Vintage Christmas Stockings

I had a request a year ago to knit two Christmas stockings for a lady who works with my Husband. She wanted me to copy her stocking from 1956. It took me a while, but I was able to find the pattern online and not make my own chart!

It has taken me a year to finish them due to school and illness, but the result is worth the wait. I think she could have had these done faster if she ordered from Siberia! Shhh!

I'm not a slow knitter by any means, but when life happens, some things get placed on hold.

Christmas Stocking Supplies:

• 1 skein each: Red, Green, White Red heart Super Saver Acrylic Yarn (Worsted/Aran)
• Small scraps of black, whatever skin color you choose for Santa's face, and blue yarn
• Size 6 32" circular needles (Or size to gauge)
• Stitch marker
• Tapestry needle
• 1 package assorted color sequins ($1.97 at WalMart)
• Size 11/0 glass seed beads whatever color you choose (clear)
• Bead needle or thin quilting sharp for darning and decoration

This pattern from the 1950's is a good introduction to intarsia knitting.

I actually used a stocking pattern from Knit Picks (Free Download: Holiday Stocking) for the conversion into knitting in the round. I personally did not want to knit these stockings flat and do a seam. I would have preferred kitchener if that was an option, but we are not working with any live edge stitches here.

The pattern suggests that you knit the stocking flat and purl across every 3rd row to "lock in" the colors. I only used the chart, not the written pattern. I cast on 60 stitches on size 6 circular needles.

I knitted 2 stockings and each turned out a little different. The first has a name on it, and the second does not. You can knit the name into the white band or the red part, or even duplicate stitch the name into it. I was going to do that, but the finished result looked crappy and uneven in the yarn I was using (Red Heart Super Saver), so I just knitted it in Fair Isle.

When changing colors, you will need to know how to do the twist. You can twist over or under, but make sure to twist the working yarn around the red yarn every 2-3 stitches to prevent gaping or tightening. Also, make sure that on the next row, you alternate where you twist. You will get the hang of it. If you don't alternate where you twist, you will be able to see the twisted color in a gap between the surface color.

Behind the scenes, it will look really messy. Make sure you keep those strands twisted and evenly tensioned. If they are too tight, you can always "faux steek" and cut all the yarn floats straight down the middle of the motif on the wrong side and pick/nudge the stitches into proper tensioned alignment. You can also go back and tether down any stitches that went awry on the motif edges. I used a needle and red/white thread and went all around the perimeter of my motifs to lock them down. I had some wonky gaping edges, but it turned out fine due to my secret finishing techniques.

To finish, you need to embroider two eyes on Santa's face and a smile if you wish, and then turn to the Christmas tree side and place beaded sequins with needle and thread.

The bead acts as an anchor for the sequin so it cannot move. To place sequins, pull the thread through the desired spot (I recommend covering wonky gaps and places where the branches look crooked)

Thread on the sequin dome-side up, then thread the bead on top of the sequin. Poke the needle back through the sequin and try to poke through the stocking where you pulled the needle out first.

Add a gold star or an angel or a bow at the top of the tree with more beaded sequins.

Finish by placing stocking on an old white t-shirt or white cotton fabric and trace around, leaving about 1/2" around the whole outline for a seam allowance. Stitch by hand or machine, leaving the top free. Make sure the liner is wrong side out, so that the nice smooth seams are inside. Loosely tuck the top under to fit beneath the top garter row. Tack by hand with a slip stitch.

The finished stocking should look something like this:

Shown is my hair after 7 days since the last henna application. The color has darkened into a rich blend of deep ruby and bright cinnamon tones with amazing dimension, as always when I use Rajasthani Jasmine. 
I know this is a long post, but I need to share my testimony as I am sure there are other very young women dealing with the same things. I want to thank mehandi.com/ Ancient Sunrise Henna for helping me solve two huge problems that have really affected my self-confidence for years: bald spots and gray hairs. I am 22 years old. My hair is naturally curly in waves and ringlets through the length, straight on the top 3 inches. I wash my hair in cold water every 3-4 days, put in a handful of conditioner on the ends, gently use a wide toothed comb and then a fine toothed comb to style/ remove excess product, towel dry, and let it air dry. My curly hair is made up of more dispersed darker, flat, coarse, thick strands and more plentiful translucent, round, smooth, fine strands. It breaks from any heat, even hot water. I thought combing my hair had something to do with my issues, but after 7 years of the same gentle routine, it was obvious that something else was the culprit.
The first problem, bald spots, had been going on for about 6 years. It got to the point where I could not tuck my hair behind my ear because my scalp would show, and I had to carefully comb the hair on the back of my head over a large, obvious bald spot in the very middle. I was about to buy an expensive bald spot filler/hair thickener fiber powder product and even used eyeshadow at times to cover the spots. The embarrassing issue arose for two reasons. The first was the hairstyles that I had to do for Colorguard, two different styles per year for 5 years. We danced indoors and outdoors, and hair had to be pulled very tightly against the scalp in very precise parts, teased for an underlayer of volume, and the overlayer of hair shellacked down with hair spray so the wind would not move a single strand. There were usually over 40 bobby pins needed for each hair style, which scraped against the scalp and lifted hair roots at a painful angle. Each year the parts in my hair were different, and each year I noticed that my fellow dancers and I had the same widening parts in our hair. All the pulling and parting and heat damage form hot rollers and flat irons, not to mention the sun and wind, took a heavy toll on our hair. The bald spots grew wider as my hair growth pattern thinned in those areas. When I put up my hair for internship/work or braided it, the bald spots would show in a way that made certain styles, even a ponytail, impossible without combing other hair over and adding a hair accessory, and that added additional weight that made the problem worse. 
The second cause was stress and (3 years ago) use of a bright green henna product from India that I eventually learned was the evil green sand stuff that has mineral salts added. One of my mother's students from India gave her the henna and I felt obligated to try it. It fizzed when I added lemon juice. Big mistake. All my hard work of using AS Jasmine was gone after my hair turned stringy, greenish, gummy, and lifeless. After that, I lost a handful of hair each day from only gentle manipulation of my then very thin brittle hair, and the bald spots widened. I tried to apply peroxide to my roots so they would match the rest of my hair after the green sand henna. I stopped using peroxide and went back to using only AS Jasmine henna from then on. 
The other problem is gray hairs. They are only in certain places right now: front section and temples. The Jasmine works great to cover them up. Now, they look like ruby red highlights. I went through a VERY stressful time last fall when a faulty doctor gave me diagnoses of leukemia and arrhythmia. After extensive testing and a holter monitor it was actually chronic mononucleosis. Also, my husband had surgery but the wrong lipoma was removed. My grades and finances fell as I struggled through my studies, internship, working, paying hefty medical bills and managing orders for my shop. I would scratch my head and come away with a handful of hair. The grays cropped up and haven't stopped since. Now, after using Jasmine henna every month and many prayers, I can share an update of how great my hair looks after a relaxing spring semester and summer. Over the past 6 months, the bald spots have filled in with new thick, shiny, silky hair, and many are almost gone! Thank you, Ancient Sunrise, for helping me fix these confidence-crushing issues! I look and feel better than I have in years!

SEWING A VENT

After much fear and trepidation, I have finally succeeded in sewing a vent extension without a hitch.

I sewed a dress from a pattern I drafted recently where the vent had to become a “design feature” to put it nicely, because the thing ended up like a box pleat. And the lining? Yes, it was put in as a box pleat in the back as well. Oh, the horror. To think that a lady who has sewn her own wedding gown that turned out magnificently had botched such a “beginner” skill. Guess what? It’s not! Vent extensions were not commonly used in household sewing until the 1930’s! Therefore, worry not, you can learn to sew a vent extension if you haven’t done one yet or have been reluctant to start sewing that pencil skirt because there is a vent in the back. It is scary, but it exists, so there must be a way to make it happen!

Take charge and watch these videos before you begin! Then, I shall explain the niceties of the vent.

FashionSewingBlogTV: Sewing lining to a Vent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV6dNTi6WvU

                                    Sewing a vent:               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLzya7hRUXY

ProfessorPincushion:     How to sew a Back Slit or Vent Extension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66aq038eP5Y

Here are some things about sewing a vent that I figured out:

1) Do not finish edges of fashion fabric or lining when putting lining into dress. Do it later. The seams will be hidden by the lining anyway…

2) Work on the back of the dress/skirt first before sewing any side seams because it makes the process so much easier!

3) Some patterns have the curved underlap like Colleen shows in her video. Cut out the pieces as they are shown in your pattern for best results. I cut mine out both the same.

4) Fashion Fabric: You can baste the vent extension, clip the TOP LAYER and then press it to the RIGHT

            Then, you will do the same thing with the lining but press to the LEFT. Then TAKE OUT basting!

5) DO NOT SEW THE LINING VENT EXTENSION! Only sew the vent extension on the fashion fabric.

6) The DOT is all-powerful. Pay attention to the DOT. You will need it for EVERYTHING, so make sure you mark the DOT on the fashion and lining fabric on the wrong side of ALL PIECES.

7) The seam you will sew that encases the lining in the fashion fabric is ¼”, so you will need to stop sewing the vent extension on the fashion fabric ¼” from the edge. Don’t backstitch it so you can open up the seam edge and finagle it if needed.

Steps to sewing a vent:

1)     Take the back pieces of your pattern, sew in the darts and staystitch neckline and armholes.

2)     Line up the zipper you are using and decide if you are sewing an invisible zipper, All Purpose zipper, or a LAPPED zipper. Mark where the zip ends on fashion and lining fabric.

3)     Baste the 5/8” Seam allowance for the zipper from start to end. (Length 4, Tension 1-2)

4)     Stitch the area from end of zipper to the DOT with normal stitch (Length 2, Tension 3)

5)     Baste the area from DOT to HEM (Length 4, Tension 1-2) You may need to draw a straight line to make sure you sew with the same seam allowance throughout.

6)     On the FASHION FABRIC ONLY, stitch the VENT EXTENSION, or the part that slants DOWN away from the main body of the dress back. Make sure to stop stitching ¼” from the edge!

7)     CLIP the TOP layer of the seam allowance diagonal from the DOT, being very careful not to cut the stitching! A little notch will suffice. Do the same with the lining, even though you didn’t sew the vent extension yet.

8)     Fold the fashion fabric vent to the RIGHT and the lining fabric vent to the LEFT. Press along the basted line, then REMOVE BASTING from DOT to HEM.

9)     The name of the game now is to stay AWAY from the DOT. Do not catch it in your stitching for the next few steps.

10)  Take the TOP EDGES of the fashion fabric and the lining and match up the RIGHT SIDES, and pin along the edge. Get ALL excess fabric out of the way to avoid catching it. LOOK at the stitching of the vent extension on the fashion fabric. Line up your presser foot on the edge of the fabric for a ¼” seam. Manually turn the wheel while holding the threads. Go forward 3 stitches, back 3, then forward 3 again, then stitch down the line with the pedal.

11)  Take out the pins and trim threads, then do the same to the other side, but pin so that the seam is sewn from the hem to the DOT. Fashion fabric should be facing you again. Don’t catch excess fabric.

12)  Take out pins, trim threads, tack anywhere the stitching may be loose. The edges should line up perfectly in a little square between fashion fabric and lining.

13)  The Lining vent extension is not sewn yet. Put a pin in the DOT to avoid catching it. Then put 2 pins in the vent extension and line up the presser foot for a ¼” seam. Manually turn the wheel, backstitch, sew forward all the way to the edge without catching the fashion fabric, backstitch.

14)  Take out pins, Clip the lining on the other DOT edge, being careful not to trim the stitching line.

15)  The vent extension should now look like a V. Pull the lining up and look at the fashion fabric from the right side. The edges of the vent extension should overlap, Left over right. It should look perfect. Now you can decide whether you want to topstitch the vent extension. I chose not to because it looks nice and smooth just as it is. I may put in some invisible stitches to tack it down with white thread.

16)  BREATHE and PRESS the vent. YOU DID IT!!!

17)  Sew the side seams of the dress and lining, then put the lining into the dress!

18)  Viola! A lovely, professionally finished dress!

Why you should not share your designs unless you are selling them, and why you should make sure your designs do not fall into the wrong hands

Why you should not share your designs unless you are selling them, and why you should make sure your designs do not fall into the wrong hands

I will not share my designs unless someone wants me to hand-draft a copy of my pattern in one specific size and sell it to them for at least $32, because it takes at least 4 hours to properly size and draft a viable, usable pattern. It takes even longer to test it and make sure the fit is perfect, then adjustments must be made to the draft.

This being said, with all the work that goes into making your own designs and proudly showing the professional pictures you have taken of your work after you finish sewing your design, imagine how sickening it would be to find YOUR design, YOUR photos, on someone’s website, WATERMARKED AS THEIR OWN! That, my friends, is intellectual theft. People are evil enough to take screenshots or snips of designs shown on YouTube videos to use them on their websites, claiming that they can replicate the design shown. YOUR DESIGN! YOUR WORK! The best part is that once someone orders that product, the picture is no longer on their website just to make the site look good. It is now their responsibility to figure out how your pattern works, and the copycats will scramble to pull together a mediocre version of your design. This is not right, this is theft. It is ILLEGAL.

I advise upcoming designers to avoid sharing their designs, portfolios, or sketches with anyone, including potential employers or big pattern companies. Sure, Gertie got her patterns into the big leagues, but once they have your design, they OWN IT. It is NOT YOURS ANYMORE. This is especially sad since young designers work so hard, only to have their work ripped from them by a large corporation that specializes in replicating new trends. Then, they sell your pattern and design to the general public, who will appreciate what they see and what is available, but consumers will never know how much work goes into your craft.

This is why I cannot share any patterns, layouts, or sketches without a LOUD watermark that CANNOT be removed no matter how hard someone tries to photoshop it. This makes me sad, but at the same time, I will not stand for my work and my legacy being stolen from me. Only my daughters and granddaughters will have access to my designs unless purchased by consumers at a price that reflects the work I put into making the patterns and designs I have to offer. I am amazing, and my mind is overflowing with creativity. If someone wants to steal my ideas, they will have to pry them from my cold, dead brain.

Wedding gown photos upon completion

Pictures Of my completed Wedding Gown are here!

Wedding Gown Journey: Completed

Wedding dress progress underway!

The beaded panel was complete.
At this point, I decided that I needed flares on the sides of my dress that would hang down lower than the front and back. Very 1930's. Very pretty and twirly. Very tricky.

I drafted two rounded bottom triangles. They were the wrong size. I drafted two more and decided to leave off the rounded bottom because the bias would make the pieces sag lower anyways. I sewed them on. They were pretty. It required much steaming and pressing and fussing.

Next installment.... Sewing the beading onto the dress! (Insert scary violin music)

Wait!!! You didn't even make a lining yet! (I then drafted and pasted and cursed and cut and pasted some more and cut out the pattern that I had made, praying, and sewed the lining together the correct way. I even did a proper rolled hem with my rolled hem foot, which was perfect)

the lining sat for three weeks untouched. I ironed and pressed it twice but didn't bother to do anything. Laziness! Finally, I did something about it and pinned the lining on my dressform, where it remained for two more weeks until I decided that I had to sew it in. Finally, I could do the beading.

But I hadn't sewed the dress hem... so, I sewed it all by hand using an invisible catch stitch and it looks great!

To attach the beading to the dress, I used the same trusty beading needle and invisible thread. I pinned the design as best I could (grammar... at 1:30 am?) and after watching the entire tenth season of Grey's Anatomy and a few choice X-Files episodes on Netflix, It was finished.

But wait... something is not right.

The design was not centered. Yes, in my lack of sleep motivational speaking mode, I had pinned the whole design off center. Did I try to fix it? Perhaps... we won't divulge the lengths I went to.

I finished off the procrastination by deciding to attach an applique triangle to the dress by hand. Yes, with teeny hand stitches that resemble a serger's rolled hem setting. Crazy.

Then, I finally pinned and sewed the drapery parts on the skirt back. Let me tell you, there are thousands of billions of hand stitches on those things. Do not be fooled. The entire process took an entire month to complete. Insanity!

Later, I applied rows of beading over the applique triangle. And it looked like a satin diamond with the skirt back peeking from beneath the cascades, just like I wanted. And I was happy.

But then I had to go back to my dilemma of the off-centered beading. Oh, golly what to do.
I settled on squinching some more beads on top of the design to make it look more even and added rows of beads at the neckline. And some accent lace. And it is very pretty.

I noticed that I had not sewed in the lining for the shoulder seam properly, and foulmouthedness resulted. But, I finished it, and it looks good.

Then I had to finish the armhole edges, but I didn't trust my machine to do it. So, again, I sewed the edges by hand. All you do is wrap the needle around the fabric edge to roll it under and secure with stitches. Quite easy. Took 15 minutes for each side. Then came the satin binding. I used satin ribbon. I had to stitch down the edges by hand and cursed myself for staystitching and then overlocking the edges because they are so hard to hide.

After that was done, I knew that I needed to sew the peplums on still. That was not fun.
For this step, I had to try on the dress again. I realized that I had grown an entire four inches on my bustline. FOUR. INCHES!!!
You are possibly thinking 1) "Gosh, I'll take those four inches on my girls any day" 2) "Stress-eating will do that to you" 3) "She's totally pregnant".

So which option is correct? NONE! It was my darn blessed birth control that gave me all those lady hormones and resized my bustline to 200%.

So, now almost a D-cup, I have a dilemma. I'm filling out my C-cup bras with cleavage. I have never before experienced cleavage in my life!
One must always wear a brassiere with one's wedding gown. But mine has a sheer lace back. What to do... I have yet to try those silicone cups.

By the way, When I tried on my dress, I popped a stitch. Because of my boobs.

PEPLUMS.
I tried on the dress. The bias cut fabric did not want to sit properly over my tummy (I didn't go to the gym or run like I promised). I pinched and poked and pinned and poked myself and finally pinned the peplums and the dress into submission at the same time.

Then I sewed the right peplum on (but before that, sewed a ribbon on by hand) while wearing the dress. No one there to help me, just by my lonesome.
The left peplum was more fun. It was a carnival.
The zipper is on the left side of the dress. What did I have to do?

SNAPS! The snaps were even more fun than the right side pinching and poking. No... do not go gentle into that good night.... I was about to flee from the earth at this point. It was hellish. The fitting, that is.
Thankfully with some tugging and struggling, it managed to look all right.

Then, I had to strategically place (read: fuse 1/4" ribbon to dress and then hand stitch thinking it will remain straight, only to press it, revealing a whole mess of wrinkles that you can't fix) ribbons and do several rows of beading on the front V part. It looked a lot nicer after that.

It is finished. All done. Viola.
 Twirl, Twirl, Twirl.

Bridal Embroidery Complete

Here is the completed embroidery.

This took ages! It is not for the faint of heart!

I hope that you enjoyed the bit of eye candy. I do not have a tutorial covering the beading techniques. I looked all over Pinterest and the internet for examples of beading techniques, tore a hole in the tulle trying to use my tiny crochet hook for tambour, and decided to use invisible thread and a beading needle.

Again, this took AGES. I started in December 2014 and finished in February!