Christmas Cheer Inspired by Ballards

I enjoy getting the Ballards catalog, and over the years, I have gotten a lot of inspiration from them and occasionally  I will make a purchase.  Right before we moved to Ukraine this last time, I received the Christmas catalog in the mail and saw some stockings that I {mostly} liked.  Since the timing was completely off, I just saved the pictures and determined to use what we had for a couple more years; I gave a lot to Sveta when I took decor down last year because I intended to change our colors up a bit and finally make stockings for the five of us that matched.

These are the stockings I liked from the 2010 catalog. I love the green and ivory mix, the velvet, and the bells were a cute touch and nod to my musical side.

After having the fabric sit around for two weeks because I was scared to cut it, I finally bit the bullet on Thanksgiving Day, and sat down to make new stockings for the family.

I won't go into great detail on how I made these because I would not pretend to be a knowledgeable seamstress- but I can follow directions with minimal practice of ripping seams!  I did not like the shape of the stockings in the catalog, so I traced one we had that I did like onto craft paper.  Then I went around with a ruler and marked a half inch out from the edge and made the top a bit longer as well; I cut out the pattern and used it for both the velvet layer and the lining.  I used this tutorial from CluckCluckSew  on how to make a lined stocking with a cuff and hidden seams.   The green velvet was ordered from Ballards (2 yards made five and I had enough to make a sixth if I wanted), and I purchased ivory muslin for the lining.  I did use a layer of batting, too, to make them a little plusher; I fused it to the wrong side of one of the lining pieces.

The ivory fabric is leftover matelasse from a coverlet I bought and had made into Euro shams for my bedroom.  I used the already surged scallopped section for the girls' stockings and then made a straight cuff for the guys, trimming the edge with grosgrain ribbon.  Since I was limited on how much fabric was left, I didn't think too hard about what design in the fabric went where - it made them all unique and I plan on monogramming each one at some point. I haven't decided if I'll add the bells or not- maybe next year?!  I'm really happy with how they turned out!

These pillows - in the same catalog - also caught my eye.

$75 was a bit out of my budget, so again, I waited for our stateside return.  {I didn't use my machine too much overseas because it'd have to go through a transformer and I didn't want it to ruin the motor.}  I loved the red musical fabric and I searched and searched for something comparable to no avail.  I finally found this fabric at Winter Creek Cloth (I don't remember the name of it and it doesn't look like they have any more; I think Amazon might have had some, too).  It's hard to tell in the photo, but there is a faint gray script behind the red damask design.  {I think chevron fabric would make a cute ornament, too!}

I traced a circle onto some interfacing using a bowl.  Then I ironed the interfacing onto the fabric and cut the fabric a bit larger than the inner circle so I could fold it underneath and not have any raw edges that would fray.  I added ribbon, sewed a brown "hanger," and then sewed the ornament to the front piece of the pillow cover (a drop cloth) before sewing the front and back pieces together.  I didn't calculate an exact cost, but my version definitely comes in under $10!

I also have the green quilted tree pillow cover in the works.

  I'll try to remember to post a photo when it's finished.  

What is your favorite place to find home decor inspiration?

I'm linking up with Traci at Beneath My Heart,
 Centsational Girl,
The Nester

and

Cassie at Hi Sugarplum!