Lone Star Quilted Christmas Stocking Tutorial

I’m constantly brainstorming ways to use my Free Tutorials in new ways, and this lone star quilted Christmas stocking is no exception! I remember falling in love with Lone Star quilts right at the beginning of my quilting journey. I loved them – and yet was intimidated by them. Finally, FINALLY, after many years, I made my first lone star quilt, and since then have also made a Lone Star quilt coat! And now, the fun continues with a lone star quilted Christmas Stocking!

This tutorial will show you how to make a lone star quilt block that finishes at 14.5″ that works beautifully on a large quilted Christmas stocking. Once you’ve made your block, you’ll want to go to the Christmas Stocking Tutorial post for full assembly instructions.

Materials for the Quilted Christmas Stocking:

• Background fabric: 1/2 yard. Cut the following:
  • (1) 19″ x 18″ rectangle for stocking back
  • (4) 6″ squares, cut in half on the diagonal to create (8) total triangles
  • (4) 4.5″ squares, cut in half on the diagonal to create (8) total triangles
  • (1) 3.5″ x 15.5″ rectangle
• Lone Star fabrics: (5) total fabrics.
  • Colors 1 and 5: (1) 1.5″ x 21″ strips
  • Colors 2 and 4: (2) 1.5″ x 21″ strips
  • Color 3: (3) 1.5″ x 21″ strips
• Lining fabric: 1/2 yard (5/8 yard if using a directional print)
• Batting: 1/2 yard batting (or batting scraps larger than your stocking template – frankenbatt some together!)
• 1/2″ Twill tape for hanging: 6″ length
• Large Stocking Template
• 2.5″ x 19″ rectangle for binding

Sewing Supplies You’ll Need:

• Sewing Machine
• Thread 
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Iron and Ironing board
• Basting spray

Instructions for 14.5″ Lone Star block:

First, we’ll construct our lone star block.

1. Separate out your 1.5″ strips into three piles with the following combinations:

• Strip set 1: Colors 1, 2, and 3
• Strip set 2: Colors 2, 3, and 4
• Strip set 3: Colors 3, 4, and 5

2. Sew the strips together into strip sets, offsetting the strips by about 1.25″. Press all seams open.

3. Cut the strip set on a 45 degree angle to create diamonds. Cut each strip of diamonds to 1.5″. You’ll need (8) strips of diamonds from each of the 3 strip sets for a total of 24 diamond strips. Set extra fabric aside.

4. So far, so good? Now we’re starting on the “meat” of our lone star. This is the trickiest part, getting the diamond points to line up. We’re going to help ourselves out with some basting stitches. Take the strip set 2 pieces (the ones with color 2, 3, and 4) and sew 1/4″ basting stitches on either side of the diamonds. Be gentle and try not to stretch them out (bias edges like to stretch!). I like to use a 3.5 stitch length. Something long enough to easily rip out later but not so big it will start to ruffle my fabrics. It is important for your basting stitches to be at 1/4″ seam allowance.

5. Lay out a piece from strip sets 1-3 together to form your diamond shape. We’re going to start with a piece from strip set 1 and place a piece from strip set 2 next to it making sure the pattern is correct. Place the piece from set 2 on top of the piece from set 1, right sides together, and line up the top edge of the fabrics.

Place a pin through the first seam intersection at the place where your basting stitches indicate 1/4″, making sure the pin goes through the intersection on the second fabric as well and pin in place. Repeat with the next seam intersection. You may also wish to use a dab of glue in place of the pins.

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6. Sew the two pieces together with a regular stitch length, removing out pins as you go. Once you’ve finished sewing, check your seam on the front of the fabric and make sure your diamonds line up correctly. If they don’t, seam rip and try a second time. Don’t get frustrated, it can take a few tries to really get the hang of it! When you’re seam ripping or handling the pieces, be mindful that they are on the bias and take it gently! Once you’re happy with your points, press the seam open, taking care not to stretch out the fabrics.

7. Repeat steps 5-6 with all of the strip set 1 and 2 pieces, then again for adding on the strip set 3 pieces. You should now have 8 large diamonds consisting of 9 diamonds in each.

8. When you have all 8 diamonds, you now have to decide which way to construct your lone star, and sew it to the background fabric. You can have either Color 1 or Color 5 in the center of your star.

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9. Each diamond will get half of a small background square (4.5″ cut on the diagonal) and half of a large background square (6″ cut on the diagonal) sewn to it. This allows us to construct our star without Y seams.

Start with the small (4.5″) background square half and line up the bias edge with colors 3, 4, and 5 on your diamond. Line up the background with diamond color 3, so that it extends past color 3 by 1/4″. sew together and press seam towards background square.

10. Line up half of the large 6″ square with colors 3, 4, and 5 on your diamond. You’re essentially creating a larger triangle. Line up the non bias 6″ edge with diamond, so that the fabric extends by 1/4″ on the color 3 side. Don’t worry about your background pieces lining up, we’ll be trimming those down to size later. Press seam towards background fabric.

11. Repeat steps 9-10 with the remaining diamonds and background pieces. Half the pieces will be mirror images, see the photo below for fabric placements.

12. On 4 of your lone star triangles, add basting stitches along the diamonds. Similar to above when we were constructing the diamonds, these basting stitches will help us align the pieces of our block together.

13. Sew together (2) triangles to form a square, lining up the seam intersections on the lone star points as we did above. We’ll be sewing on the bias edge of the large 6″ background square. Press seam open. Repeat until you now have 4 squares to finish assembling your block with.

14. Sew all 4 squares together to complete the lone star block. Press seams open. Then Trim the lone star block down. You may choose to only leave 1/4″ above all the lone star points, but since I’m turning it into a stocking, I chose to leave as much background fabric as possible and trim it to an even 15.5″.

15. To turn the lone star block into a stocking, add the background 3.5″ x 15.5″ strip to the bottom of the star. Then place your pattern on top to make sure you have enough fabric to cover the pattern. Baste and quilt your lone star to batting to create the front of your stocking. Then baste and quilt the 19″ x 18″ background rectangle for the back of your stocking, and follow the instructions in the original tutorial for stocking construction. The tutorial doesn’t specify a seam allowance. If you like a narrower, more slender stocking, stitch it together with 1/2″ seam allowance. This lone star stocking was sewn with 1/2″ seam allowance, while the one in the original tutorial was stitched with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

If you want to create a stocking without binding the top, as I did for this particular stocking, keep reading below for those modifications.

Modifying the Pattern without Binding:

Instead of binding the top edge, as I did in the original tutorial, I liked the look of this lone star Christmas stocking without binding. If you want to do this too, here’s how to modify the pattern:

1. Add 1/2″ seam allowance to the top of the the stocking pattern. This step is optional, but if you’re using the stocking pattern for multiple stockings and some will have binding and some won’t, this will make them all the same height when completed.

2. Follow the original tutorial to create your stocking lining. Keep an opening about 3-4″ on the stocking lining. You’ll need this to be able to turn your stocking right side out later. I like to do mine on a straight stretch, like right above the heel.

3. Once your stocking exterior is sewn together and the twill tape is basted in place and your stocking lining has been created, stuff your stocking exterior into the lining, right sides together. Pin or clip in place.

4. Sew the top edge shut with a 1/2″ seam allowance.

5. Turn the stocking right side out through the opening you left in the stocking lining. Press the top edge well.

6. Stitch the lining opening closed, then stuff the lining into the stocking. Press the top edge well, so that the lining is hidden when looking at the stocking from the outside.

7. Topstitch the top edge of the stocking to keep the lining in place. Your quilted Christmas stocking is complete!