Update: My stockings made their way into Huffington Post (#7 on the list) – woo!

I adore the look of cozy white cable knit Christmas stockings, especially the ones I saw at Anthropologie (left) and Pottery Barn (right).  Why must they be so expensive?  I wanted to figure out a way to get the same look for less.

A few weeks ago, we made imitation Pottery Barn cable knit sweater pillows out of thrift store sweaters (if you haven’t seen my DIY Sweater Pillow post, check it out!)  Each sweater was about $7, and the pillows we made from them are so cozy.   We had the sleeves left over… maybe I could make Christmas stockings out of them!  That would mean that for two large sweater pillows and two Christmas stockings, our grand total would be a whopping $14.  If we were to buy everything at a store, we could easily add a 0 to that number!

So we went for it.  We finished them in a day, and that included time to hand sew (machine was broken – of course!).  You could also make these stockings from the body of the sweater if you wanted to skip the pillows.

Here’s what to do:

1.  Purchase a cheap stocking in a shape you like.  We got a red one at a dollar store for 50 cents.

2.  Cut sleeves open along the seam and lay flat.  Turn them upside down for the next step.

3.  Lay the stocking on the first piece of fabric facing to the right, and outline it with a marker.  Remember, trace on the “bad” side of the fabric, not the side that’s going to show!

4. Repeat step 3 on the other piece of fabric, but turn the stocking to the left.  We messed up this step on the first stocking by tracing both patterns in the same direction.  When we turned them over and put them together, they didn’t match up.  Luckily we had some extra fabric so we were able to retrace and do it right.

4.  Put the two sides together (still inside out) and match up the lines on both sides.  Use a few pins to keep them from sliding out of place.

5. Cut off excess fabric around the traced lines, leaving about 1-2″ of room on all sides. See photo on the right in step 3 as an example.

6. Sew along the lines using thick thread or yarn for extra support. Go over the seams a few times to strengthen them.

7.  Turn right side out.  How great does this look?!

8.  Attach something to hang the stocking with.  This could be ribbon, braided yarn, etc. – something sturdy!

9. Hang, and enjoy!

DIY Sweater Sleeve Stockings