How to finish a needlepoint stocking

What a finished stocking is made of

• A backing. Velvet is the usual choice. One home sewer backs hers with cotton velveteen, and names sturdy wool felt or upholstery fabric as alternatives.
• A lining, which protects the stitches. One finisher's usual lining is "poly/silk". One maker lines with a lightweight cotton chosen to go with the stocking, and one shop with a contrasting fabric.
• An edge trim. Most often this is a welt, also called piping: a cord wrapped in fabric. Two shops make it from the same velvet as the backing, which is called a self welt. Twisted cord is the alternative. One shop asks the customer to supply it and charges more. One maker puts piping around the sides but not across the top.
• A hanging loop at the top. Two written home methods put it on the heel side.

One finisher also offers a boxed stocking, with a strip of fabric between front and back like a boxed pillow.

Adding a name

• Stitch it into the canvas. One shop's advice is to stitch a name across the cuff at the top. If your chart or canvas leaves the cuff band plain, that is the place. Take the letters from a charted alphabet and draw the whole name on squared paper first. Before the first stitch, count the squares the name takes against the stitches across and down the space, so there is room for all of it. Find the middle of the name and the middle of the space, and count outward from there so the name sits centered. A kit maker says tent stitch is the most common stitch for letters: it is a small stitch, so it shows more detail where space is limited.
• Have it put on the canvas for you. One canvas maker adds the name to the design before printing it.
• Have it added in the finishing. Some finishers offer monogramming.

A name you stitch yourself goes in before the stocking is blocked and finished. If the cuff is already stitched over, or a name has to change later, ask a finisher: one says it has taken names out of stockings and stitched new ones.

Before it is finished

Stitch a little extra. One finisher asks for two "waste rows", extra rows of stitching beyond the design, around every stocking piece. Ask yours before you stitch the edge.

Keep the margin. One maker's full-size stocking is printed on 14 mesh canvas about 16 1/2 by 23 inches (42 by 58 cm), with the design about 12 1/2 by 19 inches (32 by 48 cm) inside it. The same maker's finished stockings can be up to 14 inches (36 cm) wide and 22 inches (56 cm) high. On the printed canvas, the design has 2 inches (5 cm) of bare canvas on every side. Do not cut the margin off. A thread maker's blocking instructions say never to cut the canvas before blocking, because the bare edge holds the pins.

Check for gaps. Hold the canvas up to the light and fill any missed stitches.

Blocking comes last. If you are stitching a name, do that first. Then, if the canvas has pulled out of shape, ask the finisher before you block it (see the questions below). Block it yourself only if they want it to arrive blocked.

Sending it to a finisher

Sewing a stocking up is a finisher's work. It means cutting the canvas close to the stitching, and a cut cannot be undone.

Finishers quote months for a stocking. Published turnarounds run from about three months to about six months. One shop publishes no figure and asks you to call, because times change.

So Christmas deadlines come early. Finishers set their own deadlines, often months before Christmas. The deadlines three shops published for one Christmas fell between nearly four months and seven and a half months before it. None is a promise: one shop says plainly that it cannot guarantee a return date, and asks for canvases as soon as they are stitched. A stocking sent in after a finisher's deadline may not be back for that Christmas. Ask your own finisher for this year's date.

Three finishers publish a starting price for a stocking, of about $150 to $225. The size of the canvas and the choices made decide the final cost.

What to ask:

• What is the deadline for Christmas, and what is the turnaround now?
• Do you want extra rows around the edge, and how many?
• Will you block it, or should it arrive blocked?
• What backing, lining and trim do you use, and may I send my own?
• Is the edge a welt or twisted cord, and does it go across the top?
• Which side will the loop be on?
• Do you monogram, and where would it go?
• What will it cost? Ask for an estimate before work starts.

If you are sending a stitched cuff, one shop asks you to note which way the toe of the stocking should face, left or right.

If you say "finisher's choice", the finisher picks the fabric and trim for you.

For how finishing works in general, see needlepoint finishing.