ADD HANDMADE CHARM TO YOUR HOLIDAY WITH A SIMPLE MINI-CHARM PROJECT THAT’S PERFECT FOR GIFTING OR DECORATING!
A patchwork Christmas stocking is a fun and festive way to add a handmade touch to your holiday season. This quick project uses mini charm squares to create a cheerful design that comes together beautifully—even if you’re short on time.
I love sewing small projects like this, especially during the busy winter months. These stockings are a great way to use up scraps or showcase a favourite holiday fabric line. They’re perfectly sized for little gifts or treats, and they look so sweet hanging by the fireplace or on a stair rail.
Ready to make your own? Let’s dive in!
Supplies for Patchwork Christmas Stockings
As usual, the fabric is taking centre stage for this project! For my stocking, I’ve used pre-cut mini charms, but you can cut your own squares from yardage, scraps or even other precuts like charms, layer cakes or jelly rolls. This particular stocking uses 2 ½” squares.
You will also be using a lightweight fusible interfacing.
I found the grid interfacing to be very helpful, but you can use regular lightweight interfacing as well.
Go ahead and gather up your basic quilting supplies:
- Rotary cutter and mat – You can absolutely use a good pair of scissors, but I do find that you get the most accurate cuts using a rotary cutter.
- Quilting Ruler
- Sewing machine
- Thread
- Iron and ironing board or pressing mat
- Pins or clips
- Fabric marker
- Spray starch – optional for this project.
An easy way to be prepared for any project is to keep all your quilting tools in one place using my handy Portable Sewing Room tutorial.
I will also be using the Accuquilt GO! Santa Stocking die to cut out my patchwork Christmas stocking shape. You can also use your own template or an old stocking to draw your shape. To learn more about the Accuquilt GO! cutting system, be sure to check out my Accuquilt Review!
To see how I put this all together, you can watch my YouTube tutorial here:
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For full instructions, continue reading below.
SMARTER CUTTING, FASTER QUILTING
Cut your fabric in a fraction of the time with AccuQuilt. Whether you’re making half-square triangles or appliqué shapes, this tool is a game-changer.
Patchwork Christmas Stockings: Step-by-Step Instructions
Start by measuring your template in length and width. The size of your stocking will determine how many mini charms you will use. Note that these measurements will not include the cuff.
The Accuquilt die template is 10 ½” wide by 13 ¾” high. To make sure that I have full coverage, my mini charms will be laid out in 7 rows, with either 4 or 5 mini charms per row as shown below:
You can see that none of the squares are touching but there isn’t much of a gap.
You can see that I’ve laid these pieces out on fusible interfacing. To make things easy for you, start by putting your interfacing on your ironing board or pressing mat. That way, you won’t have to risk dropping everything when you move it from your cutting table to your ironing board. And yes, I AM speaking from experience!
Be sure to leave a small gap between each row and column. You can see how much space I have in between each square.
Carefully press all your squares to adhere them to the interfacing. Make sure that you don’t bump them out of place!
Next, stitch your rows by folding each row and sewing a ¼” stitch. See the images below.
Simply fold and stitch one row at a time, working your way down the length of the stocking.
Once all your rows are sewn, press the seams and stitch your columns. Press the seams.
When you leave those small gaps, folding your rows and columns is very easy.
At this stage, you can decide if you want to add extra batting and quilt the front of the stocking. I chose to use a fusible batting and quilted it with a simple criss-cross pattern. This step is totally optional. I completed another patchwork Christmas stocking without the quilting and it’s still really cute!
You can quilt this any way you like, or not at all!
Once the quilting is done, it’s time to cut out the stocking.
Love the shape of this die cut.
As I said, I’m using the Accuquilt GO! Santa Stocking die to cut out my stocking shape. If you are using a template, you can either pin or trace the shape onto your quilted squares. You will need to cut out four layers in total – the quilted front, a backing piece and two pieces for your lining.
Using a die cutter like the Accuquilt ensures that all your layers are perfectly sized.
To put your stocking together, stack them as follows:
Top two layers – stocking front and back with right sides together
Bottom two layers – two lining pieces with right sides together
It doesn’t matter if the lining or the stocking front and back are on top. Just be sure to pair them right sides together.
Sew around the edge of all four layers with a ¼” to ½” seam. Be sure that you are catching all four layers as you go, particularly around the curves. Don’t sew across the top of the stocking.
This little trick is like magic!
Once your seam is finished, trim any excess fabric to cut down on the bulk. Turn the stocking right side out by flipping the stocking front and backing outwards. This will leave the lining in the centre and you can see that the seams are enclosed! Press your stocking.
Look at those finished seams! How wonderful!
Now it’s time to make the cuff. To do this, start by measuring the width of the top of your stocking. Mine measures 7 ¼” on one side. This would be 14 ½” around. I will need to cut a piece of fabric 15″ wide. to create my cuff. I chose to cut my cuff fabric at 7 ½” high by 15″ wide. Fold your cuff fabric in half with wrong sides together and press. Then, open it back up and stitch a ¼” seam on the short edge, as shown below.
Pressing the seam open helps to reduce the bulk. You can also faintly see the original pressed fold.
Press the seam open and fold it in half, using the pressed fold.
Turn your stocking inside out and place the cuff around the top of the stocking. Align the seam of the cuff and a side seam of your stocking. Using a ¼” seam, stitch all the way around the top of the stocking. Press the cuff upwards and then turn the stocking right side out.
When your measurements are just right, the cuff will fit around the top of your stocking perfectly.
Fold the cuff over to the desired length and either stitch it in place or, as I did, use some fabric glue to hold the cuff in place.
To make the hanger, I used a scrap of fabric left from the backing and cuff that measured 7 ½” by 2 ½”. Fold the strip in half lengthwise and then fold each side into the centre.
Making these folds keeps any raw edges from being exposed.
Press and stitch along the open edge using a ¼” seam. Also stitch across the bottom and then hand stitch the hanger to the inside of the cuff.
You can also make your hanger out of ribbon!
In all, these stockings might take about an hour to make. The fusible interfacing makes the process so quick and easy, you’ll be looking for reasons to use more mini charms in everything you do!
You can have all your patchwork Christmas stockings finished in a weekend. And when you consider that most Christmas fabrics will be hitting your local quilt shop in early Summer, you can really be ready for the holidays!
For more fast and fun Christmas ideas, be sure to check out these projects:
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