Easy No-Sew Christmas Stockings: Not!

No Sew Christmas Stocking

 

If you’re looking for a happy little post on how easy it is to make your own no-sew Christmas stocking, ย then you’ve come to the wrong blog post. I did make my own, and I’ll show you how, but it wasn’t pretty.

My Christmas stocking story is long. It all started last year after we converted our garage to a family room. We built out the wall to include a fireplace and a mantle. It was the first time in my life I’ve ever lived in a house with an actual mantle. I had visions of hanging my Christmas stockings up there with cheer. Then Christmas finally rolled around and although we searched through our millions of Christmas decorations, I couldn’t find our stockings. The ones that my girls have had since birth.

So I decided to sew my own. Now at this point, all of my interactions with my sewing machine had ended with a long string of curse words and not a stitch sewed. Not very merry. In my delusions, I thought this time would be different. It wasn’t. The machine was packed away, needle jammed, never to be seen again. No stockings were hung last year.

Fast forward to this year. I had the perfect fabric for Christmas stockings just sitting in my closet (find similar fabric here*). A no-sew alternative idea formed.

So last week, I gathered all my supplies. I had picked up 2 stockingsย at an after Christmas clearance sale last year, so I used one of thoseย to makeย my template. Iย traced it onto posterboard and carefully cut it out.

no sew christmas stocking

It looked pretty good, so I traced another.

diy Christmas stocking

 

Then I realized they were both facing the same way, so one side would be inside out.

DIY Christmas stocking

 

Luckily I had enough fabric for this mistake, so I went on to the third one. And I did it the same way again. Maybe I’m not as smart as I think I am. Finally, by the fourth one, I got it right.

Once I got two facing the correct way, I lined them up. I folded around the edges to create a hem. I ironed the folded edges first, then used my fabric glue to hold it in place.

No sew Christmas stocking

 

how to diy Christmas stocking

Around the rounded toe area, I had to make little cuts in order to get them to fold nicely without creases.

No Sew Christmas Stocking

This Aleene’s fabric fusion I used worked really well.

fabric glue

 

All the folding and glueingย was tedious and I started to think maybe learning how to actually use the sewing machine might really be easier. Once the two pieces were even in size, I used the fabric glue to glue the pieces together. Try not to glue the stockings to the kitchen table. And leave the top left corner unglued because this is where you will put in your hanger. I forgot to take a picture of that step. I used ribbon, folded it over and glued it in there.

DIY Christmas stocking

At this point I was moving right along, so I added some ruffled trim to the top in lieu of making a cuff.

no sew Christmas stocking

 

It was getting later in the day now, but I decided I could get the second one finished too. I was about half way through that one when the phone rang. School nurse, my daughter was sick and needed to be picked up. To paint the picture for you:ย  My house was trashed from gathering supplies to make these stockings, my fingers wereย glued together, ย my yoga pants were covered in dog fur and I’m pretty sure my unbrushed hair had donut crumbs in it. Great.

So two hours later I get back (school is 20 minutes away, stopped for gas, lunch, post office, bank, etc while i was out) and I show my daughter the first finished stocking. She looked for a minute and said why is the top so small? Ugh! So I added another layer of ruffles over the first to beef it up. Here it is with two layers of ruffles, those buttons have yet to be added. And that was about my 20th diet Pepsi of the day.

DIY Christmas stocking

Much better, my daughter says. I hand-sewed the buttons on. Finally I was done.

When my husband came home, I proudly presented him with my stocking expecting him to say “Wow, you made that? Good job!”. Instead, after examination, he broke out into fits of laughter and nearly choked on his dinner. “Why is the heel square?” is what he actually said.

Here is a shot of them with the square heels.

 

square heel 2

I really considered just leaving them this way because I was really over the idea of making my own stockings at this point. But I knew it would drive me crazy if I didn’t. So to fix this I used a protractor to trace a curved line around the heel, cut it out & reglued that section.

protractor

 

Here it is finally complete.

No Sew Christmas Stocking

They’re really not perfect but I love them anyway. My original plan was to make four. The next two were going to be white, maybe sweater material, with the leftover deer fabric for the cuffs. Maybe next year. ๐Ÿ™‚

 

 

 

*This post contains affiliate links, read my full disclosure here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

43 Comments

    1. Thanks Mila, I will check it out!

      1. Thanks for linking up! Have a happy New Year ๐Ÿ™‚

  1. I’ve been wanting to make my own stockings for months now-but unfortunately, me and a needle are not a good combination. I love your stockings!!! Thank you for the great tutorial-and a much needed chuckle this morning!

    1. The fabric came from Arhaus furniture a year or two ago. I’m not sure it was even mass produced. They had it hanging as part of a display and I asked if I could buy it. I used it to make curtains for my daughter’s room and had some leftover that I used for the stockings. I love it too!

  2. Hi, Roxanne! I love the way u wrote ur story! So u–I miss u even more now!-Lana

    1. Hi Lana, thanks! Miss you too!

  3. Lol! I love your honesty! You could have told us how perfectly the whole process went and we wouldn’t have thought any the less of you! I can totally relate to your experiences though. I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, and I’ve had it for over 28 years! Keep at it! Sometimes you win! #SoMe2

  4. Those turned out lovely. My interactions with my sewing machine often end in curse words to, so I appreciate you including your mistakes for us to learn from. Thanks

  5. These are so cute it’s hard to believe they are no-sew. Awesome job!

  6. lol I love your story! Isn’t that just how it is though? You spend hours making something you think is totally awesome for there to be a square heel. You get an A though for effort AND result. I like them! I also totally think you could have left the first one inside out. Element of surprise when you turn it around! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    1. Thanks! I thought about leaving one side reversed but I really love the gray side more.

  7. I feel your pain lol! Every time I sit down to sew I think to myself I should really read the book on how to use the dang machine but instead I just wing it. sometimes it works, sometimes you have donut crumbs in your hair ๐Ÿ™‚ Great job on these stockings and best of luck for the other two!

    1. Lol Kristina! Thanks!

  8. I was in roaring laughter reading your stocking escapades. Mostly because it sounds like me! When I saw the title, No Sew and Easy, my first thought was Yeah! That’s right up my alley and then you begin to describe my life exactly!
    I am learning to sew, just started a few months ago. I have completed 3 projects so far. It took me a solid 3 days just to thread the machine! You are my kindred spirit.
    Your stocking did in fact turn out beautiful! Love that fabric. Please come over and share at Home Matters! http://wp.me/p4fJXd-1eU

    1. Thanks Shirley! It takes me forever to thread the machine, too. I follow the directions to the letter & it still jams every time!

      1. I will not be defeated by that sewing machine. I’m just going to keep trying!
        We are so glad you shared with us at #homematters. We are Pinning all posts now! Please be sure to come back this Friday for our new party look!

  9. These are so cute and perfect for all those non sewers our there! I’ve pinned these adorable stockings to Your Designs This Time Features and Favorites board. They’ll also be featured at tomorrows party!

  10. I see your level of talent with making stockings and sewing is on par with mine. I feel a kinship here ๐Ÿ˜€ The stockings are still cute.

  11. You had me at “no-sew” and that fabric is so cute! Pinning! Thank you for sharing on Show Me Saturday

  12. I don’t have much luck using a sewing machine, so a no sew Christmas stocking is right for me! That fabric is fantastic! And I love how you added the ruffled trim. Perfect for hanging on a mantel! I’m glad you didn’t have to be stocking-less two years in a row:)

  13. Hi Roxanne! We received your submission on Remodelaholic and I just replied with a quick question — sometimes my emails get caught in spam filters so I wanted to let you know, just in case. We’d love to feature you ASAP so check your email and get back with me, please! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Happy Christmas,
    Lorene

  14. These are so cute! Shared as a “favorite” today at 11 Magnolia Lane from the Pretty Preppy Party!

  15. I might just have to do this. Stocking are expensive. I do 6 theme’s but one per years not all at the same time. I have Red/White Snowman coming up, and then next year Gold Deer but no stockings. So this really gives me a great idea if I can find some deer fabric.
    By the way don’t hang your stockings if the fire is going they could start on fire. I melted some garland so I learned my lesson.

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