This stocking was made for a woman who enjoys fantasy....she met her spouse online playing an elven princess character; he was a half-orc.^[1] Since I couldn't figure out how to do a princess, I drew upon the works of my favorite fantasy author, Robin McKinley, who has done a bunch of superb fairy-tale retellings for the iconography: one such is ‘The Golden Hind’, in her The Door in the Hedge collection. This also had the advantage of not only being a fairy-tale (and a love story) but also having imagery—deer and forests—that are also associated with the (pagan) aspects of Christmas. I love it when I can layer symbolism like that.

It being Christmas, I changed the color to a more seasonally appropriate white (though to be sure gold is also Christmasy—but it was also way beyond my abilities as a sewing machine embroiderer/applique artist). Carrying forward the fantasy theme, I used a gothic font and decorated the lattering with swirling metallic thread. The piece is a little bit unusual in that I used other fabric besides felt, notably silk. The tiny red and green bit in one tree was from an ao dai I had commissioned for me while in Vietnam, for example.

stocking in purple green & white

This one was one of a series of six that I made in 2006; however, I had six to make that year, so I didn't add the tassels, cording and bells until a year later.

I'm pretty happy with this one, not least because it's my favorite color scheme, green and purple.

stocking started around 15dec 2006; photo taken 18dec2007; file created 6jan09; intro created 07jan09. Finally written up in dec 2013.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.