A little stocking inspiration

If you thought there were rules to Christmas stockings, well, you were wrong. Can stockings be modern? Can they be different shapes and sizes? Can stockings use colors other than red and green? Can you show personality in a Christmas stocking? And of course the answer to all of these questions is "Yes!"There are really only two questions you need to ask yourself before starting this project.

#1 What style do you like?

Are you a traditionalist, modern, country cozy, or a little of everything? Just look around your house for the answer to this one, because your stockings should match your style. It wasn't until our fourth Christmas as a family that the stockings finally felt important. It was also our first Christmas with a baby and so I'm sure I felt a need to provide the appearance of family traditions even though she wouldn't remember it. And being a first time Mom I did what most of us do and brought the first stockings I found. They happened to be at the grocery store and looked like it. I then sold them for a dollar at our summer garage sale . . . just to solidify another family tradition. Moral of the story is make something you like and will love in years to come. Or just keep making new ones you like and have a garage sale.

#2 What fabric do you already have?

Hopefully the scraps of fabric you have you like. Please don't buy fabric you don't like. Really, with the endless selection there is out there you have no excuse. So, pull out the scraps you have and love and use them for your stockings. Anything goes! You'll see, I used some grey herringbone fabric on mine. And your stockings don't have to match each other either, just like pillows on a couch, when they hang together they go together. They can be patch worked or solid pieces. Anything goes!

And if I were to add a third question I guess it would be "What can you do?" Do you appliqué? Do you stencil or stamp? Do you quilt? Because...really, anything goes.