Dec 1st: Christmas Stocking

So, the first day of this year's advent calendar has come! And as I've promised, I've prepared an easy little crafting tutorial for you.

The first craft I'd like to make with you this December is a simple stocking to hang onto the wall. You can easily resize the pattern to your desires and could use it to make an advent calendar to fill or hide some presents for your family and friends in it. Why not make a big one to "wrap" a present in? It's not quite common to fill stockings in Germany where I live, so wrapping a present in a handmade stocking might be a fun idea to spice up the load of normally wrapped presents. 

Anyway, let's get started. 

Template

You will need: 

Some sort of fabric, preferably non-fraying

Some ribbon or twine

Needle and thread

Sewing machine (optional)

Anything you want for decorating (beads, applications, ...)

I left a bit more fabric at the top

How it's done: 

First, trace the pattern onto your fabric. Cut it out, leaving about a cm for seam allowance.

Place the two mirrored parts good side to good side and sew along the outer edge, leaving the top open. Flip it inside out, sew a piece of ribbon or twine to the inside of the back and your basic stocking is done.

Now for the fun part. Decorate your stocking. I decided to do some decorative stitches around the edge of the brim. If you have kids around, let them draw something on with markers. You can also cut out shapes of stars or snowflakes or hearts and glue or sew them one. You could use some ribbon to make a brim at the top. Be creative and have fun using the materials you have at hand!

I hope you have a nice first day of December!