Ok…little back story here…Growing up, we had these adorable hand made stockings with our names embroidered on them that my great grandma Burke made for us. I was born on December 10th and she even got a stocking made for me in time for my first Christmas, although my name was spelled wrong cause in the hurry of it all, she got the wrong info. But, to this day, my mom hangs them up, misspelling and all, and I love them. My Grandma Burke was so sweet, and happy and I loved her.

So when I had my first tinysidekick a few years ago, I knew that for our first Christmas as a family, I wanted to have handmade stockings of our own, that hopefully will have a lot of sentimental value to my kids one day. So I made these, and last year added one more for my little mister who just turned one.  I just love how much personality they have!

Now, I am no master when it comes to sewing, in fact I’m self and you tube taught. So if I can do this project, you can too. Trust me, the hardest part will be deciding which  amazingly fun fabrics you will use.

After you’ve decided on some fabrics you can download and print out the template for the stocking {here}, cut out the template pieces and tape together where necessary.

Ok. So you have your template all ready to go. You will need fabric for the outer boot, for the lining of the boot, for the topper, and for the loop. You will need batting (not too thick) for the boot and the topper as well.

Pin your template paper to your fabric and cut out the outer boot pieces. **You will need 2 of these pieces, but it is best to cut them out separately. Do the first one with the writing on the template facing up, and the second one with the writing on the template facing down, so that the right side of the fabric will be on the outside of your finished stocking.

Now, with the boot template again cut 2 boot linings, and 2 pieces of batting.

With the topper template you will cut 2 toppers from a coordinating fabric, and 2 pieces of batting.

And finally cut out your fabric for your loop. I use the same fabric as the main part of my boot for this.

Now you are going to make 2 stacks. Starting from the ground up, your first stack will be the boot lining, boot batting, and the outer boot piece with the right side of the fabric facing up. The second stack will be the outer boot fabric (right side facing down,) boot batting, and boot lining. Pin each stack together with a few pins just to hold it in place.

Now take your 2 pieces of topper fabric and lay them out right side facing down. Lay your topper batting pieces on top of each one and trim off about an inch from each end (only from the batting piece.)  Then you will fold the fabric over the batting and then fold the topper in half keeping the fabric tucked around each end of the batting like you see in the third picture above.

Sandwich the very top of each boot stack between the folds on your topper (picture 2 above) and pin in place. This is also the time to add any trim or ric-rac if you want to. Then sew together about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the topper to hold everything together. **You are doing one boot stack at a time here. So in the end you will have 2 pieces with toppers attached like you see in the 4the picture above.

Now lay the 2 boot pieces one on top of the other, with the outer fabric pieces together and pin to hold in place. (It will look inside out at this point.)  Sew along the edge of the entire stocking with about a 1/2 inch seam.

To make the loop that will hold your stocking on the mantle or a hook take your piece of fabric and fold each long end to the center and then fold in half. Sew along the edge to hold it together.

While your stocking is still inside out, attach each end of your loop to the the topper of the stocking . Be sure not to sew through both layers of your topper but rather attach each end of your loop to one topper piece. It is also best to angle your loop a little bit so when it hangs the toe of the stocking  faces down a little bit.

For the letters on my stockings I love to use felt. You can trace letters that you print off of your computer in any font you like. As you can see on my family’s stockings, I was able to fit all of our names, because they are short. But for longer names, I usually go with a nick name or a monogram like the one you see here. I simple cut the letters out of stiff felt and hot glue them to the stocking.

 And there you have it. Personalized stockings that you just can’t find in stores!

What about you, do you like to buy Christmas decorations, make them, or mix it up? I like to do a little bit of both. You can see how I mix it up at my Holiday Home Tour. I’d love to hear about some of the projects you have made, so let me know about them in the comments!

There are 8 more projects to check out! My bloggy friends and I got together to bring you lots of handmade holiday inspiration, so click on over to their blogs too!

1) DIY Flocked Ball Ornaments by Sugar Tart Crafts
2) African Flower Crochet Stocking by Persia Lou
3) Washi Tape Christmas Tree by Keeping it Simple
4) Ombre Holiday Wreath by Homemade Ginger
5) Christmas White Chocolate Crispies by Cupcake Diaries
6) DIY Chunky Candy Canes by Whistle and Ivy
7) Felt School Picture Ornament by Cutesy Crafts
8) Pine Cone & Berry Tree by Cook and Craft Me Crazy
9) DIY Christmas Stockings by Tiny Sidekick (that’s me! you are here now.)