Silver and white polka dot Christmas stockings.
For this project, I was approached by a customer who had an inspiration photo of gray and white polka dot stockings. The customer requested that I make them exactly as shown in the photo except she wanted silver fabric with white polka dots instead of gray. Immediately, I knew I had a challenge ahead of me as, in all of my years of sewing, I have never encountered silver fabric with large polka dots. My local fabric stores did not carry it, even a thorough internet search yielded negative results, so I had to revert to plan B. If I couldn't purchase silver fabric with white polka dots, I had to make it!
Inspiration photo of Christmas stockings made of gray fabric with white polka dots. Photo credit: http://www.fynesdesigns.com.
And how did I make the fabric? Yup, you guessed it! One polka dot at a time! I purchased silver fabric for the stockings and white drapery lining for the polka dots. I opted for the drapery lining because it did not fray so the polka dots would be neat looking without stay threads. Once I had cut the stockings from the silver fabric and a million dots from the drapery lining (dots were about 1" in diameter), I traced a grid onto each stocking front that served as a guide for dot positions. Then, using fabric glue, I applied the dots on to the silver fabric. One. By. One. Once the dots were securely adhered, I continued to work on the stockings by sewing on the white heel and toes. The stockings were fully lined and for a complete look, the decorative cuffs were sewn all the way around the stocking instead of just the fronts (polka dots were applied to the stocking fronts only). The stockings were finished off by attaching little decorative bows and long hanging ties, as shown in the inspiration photo.
Although this was a very tedious and labour-intensive project, the stockings turned out great! Modern, stylish, with a touch of playfulness, I can just imagine how lovely these looked glimmering in the soft glow of Christmas lights as they hung on the fireplace.
