DIY Customized Holiday Stockings (Video)
The Marilyn Denis Show
I love giving homemade gifts for the holidays! But let’s be honest. Time is precious, and it seems there’s very little of it to go around these days. So what’s a good made-from-scratch alternative? Adorning!
For this segment on the Marilyn Denis show, I took plain, store-bought Christmas stockings (from the dollar store!), and personalized them with a variety of different embellishments. The best part of this simple DIY holiday project? I did options for all skill levels: no-sew (glue-on and iron-on instead), kid-friendly (using a super cool Sew Cool sewing machine), and good-old regular basic sewing.
Watch the projects here…
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Host, MarilynDenis:
Here to show us how we can customize our store-bought Christmas stockings, author and sewing expert – I don’t think I’ve ever met a sewing expert.
Denise:
That’s okay.
Marilyn:
Denise Wild is with us.
Denise:
Thank you for having me.
Marilyn:
Oh my gosh. I’m so excited. So, we’ve got the beginner, the intermediate, and then the—
Denise:
Yes. So let’s say you’re going to a Christmas party, you want to bring something for the hostess, but you want it to be more personalized.
Marilyn:
Yeah.
Denise:
You want it to be really special and from the heart.
Marilyn:
Right.
Denise:
I’m going to show you how to take store-bought stockings—
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
—and DYI them. Embellish them so that they’re, you know, made with love; they’re easy to do, and they’re unique.
Marilyn:
Okay. Begin, tell us what to do.
Denise:
So these are the first beginner ones. Basically, everything here is either ironed on, stuck on, or glued on. So, super easy to do. You don’t need any intense skills or anything.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
So I’m going to get you—
Marilyn:
It’s a no sew.
Denise:
To iron these on – yes
Marilyn:
Is this a no sew?
Denise:
This is a no sew.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
And you’ve got the Portia stocking. I’ve got the Calvin stocking. You’re going to lay this pressing cloth over.
Marilyn:
Yeah.
Denise:
And just iron it on.
Marilyn:
You don’t want to rub too much because—?
Denise:
No. Not too much. You’re just giving it some heat.
Marilyn:
Please work.
Denise:
These are letters that I’ve already cut out.
Marilyn:
Please work.
Denise:
It will definitely work.
Marilyn:
Please work. I was just saying, my sister is a Home-Ec teacher. She’s retired and she got those genes.
Denise:
Yeah. So as you’re pressing that on, basically, the letters are going to adhere. I’m going to take this off; this just has a sticky back and I wrap it right around the top. So you can glue embellishments around. We can stick this around and then it’s really, really easy to do.
Marilyn:
Yeah.
Denise:
And let’s pull this off and see letters.
Marilyn:
Okay, letters, please work.
Denise:
Okay, so now we peel off the letters like this.
Marilyn:
Oh, they did?
Denise:
There you go. There you go. Yeah. It’s super easy.
Marilyn:
Yeah. That’s so nice.
Denise:
It doesn’t take very much time and, you know, just with stuff that you have lying around your house anyways, so—
Marilyn:
What about this bling? What do you do with that?
Denise:
Well, we can put that on as well.
Marilyn:
You don’t mean iron that on?
Denise:
Yep.
Marilyn:
Do you?
Denise:
Yeah. We’re going to use some heat.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
Just peel off the paper back.
Marilyn:
Yeah.
Denise:
And these are available at any craft supply store, sewing supply store.
Marilyn:
Oh, okay.
Denise:
You going to just put it on like this, but we need the pressing cloth.
Marilyn:
Oh, we do. We do, yeah.
Denise:
Yeah. It’s right under here. We don’t want to melt—
Marilyn:
See, that’s what would happen. I’d be almost finished. Feeling very good about myself and then—
Denise:
Yeah. So let’s give that a little—
Marilyn:
—a bleeding heart. That’s what would happen. Honestly, right, Pat. Really, how many years? And I still can’t do it. Okay. But you don’t have to rub? You don’t have to rub.
Denise:
No. You don’t have to rub. Just give it some pressure give it some heat. You want to hold it down—
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
—for 15 to 20 seconds, and then we’ll peel it off and it’ll be on there.
Marilyn:
Okay. Well let’s just do it anyway. I can’t wait. Okay.
Denise:
Yeah.
Marilyn:
I’m so excited. Come on and work.
Denise:
Then it comes back.
Marilyn:
No. It didn’t work. Almost.
Denise:
Almost.
Marilyn:
Just leave it there.
Denise:
Okay.
Marilyn:
Okay. Go to the next one.Go to the next one
Denise:
We’ll come back. We’ll come back.
Marilyn:
Yeah. Go that way. Here, we’ll do that later. Do that later. Okay.
Denise:
So this is the basic. Now we’re going to move onto sewing. This little amazing machine, it is perfect for beginners. It’s made for kids, but adults can use it too. So if you’ve never sewn before, it’s a great thing to pick up. This is a Sew Cool sewing machine.
Marilyn:
It’s adorable.
Denise:
Yes. And it’s thread-less. So what it is it actually felts the two pieces of fabric together.
Marilyn:
Oh!
Denise:
And it’s got a little guard here for your fingers.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
So what we do; we turn this on and—
Marilyn:
This is for felt right? Felt only?
Denise:
Yes. So it comes with a pre-cut patterns in little packages and, basically, what we’ve done is we’re embellishing this. It’s kind of a gift for kids. And this can go all the way around. You just follow this line, press the button, and then just push it all the way through. And what it does—
Marilyn:
Oh, it’s got a little light.
Denise:
Exactly. It kind of sandwiches the fabric together to hold it together. Once you’ve gone all the way around, we can stuff it.
Marilyn:
Oh, yeah!
Denise:
I think you should give this a try.
Marilyn:
Really? How do you? How do you?
Denise:
Just push it through. So I’m lining up that—
Marilyn:
That blue line?
Denise:
That blue line with the bottom line.
Marilyn:
Let me in there!
Denise:
So just push it through there—
Marilyn:
But you don’t want to go too fast?
Denise:
Um, I would go a little faster.
Marilyn:
Oh! You know, this brings back nightmares.
Denise:
No. You’re doing good; you can sew and talk.
Marilyn:
No. I’m not. No, no. It gives me nightmares, because a long time ago, when I was doing my jumpsuit at school – oh, my gosh. I’m off the rails.
Denise:
No. You’re good.
Marilyn:
I got my head caught in the presser foot – my hair.
Denise:
Oh, did you?
Marilyn:
Oh, yeah. I think we’re ahead now.
Denise:
Oh, there you go.
Marilyn:
I’m sweating.
Denise:
So, this one, the little projects, they’re really super cute. You can put stuffing in them and then you can just hot glue them onto your stockings.
Marilyn:
Oh.
Denise:
And then, you know, personalizes it and it’s a fun project to do in an afternoon.
Marilyn:
How long is this show? 90 minutes. Okay, that’s good.
Denise:
We don’t have to finish. You get the idea. Yeah, look, you did a great job.
Marilyn:
Yeah. I got little uh, uh, uh – I pulled there a little bit.
Denise:
No. It’s good.
Marilyn:
But anyway, here’s a point – how do you get out?
Denise:
So let’s pull this out here.
Marilyn:
Uh, huh. Okay. It doesn’t matter. See, you understand why I get upset? Not really upset.
Denise:
Wait, wait.
Marilyn:
Hi.
Denise:
There we go. There we go.
Marilyn:
Thank you. Okay, now–
Denise:
So we would put the stuffing in. In the bottom hole–
Marilyn:
Oh!
Denise:
—and then close it up.
Marilyn:
Did I do it?
Denise:
Yeah, you did it right.
Marilyn:
Oh, good.
Denise:
Yep. Yeah.
Marilyn:
Oh, I thought I closed the whole thing up. So you put the stuff in–
Denise:
So it comes with the batting, all the pre-cut pieces, and then we’ll close it up–
Marilyn:
Aren’t you patient? Aren’t you patient? Aren’t you great? Okay, and then like that. Oh, look. I love it. Isn’t that cute. Right?
Denise:
Yeah. It’s cute.
Marilyn:
Okay. What are we doing here?
Denise:
Okay. So, now, let’s move on to this beautiful machine.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
This is a Brother Sewing Machine, and it’s so easy to use and it’s got lots of great features, but it’s also good for beginners.
Marilyn:
Right.
Denise:
So this one, what I’ve done – the finished stocking in the front; it’s quite embellished, it’s totally over the top–
Marilyn:
Isn’t it pretty?
Denise:
—and really fun.
Marilyn:
But that’s a store-bought one, right?
Denise:
No. It started with this–
Marilyn:
You started, yeah, but you started with that.
Denise:
I started with that, yeah. And then did all the embellishments and added them on with the sewing machine.
Marilyn:
What a great idea. Okay.
Denise:
So that is something that we’re going do. I can do something a little more subdued and just as these two trims here.
Marilyn:
Okay.
Denise:
So that it’s more subtle.
Marilyn:
Sure.
Denise:
And I thought maybe what you could do is kind of play with some of these trends and decide how we’re going to sew yours on too.
Marilyn:
Okay, we’ve got a minute left.
Denise:
Okay.
Marilyn:
So, you’ve got – you’ve got to do–
Denise:
So I’ll do this one.
Marilyn:
I’ll just say I got caught with the cute sewing machine. You’re the professional, you go.
Denise:
Okay, so what I’ve done: I precut these ones and I’m just going to lay them on top with this and it’s just one stitch all the way through.
Marilyn:
You’re not pinning it or anything?
Denise:
You know, um, I’m an expert.
Marilyn:
Yep. She is. I’d be pinning and–
Denise:
So then, we can put this– wrap this around the machineand that’s exactly what–
Marilyn:
Oh, that’s great.
Denise:
—what this extension thing comes off for.
Marilyn:
Isn’t that great?
Denise:
And then just put it under like this.
Marilyn:
Isn’t that great?
Denise:
I’m going to try to do this and talk at the same time.
Marilyn:
Did you always like sewing?
Denise:
I did.
Marilyn:
Good for you.
Denise:
As soon as I loved it – as soon as I learned, I loved it.
Marilyn:
That’s so good. You had a good teacher?
Denise:
Yes.
Marilyn:
Yeah?
Denise:
Yeah.
Marilyn:
Oh, that’s so good. I didn’t.
Denise:
Okay. Then you just go forward—
Marilyn:
Look at this. This is like what–
Denise:
Oh.
Marilyn:
Okay? It’s going to happen.
Denise:
Yes. It will.
Marilyn:
Okay. Oh, it’s–
Denise:
And then we’ll do it a little faster. So then we just go all the way across–
Marilyn:
Great.
Denise:
–and it holds it in place.
Marilyn:
Okay, now, this is so pretty. Like it’s so – you’re going to make a ton of them, because it’s so much fun with this thing. Right?
Denise:
Yeah. Very easy to do.
Marilyn:
Okay. Brother’s Sewing Machines are ideal for beginners, as you mentioned, my dear, all the way to advanced sewers; and one lucky audience member is going to win this machine. And this Brother Sewing Machine – that’s beautiful – is valued at – that’s pretty. I’m going to make you draw though.
Denise:
Okay.
Marilyn:
—is valued at one-thousand-dollars. Okay. This machine. Okay, so you’re going to make a draw.
Denise:
Yeah.
Marilyn:
Go ahead, Denise.
Denise:
Alright, let’s see.
Marilyn:
Okay. It’s so great.
Denise:
And, dat-dat-dat-da…
Marilyn:
Dat-dat-dat-da…
Denise:
Drum roll.
Marilyn:
Stand up if you win. It would be funny if a guy won.
Denise:
Robin Dowdy.
Marilyn:
Robin. Do you sew?
Robin:
(Nods head and mouths the word, “No.”)
Marilyn:
You are going to sew now.
Denise:
You will.
Marilyn:
I love it. So that’s great. It’s worth a thousand dollars. everyone is going to go home with Denise’s new book “Mend & Make Fabulous,” a copy of BurdaStyle Magazine and she tells me, in that, you get patterns.
Denise:
Full-size fashion patterns.
Marilyn:
Wow.
Denise:
There are twenty of them in the magazine.
Marilyn:
That’s so great and Sew Cool machine. So there you go. Everyone gets that machine. Thank you, so nice to meet you. Okay, we’ll take a break. We’ll be right back. Yay!
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