The summer months mark the official start of Christmas stocking season in the tapestry world. We receive Jolly Redders’ stitched Christmas stockings all year for our Making up Service, but from July onwards the pace really picks up.
If you’ve just finished a festive masterpiece, the chances are that you’re keen to post it as quickly as you can. Hold on a moment! Before you reach for that jiffy bag and head out to the post office, we’d really appreciate it if you could decide on the colours and fabric that you’d like for your stocking BEFORE it’s on its way to us.
Essentially you have to decide on two fabrics for your tapestry:
- An outer fabric (either velvet or cotton) which will be used as the ‘binding’ around your stocking, and will also be the hanging loop at the top. This same fabric will also be used for the back of the stocking.
- A cotton lining fabric, either plain or polka dot. incidentally, we include a layer of wadding between both the front and the back of each Christmas stocking.
We have assembled boards of some of the most popular Christmas stocking fabrics to help you to decide on colours and fabric for both the outside and lining of your Christmas stocking. Each fabric shade has been given its own reference code to avoid confusion. We have other colours available too but to keep things simple, we’re sticking mainly to the traditional shades as we know from experience that these are by far the most popular colours that are used for the stockings.
A note about different screens/devices Please note that there may be slight variations in colours when viewed on different devices. If in doubt, get in touch.
Here goes:
Outer fabric – Velvets
We use really good quality cotton velvet to make up the Christmas stockings. It’s an upholstery weight rather than a dress fabric. Blues, greens and reds are the most popular shades, with two regal purples and a fuchsia for good measure.
Blues, velvet We have a lovely selection of blues, which work well with all of our stockings, from Sky Blue through to Navy.
Greens, velvet Lincoln Green and Bottle Green are the most popular greens for Christmas stockings, often with a red cotton lining.
Reds, purples and pinks velvet
Outer fabric – Cottons
If you are a bit nervous about the idea of using velvet to back your Christmas stocking or if you live in a very warm climate, one of the fabrics from our cotton range may be more suitable.
The cotton fabric that we use for Christmas stockings is a really nice weight, with a good texture to it. The most commonly selected cotton fabric for Christmas stockings are red, green, and navy.
Reds, cotton
In the reds, we have Robin JRCR01 which is a good all-rounder, a solid red. The other strong red is Raspberry JRCR03 which, as its name suggests, has a slight pink look to it.
Greens, cotton
Of all the green cottons we stock, Bottle Green JRCG06 and Racing Green JRCG07 are the two the most popular options for backing Christmas stockings.
Blue cottons.
Navy CBL06 is the most popular option for Christmas stockings.
Halfway there! Now to choose the lining colour…
Lining fabric, plain
We have many colours available for the lining of your Christmas stocking, in 100% cotton. Please quote both the description and the code of the shade you’d like for yours when you send it in.
To begin, the blues from pale Baby Blue LN16 through to Navy LN20.
And the greens, from ‘greeny greens’ Emerald LN23 and Fir LN24, to Jade LN22 to Bottle LN25:
On to yellows. Lemon LN10 is a gentler version of Egg Yolk LN11, but still nice and bright.
On to the pinks and purples, and we have some wonderful new shades to add to our old favourites. Amethyst, Imperial and Magenta are all great Angels Christmas stocking. Cosmos Pink LN06 is a nice pale pink, and Fandango LN05 is stronger.
On to the reds and oranges, and we have more great colours, from orange through to dark red Claret LN03. By far our most popular red is the bright red, Chilli LN05.
Lining fabric – dotty
If you prefer a dotty lining, then choose from one below:
On to a table of stockings, and a reminder that we have some other colours available too – note Harry’s Fairytale Christmas stocking with its orange edging and hanging loop.
And it’s over to Flik the Jack Russell. We love how he found a place on our Silent Night stocking. He looks so cute, with his “is it dinner time yet?” look on his face.
We have made up many stockings over the years and have created many albums on Jolly Red’s Facebook Page. For more fabric inspiration, you might like to take a look there too.
That’s it for now. Happy stitching if you’re starting or finishing a Christmas stocking over the summer months. We look forward to seeing them arrive at our workshop. The quicker they arrive, the sooner you’ll have them back!
UK Customers If using Royal Mail when posting your tapestry, please use their Tracked service. Keep the details so that you will be able to check that your parcel has arrived safely with us in Somerset. Please remember to write your name on the back of your parcel when you send it to us.
TOP TIP: Please post your tapestries as you stitch rather than leaving it until the autumn – thank you!
Any other questions, please do get in touch. We’re always happy to help,
Kelly
PS If sending from outside the UK please contact us first as it’s not always straightforward to mail from overseas. We also need to make sure that we will be able to help you before you post your canvas to us – and we can give you advice on the best wording to use on your parcel when you post it to us
