Christmas Stocking Redo

It seems that lately I've been neglecting Hooked On Needles, but I have a good excuse. Really I do! I've been quite busy down in my sewing room, so busy in fact, that my poor old sewing machine is probably wondering what has happened to it! I haven't worked this old machine so hard for a very long time!

Would you like to see one of the small projects I finished recently? It's a little renovation of an old family Christmas stocking belonging to my friend Kathy. You see, Kathy's parents were known in the family as Nana and Bumpa, and they have both passed away. Kathy and her husband are now grandparents themselves so she thought it would be nice to continue using Nana and Bumpa's Christmas stockings. Kathy is called Nana also, but her husband is not called Bumpa, so the old Christmas stocking would need a little redo. That's where I come in! Take a look...


This is Bumpa's Christmas stocking, made with simple fabrics and trim, and a very neatly embroidered name on the muslin cuff. The main body of the stocking is made from double sided pre-quilted fabric. Nana's stocking has the reverse side showing which is an off-white background with the same small floral print. Her stocking also has red embroidery and trim instead of blue. Nana and Bumpa were a good looking pair!


Here you can better see the eyelet trim along the bottom edge of the cuff, and the very neatly embroidered chain stitch lettering. I could not simply pick out the old stitching and stitch Grandpa on the old muslin as that would have left a mess of blue fuzz and holes from the old stitches that had been in the fabric for so many years...


...so I took apart the entire top cuff, preserving each piece to use again.


The muslin was used as a template for cutting the new muslin...


...and marking the location of the writing.

Then I traced the new name onto the new muslin and embroidered it using my very best chain stitch and the same color navy blue embroidery floss that was used on the original.


Using the original trim pieces, I put the stocking back together.


Now this old family Christmas stocking is ready to be enjoyed by a new generation of grandparents and grandchildren. I think Bumpa would be very happy about that!

George the mailman has been very good to me in the past week, so I have lots of fun things to show you. Besides this Christmas stocking project, I have also finished a rather large sewing project which I will share with you, and another smaller project too. A few crochet tutorials will be making an appearance here at Hooked On Needles soon as well. See, I haven't really been neglecting you! I've just been so busy DOing that I haven't had time for SHOWing!

Happy Stitching!

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