How to Make Your Own Christmas Stockings: With the Kids or Without
No matter what your skill level is, you can make a homemade Christmas stocking. Whether you're a hardcore quilter or crafter or you've never so much as touched a swatch of felt in your life, you can literally tailor the Christmas stocking to your skill level. If you want to make it a fun thing to do with the kids, you will have to let go of the idea of perfection, but in so doing, you will also usher in a fabulous time and make memories that will last forever.
Making Your Own Christmas Stockings With Your Kids
The best materials to choose when making Christmas stockings with your kids (especially if they are very young) are going to be pliable materials that allow for the correction of errors — for example, felt, Elmer's glue, glitter, pre-cut shapes, and googly eyes to name a few. To avoid tears and tantrums, let your kids pick the colors they want for their stockings, even if they aren't "Christmasy" colors. Let them tell you which shapes they would like to glue to their stockings and cut those shapes out for them. For older children, you may want to give them the autonomy to cut the shapes themselves — to keep this from turning into a total disaster, outline the shapes for them using stencils and pen.
You'll need to create the loop that the stocking hangs from. In order to make sure this loop can handle the weight of the stocking stuffers that will eventually go in the stocking, you will need to sew it on. Do not allow your children to sew unless they are older kids old enough to handle the needle and thread. You can choose a number of materials (not felt) to make your loop. Anything from old shoelaces to rolled up fabric will work well as long as the loop is well sewn on. Once this part is handled, you can let your little ones go to town with glue, glitter, shapes, and whatever else you have collectively chosen.
How to Make Christmas Stockings: For Parents Not Crafting With Kids
When you make Christmas stockings without kids, this allows you to break out your perfectionist a little bit more. You can choose material that's a little harder to work with, and rather than choosing glue, you get to sew the whole stocking, which means it will last longer and can be a holiday keepsake for years to come.
Probably the most common fabrics for these kinds of stockings are those that are quilted, and in holiday colors, including green and red, and blue and white. For finer points like snowman eyes and noses, you'll need to grab some black and orange material, and this kind of thing is usually best accomplished using felt, which can be purchased in packages of smaller blocks for much cheaper than buying by the yard.
Be sure to sew Christmas stockings inside-out, including the loop from which the stocking will hang. Turn the stocking right-side out to decorate, but not before checking whether or not the loop is strong enough — you can do this by holding the stocking by its loop with one finger and filling it with marbles, pebbles, or other small items to ensure the loop does not give under a few pounds of weight.
If you're making them yourself, you can use this Christmas stocking DIY and do a big reveal of your handiwork on Christmas Eve — the kiddos will love to see their new stockings hanging from the mantel.
How to Hang Christmas Stockings: The YOUHANGIT Sexy Metal Hook
The YOUHANGIT Sexy Metal Hook is available in sizes that can handle weights from 10 to 100 pounds, and each of these (10, 20, 30, 50, 100-pound hooks) are available in the YOUHANGIT Designer Kit as well as the Decor and More Kit. To hang a Christmas stocking from the mantel with a Sexy Metal Hook, all you have to do is gently tap the hook into the mantel with a hammer. Because of how the Sexy Metal Hooks are designed, they can hold as much weight as they are designed to hold without studs or any special equipment or additional parts, pieces, or hardware.
Once you have tapped your Sexy Metal Hooks in place on the mantel, you're ready to hang your stockings. Make sure you space out your hooks properly depending on how many you plan to hang.
Team YOUHANGIT would LOVE to see your homemade stockings! Post photos of your handmade Christmas stockings to the YOUHANGIT Facebook page or tag us on Twitter or Instagram @YOUHANGIT.