Looking to incorporate some DIY into your holiday gift giving? Giving a homemade stocking to your loved ones adds a special touch to opening presents in your home on Christmas morning.

First, you need to decide of a theme for your stocking. There are so many ideas to choose from but once you decide, then you need a template. You can download a stocking template online, and you can even download templates for monograms, characters, or decorations you will be putting on the stocking. Below is just a general template I downloaded from Google for sewing or tracing a stocking.

This example is for making a stocking from an old sweater:

Supplies:

• Template

• Marker

• Old sweater or fabric

• Needle & thread

• Pins

• Scissors

• Hot glue gun (if your putting on buttons/decorations

• Buttons or decorations (optional)

Directions:

• Turn the sweater inside out

• Place template on sweater with the top of the template at the bottom of the sweater, and trace

• Sew on the lines either by hand or machine

• Tip: Pin front and back together so there is no shifting during sewing

• Cut around the stitches

• Turn stocking right side out

• Decorate with buttons, letters, more fabric, etc.

• Attach a ribbon or fabric to hang

• Hang up somewhere special in your home

• Fill with presents (most important step)

Photo courtesy of Photo Credit:http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/

This is just one example of a DIY stocking. You can sew, crochet, quilt, use scraps from fabric, old jeans, you can even make some for your furry family members. The ideas are endless! It's so fun to play around and use your creative side to make something special for someone you love. The look on their face when they see their homemade stocking full of presents will be priceless!

Photo courtesy of Photo credits: http://www.polishedhabitat.com/

Below is a photo of two stockings my Grandma made for me as a child.  She is amazing at crocheting and makes one for everyone in our family. When you take the time to make something like this from the heart it is more special than anything you could buy at the store. I still have quite a few stockings that she made me (the other ones are a little too embarrassing to share) and we use them every Christmas. I hope to learn from her this year how to crochet so I can pass along this family tradition. Happy stocking making!