Cut up a pair of jeans & create the perfect denim stocking

Give your holiday hearth a distinctly farmhouse feel by making Christmas stockings from denim. Repurposing jeans in this way adds a downright down-home charm to your space.
You don’t have to be a whiz with the sewing machine to create one of these, so making an entire set in different sizes for every family member isn’t out of the question. Feel free to customize these holiday stockings with decorative borders like rickrack trim, eyelet and satin ribbon. These holiday stockings will add so much appeal to your space, they might even rival your tree for most-noticed Christmas decoration!
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Materials
- Pair of blue jeans
- Chalk stick
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Gold or yellow extra strong thread
- Straight pins in a pin cushion
- Serger
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Transparent sewing ruler
- Seam ripper
Instructions
1. Fold your pair of jeans lengthwise.
2. Lay them on your work surface.
3. Draw a stocking shape in the middle of one of the legs with the chalk, and mark a line across it, about 2 inches below the top edge.
4. Use the scissors to cut out the stocking outline. You will have two pieces of stocking-shaped denim.
5. Draw a curved line above the heel and toe portion of each of the stocking pieces with the chalk.
6. Use the sewing machine to stitch the curved lines on the heel and toe portions of each stocking with the gold thread.
7. Each time you need to release the stocking from the machine, cut the thread coming from the bobbin with the scissors.
8. Place the first stocking piece so the lighter side of the denim is against your work surface and the darker side is facing up.
9. Place the other stocking shape so the right side of the denim is facedown and the lighter side is facing you.
10. Use the straight pins to attach the pieces of denim together.
11. Leave the top portion of the stocking open and unpinned.
12. Use the serger to sew an overedge serge stitch, which will create the interior seam that connects the denim stocking pieces.
13. Remove the pins from the stocking.
14. Turn the stocking inside out. The dark denim will now be exposed.
15. Preheat the iron.
16. Place the stocking on the ironing board and iron it.
17. Turn the stocking inside out again, so the stocking’s exterior is on the inside.
18. Place the transparent plastic sewing ruler on the top open portion of the stocking.
19. Place the ruler so you can mark a line that’s 1/3-inch from the top edge of the stocking around both sides of it.
20. Fold the top edge of the stocking over, so its unfinished edge meets the chalk mark.
21. Press the folded edge with the iron.
22. Turn the stocking inside out again, so the dark side is its exterior.
23. Finish the upper edge you ironed by stitching it on the sewing machine.
24. Take the stocking and fold the finished top over, so the light inner denim lining is visible at the top of the stocking. This cuff area should be about 1 ½-2 inches.
25. Place the jeans on your work surface with the zipper side facing down.
26. Use the seam ripper to remove the thread that attaches one of the belt loops to the waistband of the jeans.
27. Sew the belt loop ends to the upper corner of the stocking that’s above the heel. This creates a loop so you can hang the stocking.
28. Adorn your mantel with the stocking, and hopefully it will be filled with goodies on Christmas morning!
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