Felt Crafts and Stockings: A Perfect Holiday Mix!
With these felt crafts, kids can make stockings all their own!
Children love to make things, and felt crafts are always great ways to get creative without spending a fortune! Felt is dirt cheap, so if felt crafts are ruined you can always run out and buy another piece -- a great thing if you're going to have kids chopping and sewing (yes, sewing). These felt crafts will keep kids busy for hours, and they'll have beautiful stockings they can treasure for years!
Materials
For each stocking, you will need:
-one piece of green felt
-one piece of red felt
-one piece of white felt (optional)
-glitter, fabric paint, felt scraps -- whatever you think you'll need for decorating
-white glue or a glue gun
-large sewing needles (not darning needles)
-thread
-optional: for very young children, get yarn, darning needles, and a hole punch
-scissors
Make It!
Either create a cardboard template for tracing or help each child cut out matching stocking shapes from the green and red felt. Sew the wrong sides together. There are three ways to do the sewing with children:
1. For kids who have sewn before, use a blanket stitch: insert the needle, bring it beneath the felt, push it back up, looping it inside of the stitch. The resulting stitch looks like a line along the seam.
2. For kids who are new to sewing: Don't worry about the blanket stitch. Either use a traditional up-and-down stitch (but be careful they don't make the stitches too big -- you might have to make dots with a marker as a guideline) or have them "wrap" the thread (always inserting the needle from the bottom.
3. For very young children: punch holes along the felt. Thread a darning needle with yarn and let them weave in and out of the holes.
Once you've completed these felt crafts, turn them inside out. Now you can decorate your stocking however you desire! Some ideas:
-Glue white trim along the top
-Use fabric paint and glitter to write/draw on the felt
-Cut out felt shapes
-For very crafty children, try your hand at a little embroidery!
Whatever you do, the stockings will turn out great because the kids made them! These felt crafts will keep kids busy for hours, and they're a lot of fun besides.
