How to work a felted lady's boot into a Christmas stocking!

The finished ladies boots representing something
that may have looked quite similar to the real
thing during the Victorian era.

       To sew this small Victorian inspired, felt stocking you will need just a few scraps of fabric in felted wool or cotton. I chose to use a woven plaid and/or tweedy looking primary wool combined with a contrasting solid color in each of the examples you see in the photographs; the possibilities for both color and pattern combinations are obviously endless.

       Each stocking is sewn together with an embroidery needle and floss using a blanket stitch and the pattern is included below for visitors to download and print off on their own home computers.

       Crafters may finish trimming each boot with three or more buttons each. For the boot on the left, I chose very pale pink buttons with rhinestones at their centers and for the boot on the right I used classic shell, pearl buttons to give each of them that vintage look.

       In these small stockings, a cash gift or tiny candies may be hidden from view while hanging from the branches of a tree or chimney mantle. Tiny stockings like these may keep your gift exchanges both modest yet stylish at the same time. 

       I think small stocking like these would also look so charming hanging from a ''charitable contributions tree'' as the primary decoration in an agency or church. Give a little gift to the givers and include a message in each to describe the whether the recipient of your chosen present should be male or female of a particular age, while inviting the person to keep the stocking as a small token for their contribution.

• See the angel tags and read about Angel trees during the holidays at The Salvation Army here.
• Read about how the Arc Giving Tree Works in the City of St. Louis
  

Left, is the plaid version of the boot stocking in classic colors, Right is a brown tweed version.

A vintage felt pattern of a ladies boot. Victorian looking design.