Annies Crazy World

Boxing day, the day after Christmas day, a day to rest and start clearing up…well I did a lot of resting and not a lot of cleaning.

I got the unfinished Santa pockets out to late to finish for christmas this year and have decided to finish them now so that they are ready to deliver on time for christmas next year so here is Santa Pocket #2.

For this edge I stitched the gold beads on first, I stitched them a little further apart than I did on the edge I showed yesturday and it has helped the beads to sit better, It is also a more delicate edge…To form the pattern I went through a gold bead then picked up a green, a gold and a green bead, I then went back through the red bead and picked up another green bead before going through the next gold.

Ho to prepare the pocket

Cut the front and lining for the pocket 6 inches square…place pocket and lining right sides together and stitch a 1/4 inch seam across the top…turn right side out and iron seam across the top.

How to Assemble the Santa Pocket

Cut backing 8 inchs square and place right side down on the table, place batting on top of it and place a 6 inch square (will be the back of the pocket)…

Stitch the first border at the top of the centre square, when stitching you are sewing through all the layers so that it self quilts the wall hanging as you go.

Place the pre prepared pocket in the centre so that the top of the pocket lines up with the seam sewing the top border on…

Sew on side borders and then bottom border.

To finish the Santa pocket bind the edges (Instructions for one method of binding can be found here) and add a ribbon hanger.

To do this beaded edge I stitched the red beads on first and then went around again putting the needle through a red bead and then picking up a green a gold and a green bead before putting the needle through the next red bead…I then, because the beads were flopping all over the place and wouldn’t sit flat, I went around again and stitched the gold beads to the backing.

I only had to stitch the hanger onto the back of this Santa pocket to finish it.

A few years ago I had an idea to make Santa Pockets for my neices and nephews….A Santa Pocket is a small (8″ square) wall hanging, that can be hung on a door or above a bed, with the childs name embroidered on a pocket that they can put a letter to Santa in.

I have 5 in various stages of constructionfrom just started through to nearly finished…On the right is an appliqued star…below is a detail of the Chain Stitch that I wrote the name in and the embellishment around the star which is Coral Stitch done with 2 strands of silver metalic stitch and a strand of black perle.

To finish this little christmas decoration I added a Santa Charm to the crazy.

After stitching the square right sides together with a backing and with the hanging ribbon inserted into the seam and turning it right side out through a gap in the seam, I used Gold Metalic thread, stitched so that it formed little loops, around the edge.

A big gold bead threaded onto the hanging ribbon and a bell on each corner complete the decoration which I will give to a young friend for christmas.

These candys are 3 straight stitches with holding stitches on each side of the middle to hold the sides out and a holding stitch over all 3 threads a little in from each end to form the candy shape.

They are a copy of the little candy that I found on this 3 inch square that a stitched several years ago and is all done except for sewing it into a christmas tree decoration.

I have finished the stocking that I was working on last week.

When it came to the embellishments I liked the way the Santa Button looked and a bit out of character for me who likes lots of embellishments I thought that the Santa Button was all this one needed.

See this post of how to construct a christmas stocking.

Keeping with the simplisity of useing minimal embellishment instead of putting lace around the top I have used a few stars and beads to hold the lining in place so that it doesn’t creep out over the top.

Still keeping the embellishments simple I attached the bells and hanger with a single red button and gold bead.

In 1995 I made tiny Christmas Stockings for my kids, neices and nephew. I blogged my Son’s tiny Stocking last year and tonight I found my daughters.

Combined Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch with Herringobone Stitch and done two rows matching the herringbone Stitch down the centre.

This Seam is 2 rows of a Feather Stitch Variation which is worked all on one side and then mirrored on the other side of the seam.

I didn’t really need to add beads to this seam because it does stand alone but as I have beaded every other seam on this stocking I added a single bead in each section the stitch forms.