How To Make Your Own Ice Skate Stockings

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge was one of my favorite winter stories growing up. I am convinced that I love ice skating because of this lovely story. The love only grew over time with books like Little Women and my own memories of ice skating. I bought my first pair of ice skates from a Goodwill for eight dollars about ten years ago and I have recently updated to a better pair that can skate across uneven New England ponds. With the holidays quickly approaching I thought I would create a fun project; Christmas stockings, but make them ice skates.

Christmas stockings are my most cherished Christmas tradition so making these ice skate stockings was a lot of fun. I created this project to be simple for two reasons; I do not have a lot of spare time this year and I also wanted this project to be easily replicated by my readers. It is my hope that this Christmas craft is easy enough for families to make together, including children. Small children may need guidance. All the supplies are also affordable, which is why I chose felt over other fabrics. The two skates I made cost me less than $7 in supplies at my local craft store.

For this project you will need:

White felt large enough for your stockings
Two sheets of grey felt (this will make two sets of skates. To make more, increase the number of felt)
Scissors
Sewing pins
Sewing needle
Hot glue or fabric glue (hot glue is easier for this project, but fabric glue will work in a pinch)
Embroidery thread in white, red, and grey (for my two stockings I needed about one and a half packs of white, one full roll of grey, and one red.)
Decorative ribbon no greater than a half inch width.
A sewing pencil or marking pencil to write on the felt

Let’s get crafty!

Start with your white felt. If it is wrinkled you may need to gently iron out the wrinkles first. Fold the white felt in half and trace a stocking you already have, free draw your stocking shape, or make a stocking stencil with a piece of paper or cardboard. Once you have your stocking stencil, trace or draw your stocking onto the felt.

Once your stocking is drawn, pin the stocking fabric together in numerous places around the stocking before cutting it out. You will be cutting through both pieces together, which is why it is important to securely pin your stocking. You can repeat this step to make multiple stockings.

Using your cut stocking, measure out the length of the ice skate on the grey felt. This part is the most tricky part of the project because you will need to hand draw your skate on the grey fabric. You can use my finished skate photos for reference or look up ice skates. You will want to make the top of the skate long enough to glue the tops into the bottom of your stocking. Once you have your skate shape drawn, pin the two sheets of grey felt together just like you did with the stocking and cut out your skate. You will use this cut out as a stencil to make the rest of your skates the same.

Now it is time to get sewing! First, you will want to sew your two skate cut outs together with the grey thread. This will create a sturdier skate and polish off the look of your stocking. The sewn edges is a part of the charm of these hand made stockings. It does not have to be perfect. Simply sew around the edges until they are together. You are then going to tack your finished skate to the bottom inside of your white stockings with your hot glue or fabric glue. Hot glue is best for fast results.

Once your skate is attached, you can use your red thread to sew a few rows of laces. Smaller children can glue on red string or bows or even drawn them on with fabric markers. You will want to do this before sewing the stocking together in case you need to undue any sewing mistakes.

The last sewing step is to sew your stockings together with the white thread, leaving the top open. Be careful sewing around the skates at the bottom. Once your stocking is finished, you can complete it by glueing a row of ribbon at the very top and making a loop to hang your stocking with the ribbon. Glue the ribbon look to the top corner of your stocking. When you are all finished, you may wish to lint roll your stockings because felt has a habit of picking up particles and pet hair. My cat’s hair was all over my felt by the time I completed my two stockings.

Then hang your stocking by the fireplace, or in my case the book case!

You can hang your stockings anywhere to use as decorations. Another fun project you can make out of left over fabric are miniature ice skate stockings or even miniature ice skate felt ornaments. To make miniature ornament versions of the stocking with your left over felt, make the stockings just as you did above, but at a smaller scale, then stuff the stocking with felt scraps and sew the top closed. Add a loop of ribbon or string to hang your ice skate ornament on your Christmas tree or tie to the top of a wrapped gift.

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