Review: Festive Christmas Stockings

Crafted Christmas stockings are, like, the pinnacle of craftiness. You know there’s a hard-core maker in the family when everyone has a handmade stocking (in my family it was my grandma; my mom has since taken up the tradition of knitting stockings for everyone).

If you’d like to cross stitch stockings for folks in your family or as a gift for someone else, Festive Christmas Stockings by Herrchners for Leisure Arts is a good place to start.

The book only has four patterns, but they’re cute and have lots of fun details.

The Celestial Angels Stocking, designed by Barbara Sestok, features three angels making music, as well as a moon and stars and a row of hearts and snowflakes at the top of the stocking. Her Nordic Santa Stocking has space for a name at the top and a Father Christmas style Santa holding a Christmas tree and carrying a sack of gifts. This one includes charts for all letters in upper and lower case.

Linda Bird designed the Nutcracker stocking, which has four different sizes of old nutcracker men, as well as a drum and a teddy bear. There’s space for a name in all caps and an uppercase alphabet is included.

Finally the project featured on the cover is the Jolly Snowman Stocking, designed by Alma Lynne Hayden. This one has a sort of snowman/clown hybrid and is decorated with hearts and little repeating patterns. There’s also room for a name here and another alphabet to work with.

The book describes how to make the stocking using fabric to line and back it. A couple of the projects also use trim on the edges of the stocking, and a couple use beads in the stitching to make it extra fancy.

The charts are large and easy to read and while the patterns aren’t for beginners, they’re definitely fun projects that the recipient is sure to use for years to come.

About the book: 32 pages, paperback, 4 patterns. Published 2016 by Leisure Arts. Available as an ebook for $7.99.

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Funny Cross Stitch Patterns for Mother's Day

If you’re a fan of detailed and colorful cross stitch patterns, Design for Cross Stitch might have a pattern you want to try. This Etsy shop is based in Spain and has more than 50 designs with a focus on animals, holidays and landscapes.

I’m just going to start with the first pattern that caught my eye when I visited the site, which is this Sakura by the Lake project. This pattern is 200 by 200 stitches and the whole background is stitched, so it’s definitely not for a beginner, but it’s stunning and would be amazing to make for someone who loves Japan. Despite the detail it only uses 24 colors. Worked on 14 count fabric it will measure 14.64 inches, or 37.19 cm.

There are a few other landscape designs, including a canal in Venice and a few cabins in the woods.

The shop also has some cute animal cross stitch, with big, round faces and often holding a warm beverage. Holiday projects focus on Christmas and Halloween. Most of the patterns have a cute, chibi-like feel, but there are some that are more detailed and realistic as well. Take for examples the flower patterns, which are full of details and soft colors.

You’ll also find some fun bookmark cross stitch patterns with a watercolor feel, as well as some that look kind of like paint pouring turned into stitches.

If this sort of stuff sounds like fun to you, check out their Etsy store at Design for Cross Stitch.

Do you have a favorite cross stitch designer who I haven’t featured yet? Let me know in the comments or share more about them by clicking on “suggest a DIY” at the center top of the page and let me know the details. I’d love to share the designers you’re enjoying with a wider audience.

[Photo: Design for Cross Stitch]

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