Faux Fur Trimmed Christmas Stockings Tutorial

I was inspired this year to make some new stockings.

Here is a tutorial on how I made mine and a template to make your own.

This year I love stockings trimmed with faux fur. 

I liked the stockings at Pottery Barn. I may have been swayed to just save time and purchase PB but alas they were sold out. Restoration Hardware also has a faux fur version that is fun and currently on sale. 

So it was imperative I made my own. And it's always fun to entertain a creative bent.

These are the tools & supplies I used:

• Wool Fabric in a heavier weight (you could also use velvet for a luxe feel)
• Faux fur
• Iron on Fusible Interfacing (to help with keeping a strong shape) 
• Sewing Machine, iron, pins, sewing needle, fabric scissors, hot glue gun
• Thread in colour of wool and faux fur
• Brown paper for pattern and for ironing (to prevent interfacing from sticking to iron) 
• Marker/pencil to draw pattern 
• Sequin Ribbon
• Lint roller (to clean up the loose faux fur bits on the wool) 

The template

My first time making something I like to think of it as a prototype- an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. I didn't have a pattern so this was the trickiest step for me imagining/picturing and then drawing what a stocking looks like. I even pulled out one of L's socks and a previous year's stocking. However I think about elves when I think about stockings and so the typical bland shape of stockings you buy was not cutting it. If you love elves stockings you've come to the right place. I am saving you all of those steps with this template. You can thank your lucky stars. 

Template Stocking Toe
Template Bottom Foot
Template Top

Process

Here are twelve easy steps to make your own.
(Plus two optional decorative steps to add a little glitz.)

1.  Lay the wool fabric out with the inside facing up. Lay the fusible interfacing on top with the outside facing up. (Fusible side will stick then to inside of stocking.) 

2.  Fold the fabric with the fusible interfacing sandwiched between. The good side of the fabric should be on the outside.  

    3.   Pin the template on top. Remember to leave a seam allowance when cutting. (I used a marker to draw my seam allowance)

4.     Cut through all four layers. Remove Pins and paper template.

5.      Separate the two sides of the stocking. Iron on the fusible interfacing to both sides. (Remember to use brown paper between iron and fusible interfacing.) 

6.   Pin together with outside layers of wool fabric sandwiched together. 

7.   Sew. (If you wanted you could iron out the seams.) 

8.    Fold inside out.

9.   Measure the faux fur. (My faux fur proved a challenge because I could not find a wide enough piece at the fabric store. It came with a ribbon on either side so I was able to sew the ribbons together to make a wider cuff.) 

10.    Sew together ends with outside of faux fur together to make a loop. Fold out. 

11.   Pin the faux fur loop cuff to top with ribbon folded in to cover cut edges  Hand stitch the faux fur cuff on the top. 

12.    Add a ribbon loop to hang. You may sew this in or use a hot glue gun. 

Optional Steps: 

• Add an initial with sequin ribbon. (I played around with the shape of the letter first then I free handed it with a hot glue gun and layered the sequin ribbon on top. I had to reapply hot glue in parts because I was too slow in layering.) 
• Add trim around the edges. (I used a hot glue gun and went around starting at the top and slowly working my way around in 5-10 cm chunks.)

I think I will even make a few extras for future baby batiuks and guests that come for the holidays in future years. 

How much did it cost? $70.72 /5 stockings = $14.14 each 

• 1.5 meters of Kashmir Wool fabric @ $23.30 
• 2 spools of thread @ $2.27
• 1.5 meters Fusible Interfacing @ $5.40
• 3 meters of sequin ribbon @ $0.80
• 2.5 Meters of faux fur $23.69
• 2 meter of Chanel braid for hanging @ $4.16
• 7 meters of pompom trim for outer edging @ $11.20

I think if I remake this project I may try without the fusible interfacing and also make in other fun colours or with different colours of faux fur. 

A Hopeful December

This is hope right here. Our 5 day blastocyst was transferred Dec 4. It's textbook quality 4AA. And now I'm living the two week wait and I cannot be more hopeful.

November was a busy month of injections, internal ultrasounds, acupuncture and driving to Calgary.

My cycle is referred to as an antagonist cycle. First I was prescribed birth-control. That made me laugh as I haven't used that in 4 years. Essentially it was used to regulate my system. Then to wait for AF. Which I was convinced would never come and made me a little nervous. It set our cycle back a few days. Then I learned that my extra layer of insulation was just perfect to pinch for injections of gonal f and luveris. (Gonal F) or Follitropin alpha works by helping to stimulate the development of eggs in the ovaries. I was initially on a low dose of 112.5 iu which was later increased to 250 iu and then decreased to 75 iu. Luveris remained the same throughout at 75 iu. (Luveris) Lutropin alpha is a fertility medication that helps follicles (eggs) in the ovaries to develop and mature. It is used in combination with Gonal-f when a women's pituitary gland does not produce enough LH. Our doctor was surprised when my poly cystic ovaries produced 20 eggs. She had been aiming for 10 so as to not incur OHSS. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) happens when your ovaries overreact to the fertility drugs you’re taking. Your ovaries may quickly swell to several times their normal size. They may also leak fluid into your abdomen and chest cavity. My right ovary was very painful when we had our trigger shot. I also was having injections of Centotide. Centotide or Cetrorelix is used to prevent premature ovulation in women undergoing ovarian stimulation. It blocks the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH controls the secretion of another hormone, called luteinizing hormone (LH), a hormone that starts ovulation (release of an egg) during the menstrual cycle. Cetrorelix allows the release of an egg to be controlled so it is released at the best time for pregnancy to occur.

After egg retrieval we learned that 15 eggs were mature. Only 14 eggs fertilized. We had elected to use Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, pronounced ik-see) is an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg. This was because there was a low concentration in the sample L gave and rather than thaw the sperm we has initially gave as a backup we elected to use the fresh and pay the $1500 fee.

In terms of cost this round of IVF did not break the bank. We paid $6150 for treatment plus $1500 for ICSI. And an additional $900 for freezing sperm, and $325 for freezing embryos (which we will have to pay each year if we elect to store). Drugs were surprisingly not as much as I had initially thought as our insurance was wonderful and I think I paid less than $300. This is a miracle as I saw the cost of the drugs and I am thankful for our health plans.

So 14 eggs became 7 and 6 were frozen and 1 implanted. I was not given the choice to implant more than 1. I am thankful of that as I know several people thought I should try for twins. While I love the idea of twins I watched some you-tube videos prior and followed one families journey with what they thought were going to be two ended up being three. Eeek! I was mostly not given two because they are really concerned about OHSS for me. I hope it does not get as bad as they warned it might. I was even given the option to cancel this cycle to let my body recover rather than risk OHSS.

Today I feel great so I am glad I did not elect to cancel.

In adoption news we were disheartened to learn that if we become pregnant then in all likelihood the adoption process is null. Seems very unfair.

But if it is a go and this little squeaker sticks and grows and we give birth and our adoption file is thrown out then we will know that was a closed door.

September

I work some days in a museum. The exhibit this fall commemorates 100 years since Great Britain declared war on Germany and starting in motion what we know today as the First World War.

It's September now. I recall last September our hopeful enthusiastic enlisting. I do not have clear answers but it appears that adoptions with Taiwan are at a stalemate and like the First World War that we hoped would be resolved by Christmas may in fact be a long drawn out four years if ever.

It's disappointing to say the least.

In a month my grandma turns 90. I had wanted her to live to see our adopted child. I sat with her in May as she lay in pain in her tiny twin bed. I told her of the adoption and she squeezed my hand and I think she was trying to tell me gently she may never see this child. Or that what I hope for is too good to be true.

It's 4 am now. I have insomnia when L is away working miles from home.

I'm looking forward to Christmas. I am to purchase tickets soon to fly before the prices are jacked up even higher for the Christmas rush. It's an atrocity really that flights within Canada less than one province away are more than flying internationally. It will be approximately $1500 to fly economy for the two of us. Despite this cost I am still anticipating traveling and seeing my family. I'm looking forward to seeing my only nephew who is quite grown now, a middle schooler, and is wise beyond his years.

L and I are going to give IVF another go. We had the swimmers frozen last week. Now I'm waiting for my cycle to arrive so I can in 12 days have blue dye injected into my Fallopian tubes.

Choosing Joy

This week is flying by. Can it be that tomorrow is already Thursday?

L is living in another city working, and coming home when he can. I miss regular what's for dinner and have you seen my keys? conversations. I've been showing our rental income condo to potential renters as likely we need to sell one of our properties if we expect to purchase another so that at the very least we are building equity. Plus it will feel more like home away from home if we have a place to call home there too. He's been renting an economical 1900 type flat that has cherubs dancing on the wallpaper, a toilet that can only be flushed once every four hours, and electrical sockets that spark when anything is plugged into them. This living apart has been hard for me, I was really down about this awhile ago, pouted, tried to think of ways I could join him, if even to do his laundry, but ultimately realized I need to just wait this out too.

Adoption is not easy folks. We hope, we pray, we expect. Our hearts get ahead of us. To be told that our adoption would not be supported to another province was confusing and is challenging. So here we are L working miles away and me working here.

Were still waiting. How long can we expect to wait after we were approved in February?

I need to choose joy when life throws me curve balls, when I'm asked to wait, when circumstances are not what I imagined.

I'm trying a strange doterra essential oils fertility treatment that must be made by drizzling through diamonds for how much I've spent and am on week 2. It's really odd to say the least and I will not explain it here because even I have some limits. I'm not putting much faith in it, but I'm willing to try most anything at least once. I had a wonderful lunch out with my friend who is an advocate of essential oils this week. Perhaps in the near future I will have my first ever home party and invite y'all over to my home to become mesmerized by essential oils. They smell incredible. They will knock your socks off. Your men will be skeptical and question the validity of spending money on 15 ml vials until their first massage. Then they too will be mesmerized.

I pulled all most all the weeds in my garden this evening. If you want to feel satisfaction pull weeds.

May

I am delighted to see my plum and apple trees in bud. Spring is so exciting for new growth. It's energizing. The birds are back. I love to hear them chirping early in the morning through my window. They are happily hopping around my back yard looking for worms or bugs.

L has left for Saskatchewan to start work. Today he texted me to tell me training involved new fire fighting gear but that the boots were too big and now he has blisters, putting out fires with dry chemical, setting up hoist systems to rescue and lower person who might need to rescue someone in hole, and going into burning containers to watch fire.

Last month my big dilemma was this:

Should I:

A. Sell my house, quit my job and go with L to hunt for new house in Regina, make new friends in new city, explore new city, forfeit any parental leave for awaited referral for adoption
B. Put my house up for sale, apply to new jobs, find a one-two bedroom apartment to rent in new city and visit L on weekends, sell house, find new job in Regina, purchase new home in new city, potentially forfeit parental leave depending on where I am in equation when I receive referral for adoption
C. Find renters for house, move in with my in laws, find a bachelor apartment to rent for L in new city, visit on weekends, continue to wait for referral and parental leave
D. Consider L's career in Saskatchewan to be a two year blip, enjoy single status while he is away, find him a bachelor apartment in new city, visit him on weekends, retain house, enjoy two incomes, continue to wait for referral and parental leave and return to career here when parental leave expires.

Things to think about:
6-8 month wait after referral ... How long until even a referral? Or what if the wait after the referral is even longer? How long will this living in two separate provinces be? I miss L already.
Cost of having two homes/commuting... Will this extend to the winter when maybe with weather we can't see it each other? What will be the effect on our marriage to be apart?

Wrestled with choices until...

I was cautioned against moving from one province to another before the adoption. So it is with a heavy heart that waiting has taken on a new meaning. My heart was for choice A. Choice B was also fascinating and I had some incredible leads on jobs. Choice C was a definite uggh choice and I was glad when L also was not in favor of C.

This month I've come to accept my lousy fate. Decided to try to lose some weight. And wait.

We are increasingly thinking it will not be a two year blip. This might be a long term move. L has a size able moving allowance of several and then some thousands from his company but it needs to be used in six months. So should we move our belongings? Put belongings in storage in new city? Will L move into a new house without me within six months? Or forfeit moving allowance?

We've looked at building too. I have a favorite house plan. Dreams! We contacted a builder to learn it would be nine months until completion. I almost laughed at the irony.

Adoption is not easy. I've laid my case before God. All I hear is silence.

I don't know what the next few months will entail. I'd love if we were to hear we have a referral. It would make this season easier.

I wanted with all my heart to give my notice of two weeks last week. My job is increasingly taxing and I find the weight of responsibility increasing. My colleague laughs at me and says that is the price I have to pay for success.

At any rate I think a vacation to San Francisco is in order or maybe even Jamaica. L has an awesome work schedule for vacation flexibility. Yay!!

An hour of housework

After a full day of work how many hours of housework do you put in? L challenged me to put in an hour every night in keeping with all the hour he has been putting in with studying for his exams. At first I was a little grouchy since I was tired from work but now two hours later I am quite pleased with my little abode. A little indie meets pop on the dance floor can light the wind in ones sail. Although now I am not sure how I am going to spend my Saturday. I mean it's not a hotel around here with clean sheet service every day.

I am even inspired to frame my fox prints - an agonizing decision involving only 3 frame choices must be made. Ridiculous I know, but stylistic choices like this will have impact over many years when dollar figures lean toward hefty sums. It's not as if I can change out the frames next year. My fox prints are special. I purchased them from a Russian photographer (from Russia with the aid of a translator) when we were invested in adopting from Russia. That door closed, slammed shut in fact.

I counted up my holiday hours today and realized with glee I have at the end of April 5 whole days of holidays. At the end of August I will have 10 days of holidays. Can I last that long? The travel itch is starting, I can feel it. L finish school already so we can explore the world!!

I'm so proud of L. What a tough week he's had and he is still motivated. An exam every day and another following the weekend on Monday. Even now he's at the college studying and it's almost 9 pm.

My heart

My heart is broken. I am conflicted. Let joy be your plumb line, pastor M prayed for me this morning, as tears streamed down my face. This is the leap that international adoption forces us to take. There are no guarantees in life I am told. I wish we could believe and have faith beyond evidence. Someday, one day maybe, hopefully. I wish I could tell you the world is a beautiful place, full of hope and promise. Tears stream down my face. My heart is broken and I wonder if I will ever be given the opportunity to wish and hope again for joy.

Waiting and Yearning

This is happening:

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. (Romans 8:22-25 MSG)

I was helping out in the toddler room this morning when A commented on more than one occasion about how many pregnant women there were. Normally I try to block these bellies from view by looking directly full steam ahead, but yes I agreed as I suddenly looked around and was made aware. This is hard for me. Women I've known since starting my infertility journey now on their second and third.

It's not only around us- it's within us. My eyes brim with tears, I choke back sobs. I try to be happy for others. I feel corrected, scolded, chastised, schooled by happy joyfuls admonishings. Pangs.

Few things will test our hearts more than God's shameless blessing over others lives when we've endured a time of hardship. ~Beth Moore

I couldn't agree more.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Yearning for release. Yearning for a referral. Yearning to see that precious face. Yearning to know if it's a girl or boy. Yearning for a court date. Yearning to hold that sweet one in my arms. Yearning.

I hope I am not becoming diminished. My internal angst often makes me feel that I am not fighting this battle well. I'm drawing my prayer circle, counting the days, hopeful. Trying to be patient. Trying to be better at waiting. Trying to not be disappointed. Knowing I'm failing at it.

Mondays I ask for patience in waiting, and am corrected: joyful expectancy.

February 13

Sipping on lemon tea and hoping I do not succumb to strep throat. I'm on the verge of something - my throat is raw. Watching the Olympics in my bath robe just fresh out of the shower. I imagined what I would wear earlier but now do not feel so ambitious to hem the pants I purchased online. I have a class of tots to teach this evening- toddlers and art supplies. Fun. Tonight it's painting pictures of flowers in pots. And something else more valentines related because I love Valentines. I think after my class this evening I will make some pretty valentines heart cookies with my heart shaped cookie cutters that are waiting to be used for the first time.

In adoption news I think we are nearing step 7 now of 27.  So many steps! Do I understand them all? No. If I were planning an International Adoption Workshop I would walk people through these steps and explain the various terms and who to contact etc. I really just hope that I am not messing up along the way or extending the process because of my ignorance for when and how steps proceed. At any rate were approved officially and in line to receive a referral. Yay!

I am hoping for sunshine for the long weekend and Family Day. I think it would be fun to go to the Grasslands Natural Park. Still wondering if I am expected to work Monday as I see there is a scheduled tour for the docents of the exhibit with the curator on Monday at 9 am. Jeepers! Not impressed.

The Agony of Waiting

January has been so long. I'm ready for some sunshine joy.

I feel like my reserves of joy need to be filled.

This weekend we are getting away. I booked a hotel, because L will be finished his exams and I love getaways. I need a getaway. I need a dollop of sun, a hot tub, a glass of wine, Egyptian cotton, a delicious gourmet foodie experience, the city, art, laughter, shopping. I want to feel like I'm 27, in the city, on a date with my man. I need a getaway from waiting. It would only be more perfect if I could slip into my carefree 27 year old body.

Waiting... I've made it this far 3+ years and counting of infertility and a year of adoption and this week it feels unbearable. UNBEARABLE.

I am saying it here because I am over being chided by platitudes. There are women I know bearing much more. In a small way I understand grief. There are women's stories I've shared in this week who had terminal diagnoses. And then it was over...she wrote. This feels unbearable the waiting, but how much more an ending?

L is contemplating his future career path which may involve moving. I'm at a loss because I hoped to join him on this adventure with a baby in my arms but time is slipping away and all I can see is L moving on to a city with an international airport, and university and me waiting here in this municipal job until I hear word of a baby and then waiting longer yet for an undisclosed unknown time. This is the financially prudent choice to stick it out in this job until our parental leave cuts in potentially with L commuting back and forth on his days off. He has 18 days off per month. It's miserable to be working full time when he's in vacation mode. I couldn't bear to face a whole year of First World War museum school tours. Blaaah! It's laughable how little vacation time I can amass which means I could miss picking out the granite countertops, the new build open concept kitchen, the neighborhood if L decided to invest and upgrade in a new city. Maybe this is the version I can't bear.

Shortly, your killing me. That was the last we heard. "You will hear from us, shortly." That was almost a month ago. It's unbearable how melodramatic I am when I'm given a taste of hope, when my dreams take flight.

Infertility Adoption and a Sneaky Birthday

My birthday is sneaking up on me. I am becoming ancient. My morbid mortality has had me thinking of late about juicing, raw food, eliminating sugar, acid levels, low glycemic indexes. I have become invested in other women's fertility journeys- women like Dreaming of Dimples who I look for every morning to see if those follies have grown. This beautiful woman I pray God will favor with a baby. Her hope, her fight inspires me. Which of course makes me wonder about my own PCOS, my own infertility. I admit last year in December after our miscarriage I gave up the fight. I surrendered. I threw myself into adoption.

The days are of waiting in adoption are just as long as the months of Infertility.

In January of last year at this time, I was looking at my 5 year diary this morning, we were enamored with a little one when we sat for an incredibly cold day learning about international adoption. I threw my heart into adoption. We left with more questions than answers as we began to investigate the adoption process and various countries open to adoption. We opened up an application with an agency within Taiwan in January. It was not until March that we heard we were accepted to a waiting list. During that period from January to March the process of adoption seemed so overwhelming. I was overjoyed to hear news in March and scoured the internet to learn of other families adopting from this same agency and how long their adoption process had taken. The outlook while hopeful was considerable and could be as long as three years. Over the summer I slogged through the mountain of paperwork for adoption as we learned we should move forward with arranging for our home study (such a relief since I don't know how I could ever troop through three years) within the province of Alberta and began to become more involved in the organization. I volunteered to assist with a fundraising campaign Project 117 for the agency and was curious to learn the direction this would take and how I might be utilized. November is adoption month and L and I found ourselves organizing a Taiwanese Bubble Tea fundraiser for Project 117, selling T-shirts and collecting change for the orphanage in Taiwan. We are pleased that within two months time the team I was a part of was able to raise $340,000. We were able to finish our Homestudy and are now awaiting only one signature by one government department before we can send it to Taiwan. Everyday at least one person asks me if we have a baby yet. If only finishing the home study meant that were true. I had hoped it would be ready before Christmas but have to yet to be patient. I every morning check either the mail or my email and sometimes twice a day. I have it as bad as I had it when I used to buy ovulation sticks and pregnancy tests.

And now it is January and this morning I peed on an ovulation stick. Gross! Somewhere in December I was searching for something in my closet of all things stashed and out of mind and found my bin of fertility supplements that I had spent hours researching. Somehow that bin found its way into my kitchen and while I've only in the last few days begun to take Vitex somewhere along the way I've begun to think why not? It's not one or the other. I still have some fight left.

My birthday approaches reminding me it's not just about having a baby it's about being healthy, living a life that's full, purposeful. I can hardly wait for this adoption and while adoption for us was our guarantee (I know crazy!) and maybe I will never ever give birth to a baby I think why not? Why not fight PCOS- this crazy metabolic disorder that takes every drip of sugar I eat and turns them into cysts that ravage my ovaries- maybe we will get lucky or maybe I will just get to live until 90+

Why not...that mindset to fight PCOS propels me...pushes me to read further. Pushes me right into the hearts of other women fighting for a babies life. That's why I put everything into the closet of all things stashed before, delegated all my blog posts to do with PCOS, infertility treatment. The pain was deep. It's taken me a year to face. Why I haven't gone to the gym in forever. Why I blissfully eat chocolate chip cookies until my sugar levels spike and I'm nauseous followed by a sugar crash and I'm lightheaded.

Why not? When was the last time you gave up sugar in all it's forms? It's not an easy lifestyle change. When was the last time you gave up coffee? Caffeine? Aspartame or any artificial sweeteners? Gluten? Sodium? Anything fried? Alcohol (not that I am a lush but I like the occasional glass of wine or draft), soy, dairy, xenoestrogens: pesticides, herbicides, conventional meat (given growth hormones), plastics (BPA, PCV, dioxin, etc.), fabric softener and dryer sheets, soy, beauty products (pthalates and petroleum-derived chemicals like parabens). Forever not just six days of the week with a cheat day on Saturday or my birthday or when my mom makes my favorite comfort food, or when I am invited over to your place for dinner. Everything not just fabric sheets and MSG.

Sugar is four times more addictive than cocaine.

I am becoming ancient. I want to be young and healthy.