A Corgi Christmas Cross Stitch Stocking

December 27, 2020

A Corgi Christmas Cross Stitch Stocking

Years ago I made my husband and I cross stitch stockings to hang in our first house after we we married. Now that we have added Bella our corgi puppy to the mix I wanted to make her a stocking too -- yes, I'm that dog mom. But I didn't think a standard stocking shape made sense since she doesn't have feet and I definitely did not want to undertake the time commitment it takes to complete actual stockings. So I set out to design my own!

I found the cutest corgi cross stitch pattern on Etsy (highly recommend) and as soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect for the stocking. At $3.50 it was a steal and I had enough extra floss from my prior projects that I could just substitute colors with colors I already had. I bought some aida, fusible fleece, and fabric for the stocking backing and got to work.

I was really pleased to have been able to use floss I already had from other projects. I hate having a bunch of random floss hanging around without a purpose.

Bella was my stitch supervisor. She just laid at my side monitoring the progress and chewing her toy.

It came together so fast and I finished it over a weekend. How cute is that little cross stitch corgi?!

Adding the backstitching always brings so much life to the project. I know some people who skip it but I just can't imagine that. It looks unfinished without it!

After I finished the actual cross stitch I set out to try the unattempted...using my sewing machine for the first time. But first I used an online pattern to cut out a bone. I chose the bone shape because dogs don't have feet and a normal traditional stocking shape seemed weird for a dog.

I had never used a rotary cutter before but it made cutting the fabric SO easy. I laid the self-healing cutting mat on my dining room table (much to the anxiety of my husband that I would ruin the table) and easily slid the cutter across the fabric to complete the cuts. I also cut two fusible fleece bones as well. So at the end I had four fabric bones, my cross stitch, and two fleece bones.

I then needed to figure out how to actually sew the stocking. It was a bit trickier than anticipated because I needed to create two separate parts before sewing the stocking together. The first section was the back of the stocking and the second section was the front.

For the first section I ironed one of the fleece bones to the bad-side of one of the fabric bones. Then I ironed and pinned the two fabric bones (one with the fusible fleece) and sewed the edges leaving a couple inch gap so I could flip the entire piece inside out to reveal the good sides. That was the back of the stocking.

I then fused one of the fleece bones to the third fabric bone. I laid that fused fabric bones good side to good side with the cross stitch portion. I again sewed the outside but left the top unsewn since I needed to fold down the fabric to make the top front edge.

I'll be honest. I was really intimidated to use my sewing machien for the first time. My mom always made all our childhood Halloween costumes and she is so talented so she gave me some pointers and of course walked me through setting up the bobbin and all that. After that I set my stitches and got to work.