Decadent Stockings

I made these stockings last year. The fabric is home dec from Hancock Fabrics. I purchased it years ago when someone on PatternReview made a coat from this fabric. I loved this fabric+coat idea. I stalked every Hancock store in Chicagoland to no avail, then finally found the fabric online. The person who first made a coat from this fabric looked really cute in it. Coats made from home dec were trendy at the time. But on me, the fabric was bulky and stiff for my figure-8 body shape, and its pattern not really "me" enough to wear. So the fabric was stashed.

Last year noticed it on a shelf near chocolate brown velvet and some scraps of Jim Thompson Thai silk (which crunches when you sew it, love that!), and I got inspired:

All together these fabrics make rich looking stockings, richer than anything that would go into the stockings, probably.

For the pattern, I literally laid dress boots on newspaper and traced. I tested them to be sure they wouldn't hang down too far when the fire is roaring. Actually they do hang down too far. I decided I didn't care. You can't fit much stuff in them if they're made much smaller. Ha.

I cut carefully to ensure each stocking has a unique pattern:

Then I cut brown velvet into 2" wide strips that are sewn to the front and back pieces to make a slim "box" shape.

The gold silk is quilted with diamond shapes. I liked the contrast of straight organized lines against the free-flowing flowery and leafy shapes in the main fabric. I used two layers of The Ugliest Fabric On The Planet as batting. Why not, you can't see it, and it was needed to beef up the silk and give it the puffy quilted look I wanted. Here's the cuff before it was attached:

Each stocking has a different color thread for the quilting on the gold silk, matched to the various colors in the fabric: salmon, turquoise, dark brown, gold.

I'm a little better at coming up with ideas than actually completing projects, in case that hasn't been noticed on this blog already. So last year I completed 2 stockings. They were stuffed with things scented like catnip and things that squeaked and rolled and squiggled. Because the cats always come first in this house.

I had intended to finish the other 2 for me and my husband this year. I only have to finish the cuffs. Never got to it. Oh well. Maybe next year.