How To Make A Christmas Stocking With A Counted Cross Stitch Name and Date On The Cuff: Instructions and Photos

I have made a Christmas stocking for each new addition in our family for many years. This year we had a new baby: my first Great Granddaughter. So, I got out the red felt, the embroidery threads and got to work.

There are many books on how to do Counted Cross Stitch, and many of them include some really nice patterns. I have to have a guide even to do simple names.

Cross stitch is one of the most enduringly popular of the embroidery techniques. It is easy for the beginner, and it has lasting appeal because of its beauty. If you are working a piece of any size you will need an embroidery hoop to hold the work. For this project, since it is so small, you can just hold the cuff in your hand to work the stitches.

You will need for the stocking:

Bright red felt

Red thread for sewing the stocking

Red double wide bias tape to bind the edges of the felt

You will need for the cuff

Embroidery thread: Red, Green and Brown, one skein of each will be plenty.

White Aida fabric. This comes in a package so you don’t have to buy much.

When you finished working the cuff, sew it onto the stocking you made. Make a loop from the same bias tape and sew inside for hanging.

I used a stocking that I had made before as my pattern. You can get patterns for stockings on the internet, too. I laid the old stocking on top of the red felt, and marked around it with a white chalk.

Then I cut out the stocking. I sewed the bias tape all around the outside edges of the stocking.

I next worked the counted cross stitch with the child’s name, the year, and I put a little Christmas tree on the cuff. The main thing in working counted cross stitch is to always stitch in the same direction. Separate the thread into three strands. It comes with six threads.

The Aida fabric has many little holes to make the stitch. You start out bringing the needle up through the back and onto the front of the work. Leave about 1 inch of the thread on the back so that when the next stitch is made you can make a loop around the end of the thread. This way the thread won’t pull all the way through. You never make a knot. When you finish working the stitches with the same color thread, run the needle underneath the stitching on the backside. You never make a knot when you finish because the knot till be visible from the front of the piece.

This is not a hard project to do at all. Even if you have never done counted cross stitch before. In fact, this would be an excellent project to learn how to do this beautiful needlework.