That Only Took About Fifteen Years ~or~ Felted Wool Christmas Stockings for the Artist Son and Tayta

I'm guessing I'm not the only mom who has followed this (downhill) trajectory when it comes to handmade gifts for her children:

Oldest Daughter: cross-stitched Beatrix Potter alphabet quilt (that one only took about 500 hours to complete), cross-stitched birth sampler (done by friend), cross-stitched Christmas stocking
Active Son: no quilt, but he received a smaller birth sampler and a less complicated cross-stitched Christmas stocking.
Artist Son and Tayta: lots of good intentions--I still have the patterns and fabric to prove it.

Artist Son and Tayta have been making due with inexpensive store-bought Christmas stockings for many years now, but thanks to my new-ish felting hobby, they now have handmade Christmas stockings.

The reds and greens are a little hard to capture with the camera, but I'm very happy with the color combinations--the kids said they reminded them of the Jordanian flag, so these will carry more than one memory.

My inspiration and pattern supplier came from this post on Moda Bake Shop blog. I cut my strips to the same dimensions minus the seam allowances on the width: 18 inches by 2 inches narrowing to one inch.

A few variations for making these with felted wool:

My stockings aren't quilted--they are just a front and back, sewn, right sides together, turned and pressed. To piece the felted wool I butted the edge of two pieces of felted wool together and zig-zagged them.

I attached the front of the stocking to the back (cut from a solid piece of felted wool) by placing right sides together and sewing a very narrow seam (about 1/8 inch). After turning the stocking, I steam/pressed it.

The top band was made with a band of felted wool cut to 3 inches by 15 inches. I sewed the short edges together to make a continuous band, then pinned the band on the inside of the stocking, right side of band next to wrong side of stocking, sewed a very narrow seam (about 1/8 inch), turned and pressed.

I also made these a little longer by using 12 strips instead of 10. Finished dimensions: 7.5 inches across the top band, by 19 inches, measuring to the lowest point of the toe.

I plan to personalize these stockings for Artist Son and Tayta, but that requires a trip into Amman for just the right wool yarn. Hopefully that won't take me another 15 years.