Tutorial: Upcycled-Sweater Stocking with Felt Poinsettia

Last December I saw some very cute cable-knit stockings in a store, and of course, the crafter in me said, “I can make that!”  So I did.  And now you can make one, too.

I whipped up a couple for the girls last year, and even wrote up the directions for my friend Gi’s Christmas craft-a-thon.  Recently I made another stocking with a few modifications, took a few more pictures, and edited the tutorial as an early Christmas present to all you crafty people out there.  Here you go!

You will need:

• one old cable-knit sweater (Smaller cables work really well for this project.  Also, the larger the size of the sweater, the more you’ll have to work with, obviously.  Watch out for V-necks; unless they are large, they may not give you enough to work with. )
• felt for the lining of the stocking (You’ll need enough for 2 stocking shapes.)
• ribbon, ric-rac, or felt for the hanging loop
• small pieces of red or white felt for the poinsettia
• buttons (or a bit of green felt)
• fabric glue

Using another stocking (or a template), place stocking on top of sweater and trace around it, adding a 1/2 inch for the seam allowance.  (Note: you don’t need to leave a seam allowance at the top of the stocking [bottom of sweater] as you won’t be sewing that edge).  Make sure the bottom edges of the sweater are lined up nicely!   Cut out.

Fold a large piece of felt in half and repeat the tracing/cutting of the stocking shape.  You should now have 2 sweater stocking-shapes and 2 felt stocking-shapes.

For the hanging loop, I cut off the cuff of the sleeve and cut it open at the seam.  Alternately, you could cut out a strip of felt 1 inch by 6 inches (or however long/wide you like), or use a length of ribbon or ric-rac for the hanger.

If you’re using the sleeve cuff, you’ll want to sew a bit of ric-rac or ribbon on top so it doesn’t stretch so much when it’s hanging up.

Now you need to sandwich all your stocking pieces together.  Start with a felt stocking piece, then a sweater piece right-side up, then a sweater piece wrong-side up, then the other felt piece.  So the two sweater pieces in the middle should be right-sides together.

Pin along the sides and around the toe, leaving the top of the stocking open.

Fold the hanging loop in half (wrong-sides together) and pin it near the top edge (opposite the toe-side).

Now sew the pieces together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, sewing down one long side, around the toe, and up the other long side (not across the top!), backstitching over the hanging loop to secure it.  

Trim the seams (be careful not to cut your stitching!) and turn right side out.

Using the fabric glue, secure the felt lining to the sweater pieces along the top edge.

Obviously you can choose to leave your stocking as is, or embellish it as you wish.  If you’d like to make a felt poinsettia, you can follow these instructions or this tutorial.  For this one, I used the BHG instructions, but instead of using green felt for the thingies in the center of the flower, I used buttons, securing them with fabric glue.

When the poinsettia is finished, glue it onto the stocking with fabric glue.

If you have any questions or if any of this is unclear, please leave a comment or email me!

changing mat tutorial

Here is how to make a diaper changing pad from a hand towel:

Materials

• 1 old hand towel or large towel cut down to the size you want (darker colors work well here considering thestaining that will inevitably occur!) 
• 1 piece of cotton fabric the same size as towel (old bed-sheets and pillowcases work well here)
• 30-35″ double-fold bias tape or ribbon (if you want to be able to roll up the mat and tie it)

What to do

1.  Cut the cotton fabric to the same dimensions as your towel.

2.  If you are using bias tape for the ties, fold the short edges over twice and stitch to secure them.  Then sew along the entire length of the tape to secure it.

3.  Lay the cotton fabric right side up.  Fold your ribbon or bias tape in half.  Place the folded end on the center edge of one of the short sides of the fabric (or 1/4 of the way, if you want to fold the mat in half before rolling it).  About 1/2″ of the folded edge of the bias tape should hang off the fabric.

4. Place the towel right-side down on the cotton fabric, so the two are now right-sides together. (If your towel has a tag on it, you’ll want that to be your wrong-side, i.e. facing up. Otherwise it doesn’t matter.)  The bias tape should now be sandwiched between the two layers.  Pin the bias tape in place, taking care to pin through all the layers.  Then pin the fabrics together along all four sides.

5.  Sew around the four sides with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 5″ opening on one side.

6.  Trim the corners, being careful not to cut the stitching.

7.  Carefully turn the changing mat right-side out through the opening.  Poke out the corners as best you can.

8.  Topstitch around all four sides with an 1/8″ seam allowance, being careful to close the 5″ opening.

9.  Ta-da!  You’re done.  Roll it up and stuff it in the diaper bag.

If you have any questions or discover any errors in this tutuorial, please comment!