Stitch A Stocking Surprise

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by Jody M. Wright and MOTHER's staff

It sometimes seems a shame that the whole wonderful panoply of Christmas is fated to charm us for a few all-too-short days, and then the sparkling ornaments, colored lights, well-stuffed stockings, and other decorations sit in boxes, unused, for the next eleven months. I was following this line of thought one day and came up with the idea of a stocking/ puppet. One side would be a beautiful Christmas stocking—either in red or in a nontraditional fabric—but turn it inside out and you'd find a delightful horse puppet. The stocking itself would brighten any child's (or adult's) holiday, but long after, when the candies, fruits, and presents that once filled it were memories, a perky pony playfellow would remain to accompany the youngster on many imaginary journeys.

PLAIN AND FANCY FIXINGS

I fashioned my stocking/puppets from new fabric, but you could make yours from any colorful scraps you have on hand. I'll give you directions for sewing the complete gift with the stocking side in "designer" fabric, then tell you how to make the more traditional version.

To duplicate my patchwork example, you'll need the following materials: 1/2 yard each of maroon, maroon calico, and beige cotton fabric; 1/2 yard of polyester batting (I've found that worn-out cotton mattress pads are a great substitute); a small scrap of solid brown fabric for the ear linings; a 2" X 19" strip of dark brown felt, plus enough of the same felt for two eyes approximately 1-1/2" in diameter (the strip can be pieced, if necessary); maroon, beige, and dark brown or black thread; and a pattern taken from the diagram shown. To enlarge the diagram to a full-size pattern, rule a 1" grid on a sheet of brown wrapping paper that's at least 17" X 21 ", or use 1" graph paper. Then, following the diagram, copy the design one square at a time onto the paper (a 3/8" seam allowance is already included). Cut out the pieces and identify them for future reference: You may want to sew lots of stocking/puppets as gifts!

CUTTING REMARKS
Using your paper pattern pieces pinned to the material, cut out two ears from the solid brown fabric, two stockings and two ears from the solid beige fabric, one stocking and four strips from the solid maroon, five strips from the maroon calico, two stockings from the polyester batting, and the mane and eyes from the dark brown felt. If the beige fabric has a wrong and a right side, be sure to reverse the stocking pattern so you'll end up with two matching sides when they're sewn together.