Handmade Christmas Stockings

January 27, 2011
Brimming with gifts on Christmas morning, beautifully decorated handmade stockings are a delight to wake up to.
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Knit Stockings

Alexandra Rowley
How to Make the Knit Stockings

Knitting a pair of socks for a friend, a new baby, or Santa is quite simple. If you can knit in the round, you already know everything you need to know to get started. Embellish hand-knit stockings with snowflakes, a tree, or a reindeer motif.

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Mitten Stockings

Lisa Hubbard

Cozy mitten stockings are just as handy for holding goodies as socks are. Tie a knit pair to a child's bedpost for Santa to fill with small presents; the contents will keep early risers occupied until the rest of the family finally awakens.

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Keepsake Stockings

This homespun stocking is a wonderful way to mark a child's first Christmas -- as well as his second, third, and fourth. Every year, add a new felt shape representing some favorite memory or object that your little one loves. Only the stocking requires sewing; the designs are glued on, for easy updating.

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Rickrack Stockings

Maura McEvoy

Line the mantel -- or a child's bed -- with colorful handmade stockings that invite stuffing. These felt socks, cut with scallop scissors, are embellished with rickrack zigzags or blooms. You can scatter the blossoms or cluster them in a cuff.

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Christmas Tree Stocking

Brimming with gifts on Christmas morning, beautifully decorated handmade stockings are a delight to wake up to. Add whimsical embellishments like felt Christmas trees to a simple stocking to personalize it.

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Mini Stockings

How to Make the Mini Stockings

These stockings are just large enough to hold a small gift or sweet for each of the 24 days of Advent. If your tree is too small to hold 24 stockings, hang the rest from a ribbon swag.

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Jingle Bell Stockings

Stephen Lewis

The pierced detailing on these felt stockings -- reminiscent of openwork on creamware china -- is made using decorative hole punches. Practice the patterns on a piece of scrap felt first, since placing holes in correct order is tricky.

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Baby-Sock Stockings

Maura McEvoy

Invite little ones to count down to Christmas with this charming treat-a-day calendar. This hanging Advent calendar assembled from baby socks is full of great things, and it's the perfect way to mark the season for a baby or an older child. A collection of stray socks or a mix of new ones in festive colors looks adorable dangling from a ribbon along a mantle or railing.

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One-Stop-Shop Stockings

Santa's sleigh needs to make only one stop to fill a stocking with great loot, and it's not the elves' workshop or even the toy store. A whole sock's worth of goodies awaits in an unexpected place; the crafts store, hardware store, costume shop, or party-supply shop. Ordinary objects -- pom-poms, electrical tape, plastic baubles -- find glorious uses in kids' hands. Best of all, they're inexpensive, so it doesn't cost hardly anything to stuff a stocking all the way to the brim.

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Sock Garland

Dana Gallagher

Spell it out for Santa: All the treats in these stockings are meant for one lucky kid, as the name -- sewn across wool socks -- makes clear. Use an embroidery stitch for the letters. Sew store-bought pom-poms to the cuffs, or make your own. To join socks, cut heavy yarn somewhat longer than desired garland length; with a yarn needle, sew through cuff of first sock, position sock, and knot to hold in place. Repeat with remaining socks.

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Sweater Stocking

Sweaters with unusual pockets, collars, or buttons make excellent stockings, and making a stocking from a patterned sweater creates the illusion that you knit it yourself.

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Greenery Garland Stocking

How to Make the Greenery Garland Stocking

Fresh garlands tied with ribbons enliven plain stockings. When cast in sunny shades, the stockings create vibrant accents for a Christmas-morning gift exchange. The stockings featured here are trimmed with Port Orford cedar, a delicate-looking evergreen that is versatile and hardy, and eucalyptus, which dries nicely and smells lovely.

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