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December 18, 2013

From Thrifted Sweater to Christmas Stocking







The Christmas stocking was never part of my childhood holiday traditions.  In its place, my grandmother always gave us a "goodie box", a cardboard box, covered in pretty wrapping paper, filled to overflowing with yummy treats...a box of life savers (remember those?), oranges, home-made fudge, candy canes, Christmas cookies, etc... My mother eventually took over the tradition, and my children now receive "goodie boxes" from their grandmother. This year, however, I decided it would be fun to add the tradition of a Christmas stocking. .After gathering dozens of little things to fill 10 stockings, I'm now questioning how "fun" it really is...well, not really. They were a lot of work to fill, but I think my efforts will be worth it.  I'm excited to see the faces of each Little as they discover the treats buried deep in their stockings on Christmas day.

Not having ever done stockings before, we had no stockings, and I was a little overwhelmed by the thought of coming up with ten of them.  Then the idea hit me...thrifted sweaters...perfect!  I did a bit of googling and quickly realized that I wasn't the only one to come up with this idea.  I found lots of images and tutorials of lovely cable-knit stockings, cashmere stockings, elaborately embellished stockings...all very beautiful.  I especially liked the stockings in  this tutorial, which I loosely followed.  Mine are quite humble and rustic compared to some I found, but I'm pleased with the results.

I stopped at a local thrift store and purchased a few sweaters that I thought would work nicely for the Christmas stockings. They came together quite quickly; the hardest part for me was drawing the template. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted the stockings to look like, but putting that vision onto paper...well, that was another story. Eventually I did come up with a suitable pattern, and I set to work sewing, using grosgrain ribbon for hangers.  Each stocking has it's own "personality", and it was fun matching up each one to its Little.  

I have lots of usable sweater scraps that I am going to put to good use in another quick and easy project, the last of my Christmas sewing.  I'm hoping to find some time in my studio today work on it.


11 comments:

  1. That's interesting - I thought everybody did Christmas stockings! Yours look good - what a thrifty Momma! Ten stockings to make AND fill is quite the challenge. If you want to treat yourself for all your hard work, stop by my blog for the give-a-way contest today. Spreading holiday cheer!

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  2. Your goodie boxes sound fun! I did the sweater stockings last year. Sadly, *somebody* spilled who-knows-what on them once they were in there storage container, so I'm coming up with some new ones this weekend, lol! Yours are great, I'm sure the kids will love digging in to them!!

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  3. Very industrious! We always had stockings as kids, but as we got older, our grandmother did the goodie boxes filled with survival items: chocolate, chapstick, lotion, pocket flashlight, nail clippers, gum etc. They have become our favorite thing to open besides the stockings. There is something so cheerful about the plump little stocking on Christmas morning. Nice work!

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  4. I did this too! Probably won't get a post up until just before or after Christmas - I'm a bad blogger! Yours look great!

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  5. What a great idea!! I love it!! I just may have to go take a look at the thrift store for the perfect sweater to re invent!! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Genius! So very cute too! I love them! I remember the Life Saver "books" so awesome. My grandma used to always give me a candy cane shaped tube of Smarties. Classic Christmas memories.

    Thanks so much for sharing.
    xoxo

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  7. I like this idea will have to give it a try thanks for sharing visiting from all things thursday I'm lorraine at http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com

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  8. These stockings ended up gorgeous. You have totally inspired me :)

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  9. Every year I imagine making stockings, and every year: nada, zero, zip.
    This has reignited my interest. They are pretty darn cool.

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  10. This is fantastic!! Stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas. Probably because "Santa" always stuffed ours full on Christmas Eve with lots of great little goodies. I do the same for my kids now!! : )

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  11. Such a neat idea! The stockings are adorable.

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