The post was originally called ‘Why width is more important than length’. Then I had a little (big) snicker and renamed it to something completely innocuous. Then I renamed it for the third time because this post really is all about width.
Our lives are ruled by blue boxes. Not of the Trojan or Viagra kind, come on now, this is after all a family blog.
My boys are obsessed with Playmobil and Lego and have been since they were old enough not to choke on the majority of the small parts. But unless my husband and I feel like assembling it pre-Christmas morning, it takes a mighty effort to fit those boxes into any standard stocking. As part of our 25 Days of Christmas this year one of our activities was to make Christmas stockings because I was tired of having empty stockings on Christmas morning. Why empty? Because all the toys from Santa were either beside or on top of the stockings because they wouldn’t fit inside and I refuse to buy small bits of rubbish (knowing it’ll fit) that my kids won’t play with for more than 30 seconds.
Last Friday night we spent an hour at Fabricland. I stood back and let them sort through the reams of fabric only vetoing choices like teddy bears circa Cotton Ginny 1990s sweatshirts and psychedelic neon patterns for me.
I looked online for patterns and found even the simplest options way to complicated. I didn’t want to hem or dart or use more than one type of fabric. Instead I took a hunk of my left over backdrop paper and the boys and I made our own pattern.
They held the pattern and fabric in place while I cut out all five stockings. No fingers or clothing was snipped in the process. If you were looking for instructions on how to make stockings this is as detailed as I’m going to get. Might I suggest Pinterest?
After they were in bed I dragged out my 20+ year old sewing machine and got to work, which is where my husband found me on Sunday night at 9 pm.
“You’re sewing?”
“Well I can’t tape the damn things together”
“Barefoot in the kitchen?”
“I hate socks”
“With a sleeping baby on your back?”
“Yessss. Are you judging?”
(Insert head shake, smile, and ‘No dear of course not’). It’s possible that at this point he checked the calendar to make sure that it was still 2012.
And voila! The monkeys (brightly coloured dogs) and the firefighter’s stockings.
Baby ducks stocking (blue, orange, and green teddy bears), my pink stocking, and my husbands guitar stocking.
Bring it on Santa…we’re ready!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
They’re awesome! Great job, Sara!!! We have the standard small-ish stockings and Santa mostly fills them with Playmobil and Lego “accessories”, toiletries (even for the wee babe) and a couple of food treats. The one “big” gift the boys ask for does get wrapped and left on the side of a stocking. But I love your big ones!!!
I think most of our stuff ends up outside the stockings but at least this year they weren’t empty and artfully draped because nothing fit. Plus it was an awful lot of fun picking fabric with the boys!!
I love them!! They look fantastic, and perfect for each person’s personality, and so easy, too! It’s sure to be a happy Christmas morning now
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I’m all about easy when it comes to arts and crafts. I can’t complain about my kids attention span because mine is just about as long as theirs
Forgot to mention – sewing with a baby on your back is BAD ASS.
That’s me…bad ass to the core
And you turned it into a family project! I hope they were all stuffed Christmas morning.
They were!! Next year our goal is to stuff ours with fun stuff because our Santa presents were lame-o compared to what the kids got.
Isn’t that the truth? Why should kids get all the fun?