Spoonflower’s Director of Email Suz Pozzo shares how she made the cutest mini stocking gift card ornaments, perfect for filling with small gifts with your loved ones or even yourself! This quick tutorial, complete with a free pattern, walks you through whipping up a complete project in just 30 minutes.

Two mini stocking gift card ornaments hang from a Christmas tree from red-and-white ribbon loops. The stocking to the right has a white cuff and a boot with repeating small white mugs with Santa’s face on them. They have red rims and handles and a snowflake and cookie sticking out of the top. Red, white and green strips of bunting float through the design on a mint background. The stocking to the left has a white cuff and a boot with a blue and red Fair Isle design featuring hearts and zig zag lines. Two round ornaments, one silver, one purple, are to the left of the stockings.
Two mini stocking gift card ornaments ready to deliver holiday cheer! Featured design collection.

Suz: This project has been in my mind ever since I made Spoonflower’s Holiday Stockings a few years ago and had leftover Fleece fabric that I didn’t want to waste. (Note: As of March 2023, we are phasing out our Fleece fabric and launching Polartec® Fleece, which will also work great for this project!) With a little bit of tweaking to the original pattern I made a petite version of the stockings, creating an ornament perfect for gifting to any holiday host, book club, schoolteacher or coworker. The best part? You can finish one of these in less than 30 minutes, start to finish! 

You only need two swatches of fabric to make these little stockings. They can fit a gift card, little candy canes or small toys (a Maileg mouse would be adorable!) for anyone in your life you want to treat. 

Supplies for this project are all laid out on a wooden surface. The supplies are listed below. The designs on the fabric are dark green, Kelly green, light blue and brown color-blocked trees on a cream background, a red and pink plaid and a light blue, white and red Fair Isle design on a white background.
All the things you need to make this project.

Materials for 1 Mini Christmas Stocking 

(See tip at the end of this post to make these in bulk) 

  • Free stocking pattern  
  • Two 8″x8″ (3.54 cm x 3.54 cm) pieces of medium-weight knit fabric that won’t fray, such as Polartec® Fleece or Performance Velvet (Note: Pre-washing your fabric isn’t needed for this project) 
  • Festive string, thin ribbon or twine 
  • Sewing machine 
  • Polyester thread 
  • Fabric scissors  
  • Disappearing ink marking pen 
  • Turning tool (or slightly pointy object like a chopstick)
  • Wonder clips or pins
  • Pinking shears (optional)  
  • Iron (optional) 
SHop DESIGN COLLECTION

1. Trace and cut out the ornament. 

The stocking pattern’s boot and cuff have been cut in white paper. The piece of paper for the stocking’s cuff is laying on top of the white selvage edge of the fabric. The piece of paper for the stocking’s boot is laying on top of mint green fabric with a design of white mugs with red rims and handles with whipped cream and sprinkles on their tops. Small strips of fabric bunting are floating around the design as are white paw prints.
Beginning to trace the stocking after cutting out the pattern.
One side of a stocking has been tried onto fabric featuring a design on the fabric with dark green, Kelly green, light blue and brown color-blocked trees on a cream background. The other side of the stocking has not been cut out yet, but the paper pattern piece is laying on top of the fabric.
Tracing and cutting out two sides of the stocking boot.

If your fabric has a slight stretch to it, be sure to trace the stocking pattern so the top of the stocking and cuffs are parallel to the greatest directional stretch of your fabric. 

Trace the stocking pattern onto your fabric, then flip the pattern and trace that onto your fabric. Next, trace and cut the cuff pattern from the contrasting fabric.  

Cut your string into an 8″ (20 cm) length. 

Pro Tip:

Don’t let that white selvage go to waste! It is the perfect size to make a couple of cuffs, especially if you are using scraps and are low on coordinating patterned fabric. 

2. Prep the stocking and cuffs. 

Two fabric pieces for the stocking cuff and two fabric pieces for the stocking boot have been cut out of the fabric. The two pieces for the cuff are clipped together with the right sides together (i.e. with the white backing of the fabric showing). The same thing has been done for the boot.
Using wonder clips to prep the stocking’s boot and cuff.

Clip or pin the stocking pieces right sides together. 

3. Sew the boot and cuff.  

Starting to sew around the boot’s edge from the top right.
Starting to sew around the boot’s edge.
Starting to sew one short edge of the cuff together. 
Starting to sew around a short edge of the cuff.

Sew around the edge of the boot using a 3/8″ (1 cm) seam allowance and a 3 mm (about 0.12″) stitch length, leaving the boot top open. Fleece can get caught easily in a backstitch at the edges, so I like to leave a 1/8” (.3 cm) seam allowance unsewn. 

Next, sew the short edges of the cuff pieces with right sides together. 

4. Optional step: Trim the seam allowance.  

The stocking and cuff are lying next to each other on a wooden surface next to a pair of orange handled pinking shears. The seam allowed of the sides of the cuff and the sides of the boot have been cut with pinking shears to give the stocking a flatter shape when turned right side out.
Optional: Trimming the seam allowance. 

Trim the very edge of the seam allowance with scissors or pinking shears to give the stocking a flatter shape when turned out. 

If you don’t have pinking shears or would rather skip this step, move down to the next step.  

5. Assemble the stocking. 

A short piece of red-and-white ribbon has been placed at the top left of the stocking boot in a loop. One side of the ribbon meets the top front left of the boot and another side of the ribbon meets the top bottom left of the boot. The stocking cuff lays off to the top left of the image. Both the stocking and cuff are laying on a wooden surface.
Prepping the ribbon.
After a short piece of red-and-white ribbon has been placed at the top front left and top bottom left of the stocking boot in a loop, the stocking cuff has been placed overtop. The stocking and cuff are laying on a wooden surface and a hand is holding everything in place.
Adding the cuff to the top of the boot.

Put the ribbon tops facing up on either side of the back of the boot. Add the cuff overtop, with the right side of the cuff facing the wrong side of the stocking, so you are effectively sandwiching the ribbon in between.  

6. Sew around the top.  

A hand guides the sewing machine carefully as it sews around the top of the stocking,
Sewing around the top of the stocking. 
Image of the stocking after sewing around the top edge. It is still turned inside out with the white “wrong” sides of the fabric showing. The top seam has been sewn with a light blue thread. 
The stocking after sewing around the top edge.

Carefully sew around the top of the lined-up fabric making sure to only sew through the two layers and string at a time (not all four layers). This can be a bit fiddly, so if you would like another method, you can easily do a whipstitch by hand around the entire hem.  

7. Turn the stocking right side out, fold the cuff and press. 

An almost completed mini stocking lays on a wooden surface. The stocking’s boot features a pattern with dark green, Kelly green, light blue and brown color-blocked trees on a cream background. The cuff has been sewn to the boot but has yet to be turned inside the boot. The white “wrong” side of the fabric is still sticking out of the boot’s top. The top of a loop of red-and-white ribbon is sticking out of the stocking’s top right.
Before turning the cuff inside the stocking.
A completed mini stocking lays on a wooden surface. The stocking’s boot features a pattern with dark green, Kelly green, light blue and brown color-blocked trees on a cream background. The stocking’s cuff is a dark green, red and light blue plaid on a cream background. A loop of red-and-white ribbon is at the stocking’s top right.
An adorably completed mini stocking!

Turn the stocking right side out, pushing out the edges with a turning tool—be careful not to poke through the fabric. Fold the cuff down and free the strings so they are right side up. A quick press of your fabric with a synthetic/polyester setting (low heat), and these mini makes are ready for filling and gifting! 

Share your makes on Instagram using hashtags #Spoonflower and #SpoonflowerFabric.    

Bulk Instructions for Making 12, 24 and 48 Stockings

For 12 stockings:  

You will need 2 fat quarters of fabric to make approximately 12 stockings. 

For 24 stockings:  

The right half of the image features a black grid with white squares. The left half of the image features alternating black and white horizontal lines. The two sides of the image are separated by a white vertical line.
Fill-A-Yard design example of a vertical split.

You will need 1 yard of fabric. Maximize your design options by using the Fill-A-Yard® vertical split to make 24 stockings from 2 designs. 

For 48 stockings:  

Image of a rectangle with 8 rows of 6 squares, making 48 in total. Every other row starting with row 1 features alternating squares of black dots on a white background and squares of black diagonal lines on a white background. Every other row starting with row 2 features alternating squares of white dots on a black background and squares of black dots on a white background.  
Fill-A-Yard design example of Cheater Quilt 9” squares

You will need 2 yards of fabric. Start with your favorite design collection and launch the Fill-A-Yard® Fill-A-Project tool, selecting the Cheater Quilt 9” Squares (up to 48 designs) option on Fleece. Maximize your design options by filling up 2-across and 2-down sections of squares with the same design. Each of these design blocks can make 2 stockings, so you will have up to 24 different designs on 48 stockings. Gifts for all! 

Looking for more holiday DIY gift ideas?

Learn how to make mini no-sew Fleece trees, fool-proof DIY placemats, a holiday party tray, dinner place cards and more!
See the Tutorials

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