Friday, December 5, 2014

December whirling in

There's a prevailing thought that you shouldn't even THINK about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I have come to realize that when you are a homemaker in charge of decorating and festivities, that attitude is Bunk. Hopefully each year I will do better, but I often end up scrambling around, trying to get things pulled together post-Thanksgiving (or whenever we return from our travels -- this year, it was Nov. 30).

Christmas stockings

At least in one area, I am way ahead of the game -- stockings. I've been wanting to pull together some coordinated family stockings, but as is typical, I couldn't find anything store-bought that I really liked. So last August, I finally made some! Yes, August. I did NOT want to be doing Christmas sewing in December.

Christmas stockings

I used quilting cottons from Moda's "Lumiere de Noel" line by French General, which is a few years old and very hard to find. I finally found some yardage from a few small online quilting shops. I don't know how many more stockings we may need in future for more children, so I ordered some extra prints just in case! I have stripes and plaids for boys and florals for girls.

Christmas stockings

I made up my own pattern, which is just a simple and classic stocking shape, with a cuff for names. The stockings are lined with an off-white twill and the cuffs are made from a linen-like cotton, both from Walmart, of all places. I hand-embroidered the names onto the cuffs, using an alphabet lifted from one of my English embroidery books (it is copied from an alphabet on a sampler made by one of the Brontë sisters). The "linen" wasn't quite fine enough to do counted cross-stitch, so I traced each name onto freezer paper, centered and ironed it onto each cuff, and then embroidered over my guide. After 1/2 of the cross stitch was done (all the stitches on one diagonal), I carefully tore away the freezer paper with my fingers and tweezers, then finished the cross-stitches.

Christmas stockings

I really love the way they turned out, and I am THRILLED to have them done before the Christmas season started! They definitely pass my home decor test: "Is this something that would be found in an English country home?" ;-)

12 comments:

  1. These stockings are exquisite! You always do such beautiful work. And I admire your common sense approach to Christmas. If I'd started preparing a few months ago, I wouldn't be so harried right now. Next year!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ashley! I'm feeling a bit harried at times myself, next year I hope to improve my planning too. :)

      Delete
  2. LOVE those stockings! And love your home decor test, too :)

    I think I should adopt your approach to Christmas prep. It did cross my mind that I'm ready to have new Christmas stockings now that we have a new baby coming and that I'd better work on those BEFORE next December. My excuse is always that I don't feel "in the mood" for Christmas until mid-December. But! I think I will be much calmer if I've got some key things taken care of ahead of time. Yes, I like your approach.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Margo! I don't feel "in the mood" in mid-August, either. What I actually did was declare a "Christmas in August" day for me and the kids. We listened to Christmas music, I let them watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," I read them some Christmas books, etc. And between all that, I worked on our stockings. If I had planned ahead better I might have made them some Christmas cookies as a treat, but I think we might have had hot cocoa. It was at least something fun and different for all of us.

      Delete
  3. Oh Laura, I love those stockings - and I really like how you've all got different but complementary prints. Seriously, they are so good, you could sell any more you made.

    I love your home decor test!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, thanks, Rachel! I would consider selling some custom-made ones, but that fabric is so hard to find... :( Maybe if I can find some similar fabric, I will!

      Do you read "The English Home" magazine? Lovely for classic English decor fans like us! :) Maybe I will do a post about it one of these days.

      Delete
  4. Wow, Laura, those look so nice! :) I am very jealous of your embroidery ability! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Louisa! My ability isn't much, but I appreciate the sentiment... ;-)

      Delete
  5. Your home decor test has me intrigued. I should come up with one of my own, but it would probably end up being SO random. The stockings are so beautiful. Perfectly Christmasy without shouting RED and GREEN. (And you have a mantle to hang them at!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Janel! My home decor test is half in jest... of course not everything in our home "passes," but I do try, when I am adding something, to keep it within that range. I do that so everything is NOT a hodge-podge and random, because it is easy to be drawn to so many different styles! But "English country" is definitely "me."

      Delete
  6. Those are beautiful! Have you considered selling the pattern? You are very talented.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sharon! I have actually thought about selling the pattern! After Christmas I will try to find time to work on that, and hopefully get it up for sale long before NEXT Christmas, so others may have a chance to get their stockings done in advance, too. :)

      Delete