W.I.P. Wednesdays – Hang (and Make) Your Stockings With Care…it’s easier than you think!

Wishing you could add a little “handmade” to your holidays, but feel like you don’t have the time, energy or skillz? Think again! The groovy peeps at Meet Me At Mikes have organized a little “Holiday Stitchalong” for everyone : beginning stitchers to “I sew in my sleep” types. Pip and Cam have provided everything you need in lovely, brief and clear step-by-step tuts – all you need is some fabric (Pip tells you what you need), some floss (again, explained) and 5 minutes a day! There is even a free down-loadable template if you need one and a free embroidery design.

To begin, look at their left sidebar, or just start with Stitch A Christmas Stocking With Mike’s Episode 1. The fun continues with great mini-tuts such as “How To Trace An Embroidery Pattern” and “What’s All The Floss About?”. You can do this! As I’ve mentioned before, until September, I’d never tried (or thought about) embroidering anything at all, and I found this to be quick and easy (thanks split and backstitch).

I was feeling a little over-committed – or perhaps like I need to be committed, not sure – but I really wanted to “Stitchalong” because in my Capra-esque heart, I wanted to share in a project with other people this holiday season, and knowing that there would be crafters from all over the world making their stockings at the same time, well, it made me feel a little less lonely for my family and friends who are so far from me this holiday season. I mean, we’re literally “making merry” together, right? (There are needles involved, so not too merry…).

Here are my (terrible photos because the sun will never again shine and it’s been raining – even snowing today!- every day since Halloween!) stockings :

As you can see, I didn’t use Mike’s free design. I used Hillary’s – also free – which you can find here. She has so many lovely patterns up for grabs – stop by if you’ve never been. It’s lovely. I also lined them to make them look even more snazzy, but that’s totally unnecessary.

Initially I was just going to do a little stitching before falling asleep for 5 or 10 minutes, and keep them as decorations…but as I began stitching I instantly thought that these would be the perfect gifts and wanted to get them done ASAP to get them in the mail. I hate giving something impersonal, and these are like a little piece of my family, and will (hopefully) be used every holiday.

I love them so much I’m hoping to try to get myself organized to make a few more as gifts.