Our Handmade Burlap Christmas Stockings

For the past couple of years, our family had been using some cheap Walmart version stockings. You know, the red and white ones. While they weren’t horrible to look at and they did function properly, they still did look kinda cheap and they didn’t really match our country home. Plus, there wasn’t really anything unique about them. So, this year, inspired by the vast number of burlap stocking ideas on Pinterest, I decided to make our own stockings.

The fabrics I chose were, of course, burlap by the yard, and a high-quality off-white cotton. I chose the high quality cotton because I want to make them once and have them last forever (thereby saving myself work later on).

To make the stockings, I used one of the cheap red and white stockings as a pattern. I traced it onto newspaper, cut out the newspaper, and pinned it onto the fabric–you know, like you would any sewing pattern. And, yes, I did remember to cut the fabric extra big (about a half inch all the way around) for the seam allowance! Then I sewed them together following the easy directions as found in this tutorial.

Then I did something different for the cuffs of each stocking. This was to add interest as well as to reflect of my family members’ personalities.

These stockings literally have my blood (seriously–I subconsciously enjoy pricking myself with straight pins and needles I think), sweat (from running in and out of the store to get all the items I kept forgetting), and tears in them. I’m not the best seamstress in the world, so I screwed up quite a bit! But I did pick up momentum, getting better as I went along, and the end result is absolutely beautiful!

I also plan on making a tree skirt using the same cotton fabric and burlap (following this tutorial), but that’s a project for next year!