Dogs love Christmas too

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It is a time for us all to enjoy spending quality time with friends and family whilst enjoying some much-needed downtime.

Do you have pets? If so, do you spoil your pets at Christmas?

We have two dogs, Coco our two-year-old Siberian Husky. We also have Hunter, our 1.5-year-old German Shepherd. Both dogs get spoilt every birthday and every Christmas…. also, in-between if I am honest!

I have had a few comments saying I am bonkers, but why shouldn’t they be spoilt too? After all they are part of our family. If you are a pet owner or have owned a pet in the past, I am sure you will understand the bond you get with your pet. It is a strong bond that is also special. So why not show our pets just how much we love them too.

Getting creative

Last year I attended a sewing machine class with my Mother-In-Law. At this day class we were both shown the basics of how to use a sewing machine, something I had been wanting to learn for years. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and have been putting my new found skills into practice ever since.

Of course, Coco and Hunter were both made something on my very own sewing machine. I made them both a stocking each. Do you hang a stocking up for your pets? It is only fair that our fur-babies have their very own stocking.

Hunter loved having his very own stocking, he would go and check it every now and then.

Coco’s stocking was a different shape to hunters.

I thought I would do Coco’s stocking a little different to Hunters. I found Coco’s stocking much easier to make than Hunters.

What I used to make the stockings:

Paper to draw my templates out on.
Fabric scissors.
Pencil.
Sewing machine.
Tape measure.
Adhesive diamante craft letters.
Sewing pins.
Variety of fat quarters.
Ribbon.
Fusible wadding.
Fabric glue.
Calico cotton fabric.
Handmade with love button.
Pom poms.
An old snow drape which I cut to size to create the snow effect.
Glitter stars.
Printed photo of Hunter.
Hollow fibre stuffing.

How I made the stockings: the same instructions are for both stockings

I started off by drawing myself a template to work with for both stockings.
This was then used to have two pieces of Calico cotton fabric cut to roughly the same size.
The template was then pinned onto the Calico fabric and then the Calico was then cut to size and shape.
One piece of Fusible wadding was then cut to size. Which was just a little smaller than the Calico.
The three was then layered and ready for sewing together (Fusible wadding in the middle).
Once layered the fabrics were then pinned together, to help hold the shape needed and make life much easier when sewing.
When I had finished sewing the three fabrics together I then stuffed the paw sections with Hollow fibre stuffing. I then run a stitch across the top to help keep the stuffing in position.
For the bone label on Coco’s stocking I cut a template out and used it to cut a fat quarter to shape. I cut two bone shapes out of a fat quarter and cut one piece of Fusible wadding. I then layered them with the Fusible wadding in the middle, pinned and sewed them together.
I then started to decorate the stockings as per photos below. Using fat quarters, pom poms, Hunters photo, buttons and glitter stars.
In order to hang the stockings I cut some ribbon to size and sewed it in position.