Stockings

I'm not really a crafty girl but when George from POTS OF ART suggested I do a sewing workshop at his craft and pottery shop I new I needed to do something with as little sewing machine use as possible as A. I dont own a whole slew of machines and B. to make it as easy as possible for anyone wanting to 'just have a go'.
So I had to try and wake up the craft side of my brain, not as easy as you think. Im more of a structure and design head than craft and as such I have HUGE admiration for those who have endless imagination for crafting. It was a toss up between bag making and stocking making and lets face it xmas wins hands down every time, unless your my friend Liza who heads for the hills at the first jingle of bells! So, while blog cruising I saw a lovely felt leaf wreath posted over at PEARL SOHO. I thought something like this would look lovely on an elegant ladies boot style stocking, And be relatively easy for people to do. Then I saw the snow flakes and I was a gonna. Ive seen snow flakes like this before in ikea and the like as xmas tree decorations but I think its the way they present and photograph there work that makes it so fresh. Its well worth a visit if you havent already as the girls over at Pearl Soho in new york have a wealth of inspiration on all things crafty with a heavy bent on knitting obviously. I cant knit but love all things related regardless. One day i will teach my self to knit the perfect autumn dress, just snug enough to be flattering but with enough detail to be forgiving of the minced pies that are yet to be concealed within the person inside it! Any way, back to the stockings.... Felt is an obvious choice when it comes to easy sewing or crafting as it is a one cut solution with no finishing, but like a good man a good felt is hard to find and it comes at quite a price. There is no end to the cheap synthetic stuff that will send shivers up your spine when you handle it but the good stuff is a bit price prohibitive when your using it for a workshop and trying to keep cost down for everyone. After much searching I have found a really nice feeling wool mix felt that wont break a whole in any ones pocket. And for those who want to use cottons I found good handling cotton in lovely colours, purple, deep pinks, lime, snow white, greens etc...I really hope you like them and fancy having a go at making one your self.. like I said my craft brain is tiny and these are still in the working out faze but here is my take on the xmas stocking, one for the ladies, one for the fellas and one for the sprogs.....

ONE FOR THE LADIES
























ONE FOR THE LADS







ONE FOR THE SPROGS