The same techniques used to produce gift bags or little purses is also used to produce lined Christmas stockings. 

I had this sudden awareness, as I was making all these Christmas gift bags, that there was an obvious sort of bag that is specific to this time of the year.  And it’s traditional, of course.  But it’s made roughly the same way as a gift bag:

1. Attach handles to the lining;
2. Sew the top of the lining to the top of the shell;
3. Match the seams inside out, of lining-to-lining and shell-to-shell;
4. Sew the edges;
5. Iron and turn the lining and shell;
6. Top stitch the opening of the bag.

And Voila!  A Christmas stocking.

I admit, it’s not that simple, really.  I didn’t have enough of this cute owls on a holly branch fabric to orient the owls the correct way around.  But the stocking came out correctly, even so.  Now I need a way to make a much larger pattern than I have.  A two- or three-part pattern, maybe with a cuff at the top?

Or maybe I should leave it this size.

I always thought that Christmas stockings were for little presents: a chocolate, an orange, some pencils, a pencil sharpener, a couple of trinkets. They’re not the place for enormous presents, they’re a place for miniature gifts of a miniature nature — little things that ease the transition into winter.

And so maybe I’ll do fine with the pattern as I’ve made it.  Next time I’ll trim the seams more carefully, but in essence this pattern is fine, as is.  Miniature, and magical.

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