So, to pass the time this summer, I have been gardening and sewing Christmas stockings. I am on number three now. The first one, designed by the fabulous Mary Beale, I shall give to my husband. Unfortunately, I haven't made it up into the stocking yet, but I will add a picture of it to this post when I get round to finishing it off properly. You can see Mary's lovely patterns here. Whilst completing the stitching on the stocking, I felt the old itch to work a stocking of my own design, and so I started planning.
This stocking would be for my my Grandson, James, who, unfortunately. I haven't seen this year (this being the non-year of Covid-19). Though I love Mary's designs, the design motifs are probably a little over the head of a two year old. And I wanted to design something that would scream Christmas in all its clichéd tradition. We all have rose-tinted memories of the Christmases of our childhoods, and I wanted this to be one of James's treasured memories, as a well as an heirloom that he can enjoy for the rest of his life. So here it is!
This is based on the band sampler tradition which has a long history, dating back to the 17th Century. There are traditional motifs, borders and modern themes intermingled in what I think is an acceptable format for the 21st Centruy. As well as being decorative (I hope), I have tried to make it educational too. So I am designing a little card to go along with the Stocking, which asks him such things as where is the reindeer with the red nose? When he is a bit older, he'll be able to count the wheels on the train, and learn all the names of Santa's reindeer. I've a few other quizzy type questions to add, but I don't want to give the game away too early.
I plan to chart this pattern, and maybe make it available next year online for PDF download. Do let me know if you are interested. (drbadams11(at)gmail.com, please remove the (at) and replace with the @ sign. I am trying to defeat the spammers!)
My third stocking - may or may not be finished for Christmas, because I have developed a bad back where I lean over to sew, and am having to give it a rest at the moment. I have adapted it from one of Prairie Schooler's Woodland Santas booklet, to see how it turns out. It looks promising - photo to be added to this blog, on completion.
I note, with interest, that many other embroiderers have been experimenting with the Christmas Stocking theme. It must be something in the air, or maybe Lock-down got so boring, we just had to get creative to stay sane!
Happy Stitching