Right, you guys. Halloween is over (sob), the nights are drawing in and November is in full swing. You know what that means? That’s right, it’s time for some Christmas crafting! I’m kick-starting the festivities by teaching you how to sew this herringbone quilted stocking.
This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Singer. As regular readers will know, I use the Singer Patchwork 7285Q for all of my sewing projects. This model is perfectly suited to projects like this quilted stocking. Scroll down to see what to do!
Side note: whilst making this project, I repeatedly had the thought of how strange it is that I’m sewing an oversized sock to hang on my wall. Traditions are odd, don’t you think?!
How to Sew a Herringbone Quilted Stocking
Tools and supplies
- Singer Patchwork 7285Q (or alternative sewing machine)
- Walking foot for your sewing machine
- Wadding
- Mid- to heavy-weight fabric (heavy cotton or canvas is perfect)
- Contrast fabric for the stocking trim
- Fabric ribbon or similar (to hang it up with)
- Matching thread
- Fabric scissors
- Tailor’s chalk
- Sewing pins
- Bulldog clips
Tutorial steps
Before getting started, I’d recommend having a quick read of my top tips for making a quilted blanket. This herringbone quilted stocking follows a very similar process to making a blanket.
- Using tailor’s chalk, draw a large stocking shape onto your fabric. Alternatively, you can cut out a paper template and trace around it. Either way, make sure to draw your shape slightly larger than you want the stocking to be, as you’ll lose some size to seam allowance. When you’re happy with the shape, cut it out.
- Use your cut out stocking shape as a template to cut out two more stockings from your fabric, and one from the wadding. This will leave you with three fabric shapes and one wadding shape.
- Sketch a herringbone design onto one of the fabric stocking shapes with tailor’s chalk. The easiest way to do this is to start with a series of straight vertical lines, then join them with zig-zag horizontal lines. The smaller you make the pattern, the longer it will take (and the more fiddly it will be) to sew.
- Time to layer up your stocking! Take the stocking shape with the herringbone design sketched onto it first. Position this with the sketched side facing down. Then put the wadding on top, followed by one of the two remaining fabric shapes. Leave the third fabric shape to one side for now – we’ll come back to it in step 8. Use bulldog clips to securely hold the three layers together. You should be left with the wadding sandwiched between two fabric shapes, with the herringbone visible from the outside.
- Install a walking foot to your sewing machine. I use the Singer Patchwork 7285Q, which comes with a walking foot included. The foot has a special mechanism which pulls your project through the feed dogs from both the top and the bottom – so the layers of your quilting won’t become misaligned.
- Now it’s time to sew your herringbone quilted design. Start by sewing all of the long vertical lines first. The stitching will hold the fabric together, so you can remove the bulldog clips as you go. Then, with the long lines done, sew the zig-zag horizontal lines.
- You’ll now have the front section of your herringbone quilted stocking complete. Place it face down onto the third fabric stocking cutout that you set aside earlier. Use bulldog clips to hold in place, as before.
- Carefully sew all the way around the edge of the stocking, except for the top (you want to leave a hold to put gifts into!). Make sure to use the walking foot again for this step, and leave a 1-2cm seam allowance.
- With the edges sewn, turn the whole thing inside out. This will hide the raw edges and reveal the front face of the herringbone quilted design. All that’s left is to finish off the top edge.
- Cut large rectangle from a contrasting fabric. It needs to be approximately three times the width of the top edge of your stocking, and approximately half as tall as the stocking.
- Fold this rectangle in half lengthwise and press in place. I was a bad crafter and didn’t press it at this stage… don’t judge me! With it folded and pressed, sew the two short sides using a basic straight stitch, leaving the long edge open.
- Turn the folded rectangle inside out through the long edge, so the raw edges on the two short sides are hidden.
- Insert this folded rectangle of fabric into your stocking, so that the long raw edge is inside and the folded edge is sticking out. Carefully pin in place all the way around top edge pf the stocking, as you can see in the photo.
- Sew the rectangle in place, removing the pins as you go. This line of stitching will be covered in the next step, so don’t worry too much about making it perfectly neat.
- Now the rectangle is sewn in place, fold it over so it covers the line of stitching from the previous step. Enforce this fold by pressing it in place. This will create the contrast trim on the top of your stocking.
- Fix the back of your trip in place with a small tacking stitch.
- Finally, stitch a loop of fabric or ribbon to the back of your herringbone quilted stocking to hang it up with.
This is one of those projects that’s really easy to personalise. Why not try exploring fabrics with different colours and patterns? Or mix it up with a statement trim at the top. You could even add a personalised monogram to the trim for a great handmade Christmas gift!
Your quilted stocking also doesn’t have to be a herringbone design… Why not try a square grid, brick pattern or even pin stripes? I’ve always had a soft spot for a parquet or herringbone design, but go with whatever pattern you love! 🙂 – Mike
Don’t forget to share this project on Pinterest!
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