look how gorgeous is Silvia's test-stocking with her personal twist:


Thank you, Silvia and Geta for your reviews and suggestions!

If you'd like to refresh your Christmas stockings look  - I think they would make great Christmas presents too- you are welcome on my Etsy Shop.

I'm offering all my patterns at a discounted  price for a limited time


Have a beautiful day!