Christmas Stocking Fun Part 2

Only read this on the original blog post as it has been pirated.  You will find a link on the right sidebar of my blog  http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com 

The back of the stocking is cut the same way as the front of the stocking except you use the hem of the pair of jeans as the top of the back. Does that make sense?

I do cut the back larger than my pattern by about 1/4" on all sides except the top. I trim the excess off after the front and back are stitched together. It just makes it much easier to put the stocking together and you don't have to be so exact when cutting the pieces to match them up.

One thing I did not tell you yesterday was about the pattern. I drew the pattern I used by enlarging a pattern I already had. I am sure you can find a silhouette of a stocking you like on the internet or a color book, etc.UPDATE: Look on Tips and Tricks page for a PDF of stocking pattern.

I decorated the stockings by using the embroidery stitches on my machine and using a variety of thread colors, weights, and finishes. It was fun to use the stitches as I have not used that feature on my Bernina 730 very much. I did have a piece of scrap denim that I would do a little stitching to see how it would look before I did the stitching on the stockings. Some stitches didn't show as much as I wanted because the thread color value is too close to the value of the denim. I used what I had on hand after all I have lots of spools of thread that need to be used. Of course there are a few lines of embroidery stitches that are not the best but on the whole they look good. Click on the photos to make any of them larger.

After I got the embroidery stitching finished I laid the front and back and figured out where the hanger should be stitched. I cut the hanging strip from the flat feld seam on the sides of the jeans. I cut close to the seam on both the front and the back. This is a very thick seam with lots of denim layers and works well as the hanger. I cut my strips 10" long as I wanted to have enough to hang straight. The strips were laid on the the top edge of the inside of back section....whew, what a string of words. I did stitch two rows of stitching on the ends to attach them. Since everything is raw edged I didn't finish the ends.

I dropped the feed dogs on my machine and using a free hand embroidery foot I zig zagged the names on each of the stockings. I chalked some guidelines and chalked the name to give me a guide. I did John's name without guides and found out I could not write with the machine and keep track of where I was and the size of the letters without the guides. I also found out it is easier to stitch cursive writing over printing. I only did two with printing and that was enough. The photos of the stockings I post here have the names blurred out to keep my children and grandchildren anonymous. John and my name are readable though.

Lay the front over the back of the stocking, wrong sides together and stitch 1/4" around the stocking, backstitching at the beginning and ending to secure. Trim the excess backing even with the front of the stocking .....TA DAH it is done.

See I told you it was easy. The stocking doesn't have lining, you don't have to stitch a cuff or top edge, raw edges for the seams and fused toe and heel sections. Best of all they are so darned cute.

Will show a few today and a few more in the next posts. Will do at least one post on hints for a more successful project.

Boy have I had a problem getting the photos positioned. On the screen where I am typing in the information there is no gap between the photos but on Preview there is a I don't know why it is so hard to move and position them. Any hints would be appreciated!

Until Later,
Lynn
Update: Here are the links to all the stocking blog posts.
Part 1 Christmas Stocking Fun
Part 2 Christmas Stocking Fun Part 2
Part 3 Christmas Stocking Tips
Part 4 Denim Jeans Christmas Stockings
Part 5 More Stocking Hints And Observations
Part 6 Two More Christmas Stockings
Part 7 Hanging The Stockings
Part 8 More Stockings To Show
Part 9 Another Jeans Stocking For The Fireplace
Part 10 Pattern 

Christmas Stocking Fun

Only read this on the original blog post as it has been pirated.  You will find a link on the right sidebar of my blog  http://nebraskaviews.blogspot.com 
  
In October our quilt guild had a program on using old denim blue jeans to make Christmas stockings.  They were so cute and looked easy to make so I decided to make them for our whole family and hang them on our fireplace this Christmas.  This first one is the one I made for John...guess it was the prototype for all the rest.

I didn't use the pattern that we were given as I wanted my stockings a little larger so I just drew it a little larger.  We have lots of worn out denim blue jeans so had the fabric needed for the base of the stockings.

This post will be the first part of  tutorial on how I made them, the next part two on how to make the stocking and then follow up posts will be some of the tips and tricks I learned as I was making them.

The front side of the stocking is cut from the top of the jeans using the waistband for the very top.  I varied where I placed my pattern to make all the stockings look different.

 

I laid the pattern on one side of the jeans where I thought it would work the best.  Since the jeans are not flat pieces of fabric I flipped the jeans over to make sure the pattern would fit as shown in the photo below.

 Trace around the pattern on the one side of the blue jeans and cut that first part out so you can open it up and lay it flat to finish the tracing and cutting.

Here is one stocking front base...next  is to decorate it.

 The toe and heel patterns I traced on a fusible paper backed web and fused to the selected fabric.  As you can see from the photo below I selected certain spots for the toe and heel from this particular fabric.  Cut out the shapes and peel the backing off and fuse to the toe and heel of the denim base.

I stitched on the inside of each fused shape with a buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine.  I did flip it over and trimmed the edges of the fused fabric even with the denim.

Well that is all for this post...next one will be part 2.

Until later,
Lynn
Update: Here are the links to all the stocking blog posts.
Part 1 Christmas Stocking Fun
Part 2 Christmas Stocking Fun Part 2
Part 3 Christmas Stocking Tips
Part 4 Denim Jeans Christmas Stockings
Part 5 More Stocking Hints And Observations
Part 6 Two More Christmas Stockings
Part 7 Hanging The Stockings
Part 8 More Stockings To Show
Part 9 Another Jeans Stocking For The Fireplace
Part 10 Pattern
 

Update finally!

I have had a rather busy week and just haven't taken time to post any blog entries.  Tonight I have been working on re-sizing my photos for my blog and now just finished so guess it is time to post something.

Tonight I will show you the places I have to rip out on the flower basket.  This of course has not been done yet but it is next on my "to do" list.









The echo quilting is going to be about 1/8" apart on the outside of the swag border and after the first row was finished I noticed that the top loop of the feather quilting on the top and bottom of the quilt are obviously too close.  I will be ripping the last loop and making the space more even and more if needed to make it look symmetrical.

The basket quilt has been on hold the last week as I worked on another project but am anxious to work on it again.  Will fill you in tomorrow about what occupied my time this last week.

So long for tonight,

Lynn

Tiny Feathers

As you see I am again working slowly on this little flower basket quilt.  Didn't want you all to think I stopped altogether since I have not posted any progress for a few days.  You would think with a quilt this small, approximately 14" by 15", I would just get it done.  I am so enjoying taking it slow and if I don't like the way something looks I change it right away and I am not worrying about a time table to get it finished.  When ever it gets done is OK by me.

I did do one row of the echo quilting around the swags then quilted the tiny feathered borders before I finished the echo quilting.  The echo quilting is done with the silk thread to match the background and the feathers were quilted with a little darker tan thread to make them show up a little more.

I used a paintbrush and a little water to remove the blue quilting marking lines so I could inspect the quilting lines.  Whoops, I see a loop on the feathers that needs fixed already.  At this point I don't need to remove all of the blue marks but enough so I can tell if my stitching lines look OK with the echo quilting and that the loops look right.  Will re-do anything I do not like.  Using the paint brush I can control where I put the water since I don't want the outside border feather quilting lines to get wet and disappear or get too smudgy to follow.

Until Later,
Lynn