“Once you start, you just can’t stop” is how I currently feel about Lone Stars. After making a lone star quilt, I made a Lone Star quilt coat and a large lone star Christmas stocking tutorial! I loved the large stocking so much that I decided to make an even smaller lone star for my small stocking pattern!
This tutorial will show you how to make a lone star quilt block that finishes at 10.5″ with no Y seams that works beautifully on a small 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 Small Lone Star Christmas Stocking:
- Background fabric: 1/2 yard. Cut the following:
- (4) 5″ squares cut in half on the diagonal to create (8) total triangles
- (4) 4″ squares cut in half on the diagonal to create (8) total triangles
- (1) 5″ x WOF strip
- (2) 2″ x WOF strips
- Lone Star fabrics: (5) total fabrics:
- Colors 1 and 5: (1) 1.25″ x 21″ strips
- Colors 2 and 4: (2) 1.25″ x 21″ strips
- Color 3: (3) 1.25″ x 21″ strips
- Lining fabric: 1/3 yard (1/2 yard if using a directional print)
- Batting: 1/3 yard (or batting scraps larger than your stocking template – frankenbatt some together!)
- 1/2″ Twill tape for hanging: 6″ length
- Small Stocking Template
- 2″ x 13.5″ rectangle for binding
Sewing Supplies You’ll Need:
- Sewing Machine
- Thread
- Scissors
- Straight pins
- Iron and Ironing board
- Basting spray
Instructions for 10.5″ Lone Star block:
1. Separate out your 1.25″ strips into three piles consisting of 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, offsetting them by about 1″. Press all seams open.
3. Cut the strips on a 45 degree angle to create diamonds. Cut each strip of diamonds to 1.25″. You’ll need (8) strips of diamonds from each of the 3 strip sets. Set extra fabric aside.
4. Now here’s the tricky part – sewing the diamond strips to each other. The trickiest part is getting the points to match up. Take the strip set 2 pieces (the ones with color 2, 3, and 4) over to your machine. Sew 1/4″ basting stitches on either side of the diamonds. Be gentle and try not to stretch them out. 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. FYI: the next few photos are from the large stocking tutorial, as the process is the same. Just remember your color order and you should be able to follow along.
5. Take a piece from strip set 1 and lay it down on your work surface. 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 and line up the fabrics. place a pin through the first seam intersection at the place where your basting stitches indicate 1/4″, 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.
6. Bring to your machine and sew the two pieces together with a regular stitch length, taking out pins as you go. Once completed, check your seam on the front of the fabric and make sure your pieces line up correctly. If they don’t, seam rip and try again. Once satisfied with your points, press the seam open, taking care not to stretch out the fabrics. (Use the arrows to slide through all the images).
7. Repeat the process with the strip set 3 pieces to complete your lone star diamonds.
8. Once all 8 diamonds are completed for your star, it is time to sew it together to the background fabric.
Take one diamond and line up (1) background triangle from the 4″ squares, bias edge of the background triangle with the diamonds in color 3-5. The background triangle should have a 1/4″ point that extends past the color 3 fabric, and will be longer than lone star diamonds. All excess should be on the color 5 side. Sew together and press seam towards background fabric.
10. Align a large background triangle (from the 5″ squares) with the piece from step 9. Line up the 5″ side with colors 3-5 on the lone star diamond, forming a large triangle piece. the background fabric should extend 1/4″ past color 3, with extra fabric on the color 5 side. Do not stretch fabric and do not try to make the background pieces match up, they will be trimmed straight later on. Stitch together and press towards background fabric.
11. Continue for remaining (7) lone star diamonds, creating 8 large triangles to sew together. Keep in mind that you will have 2 sets of 4 diamonds each, which are mirror images of each other.
12. Add basting stitches to half of the diamonds in your lone star, similar to what we did in the beginning. This will help line up the lone star pieces together.
13. Sew two of the units from step 12 together to form a square. Press seam open. Repeat until you have 4 squares.
14. Sew two of the squares together to form half of a lone star. Repeat to form a second half. Trim each half to 6.75″ x 13″.
15. For this stocking, instead of sewing the whole lone star together, I sewed two halves and used each half for one side of the stocking. Once you have two star halves, assemble each half like the diagram below. Remember that you’ll need to create mirror images if you want the illusion that your lone star continues on to the back of the stocking.
16. Baste each lone star half to batting and quilt as desired. Then continue to the original tutorial to finish assembling your lone star Christmas stocking. One thing to note, is that the original tutorial doesn’t specify a seam allowance. If you prefer a skinnier stocking, sew with a 1/2″ seam allowance. That’s what I did with the stocking in this post. If you prefer a wider stocking, use 1/4″ seam allowance.
Modifying the Lone Star Christmas Stocking Pattern without Binding:
I didn’t want to take away from the lone star motif, so instead of binding the stocking as I did in the original tutorial, finished the 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 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. You should have enough wiggle room with the lone star measurements above to cut out your stocking pieces with the additional 1/2″.
2. Create the stocking lining following the original tutorial, however, keep an opening about 3-4″ on the stocking lining. I like to do mine right above the heel. This will allow you to turn your stocking right side out.
3. Once you’ve sewn together your stocking exterior and the twill tape is basted in place, stuff your stocking into the lining, right sides together. The lining should be wrong side out. Pin or clip in place.
4. Sew all around the top edge with a 1/2″ seam allowance.
5. Turn the Christmas stocking right side out through the opening you in the stocking lining.
6. Stitch up the hole left in the lining, then place the lining inside the stocking. Press the top edge well, I like to make sure that the lining is hidden when looking at the stocking from the outside.
7. Topstitch the top edge of the stocking at about 1/8″ to keep the lining in place.
