Felt Christmas Stocking to Sew With Kids

Hand sewing is such a great activity for children of all ages and this Felt Christmas Stocking is a fabulous activity for school aged children.

Hand sewing helps to strengthen and develop the fine motor muscles of the hands and fingers. It also requires kids to slow down, concentrate and follow a sequence of movements to form each stitch correctly. It’s kind of therapeutic in many ways.

For teachers, the prospect of hand sewing with a whole class of children can be daunting! However a few simple preparations can make the experience much more manageable;

• Divide the children into small groups and invite a few parents or other family members into the classroom to help. It’s much easier when each group has at least one adult helper.
• Give each child a small rectangle of felt to practice the overcast stitch/whip stitch on first. Spend a little time demonstrating the stitch slowly, using the directions below.
• Once the child has threaded the needle, tie the thread to the needle to stop it slipping off.

Looking for a simpler Christmas sewing craft? Check out this Felt Christmas Tree Ornament at Coloured Buttons and this one at Hello, Wonderful.

How to Sew a Felt Christmas Stocking

Supplies

• Felt
• Scissors
• Fabric glue or strong, white craft glue
• Needle and thread
• Ribbon or cord

Instructions:

1. Use the template to cut out the stocking. Cut out 2 pieces.

2. Cut out a white strip of felt using the template for the top part of the stocking. Then glue it there using fabric glue.

3. Thread a sewing needle. Knot the end of the thread. Place the two felt stocking shapes together. Holding them securely together with one or two safety pins can be helpful for children.

Starting at the top of the stocking, stitch the two stocking pieces together using overcast stitch (which is also known as whip stitch).

How to Handstitch Overcast Stitch/Whip Stitch

Insert the needle into the fabric on at the top of one side of the stocking. Pull the needle through until the knot stops the thread coming through further, remind students not to pull to tight or the felt will buckle.

Loop the thread over the edge and pass the needle through the fabric from back to front, a small distance from the original stitch. Working down the side of the stocking, continue forming stitches by looping the thread over the edge of the felt and passing the needle through from back to front. Try to keep the stitches evenly spaced (you can use a marker pen to draw small dots to guide where your students should place each stitch if they are having a hard time spacing their stitches).

Remind students to keep the needle and thread under the loop that the stitch forms. If the thread is on tip of the loop, it will form a knot.

Continue all the way around the stocking, remembering to leave the top of the stocking open.

4.  Cut out some decorative pieces from felt in contrasting colours. I suggest telling students to stick to simple geometric shapes.

5. Glue the decorative pieces in place.

9. Stitch or glue both ends of a piece of ribbon or cord inside the top corner of the stocking.

Now your stocking is ready to hang, in the classroom or at home!

For more Christmas craft activities for school aged children, check out our Pop Up Christmas Tree Cards, and Paper Folded Christmas Tree Cards and Name Snowflakes.

Printable Felt Christmas Stocking Pattern

Click here to download: Felt Stocking Pattern . Save the PDF to your computer. Open the PDF and print the page you require. When printing, select “Fit to printable area” (or similar) to ensure the page fits with your printer type and local paper size (these have been created at A4 size).
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Please note: All Childhood 101 printables are for personal use only, you may not use any part of this content for  commercial purposes-that includes selling the document, giving it away to promote your business or website, or printing the file to sell. You may not share, loan or redistribute these documents. Teachers may use multiple copies for students in their own classroom.

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