Scrappy Stocking Ornament

• Cut your fabric down if necessary.  I cut some squares out of my fat quarters- to about 6 in x 6 in.

• Cut your fabric into strips.  They can be uniform or different widths.  I cut some 2 inches, some 1 inch, some 1/2 inch.  It doesn’t really matter.

• Play around with your layout until you are happy with how it looks.  Now we’re going to sew them together.

 Okay- if you haven’t pieced strips before, I’m going to give you a quick tutorial-within-a-tutorial here. Check out the pictures for details.

1. Place your fabric strips right sides together.  That means the nicely printed sides should be touching.
2. Sew them together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, making sure to keep them in the order you liked for your layout.
3. Open the fabric strips and finger press the seams as flat as possible.  You can use an iron if you want, but we’ll do that later, so it saves time to just use your finger.
4. Add your next strip, again following your pre-determined order.  Make sure right sides are together. Sew the third strip to the second strip with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  
5. Open strips and finger press.
6. Continue to add strips in this manner until you have all your strips sewn together.
7.  (not pictured)  Once all your strips are sewn together, press the whole thing flat with an iron.

Now you’re ready to add a little visual interest.  I “quilt” my pieces by sewing a straight line on either side of the seam for each set of strips.  You could use matching thread, but I had this lime green thread that I thought would match the fabric perfectly!  *Note- I sewed these about 1/8 inch over on each side of the seams. Do this for all the seams. Now, cut a stocking shape to use for your ornament.  I free-handed mine, but you could find one to print and cut, I’m sure.  Or if you have one laying around your house somewhere, just trace it! Lay the stocking template on your fabric.  It doesn’t have to be straight- just put it on however you want. Trace around it onto the fabric with a marking pen or pencil.
Cut one stocking out of your striped fabric, one out of your batting scrap, and then reverse the template and cut one out of your backing fabric.  I used the polka dot fabric for the back of my stocking Piece your stocking together in this order:  (fairly obvious but I’ve learned you need to say everything!) Front striped piece, batting piece, then backing piece with right side facing out.  All pieces should match up. Sew around your stocking with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  As you get to the top corner, loop your ribbon scrap and lay the ends in between the fabric pieces, then make sure to sew over it.