THREE TO MAKE, BUY OR CUSTOMISE

Everyone loves to find a stocking at the foot of the bed on Christmas morning. Buy a ready-made one, or fashion your own from a sock or a piece of velvet

MAKE

A Christmas stocking is easy to sew using a simple paper template (sewing4dummies.com has an easy one). Place template on fabric (cotton or velvet works well) and cut around it, allowing 2cm for the seam. Stitch fabric back to back, hem the opening, turn inside out then glue a strip of fake fur to the cuff. Decorate according to whim. Even easier, buy a ready-made plain linen Christmas stocking, above, and use as a base to create something lovely (£1, hobbycraft.co.uk).

BUY

There are many Christmas stockings out there in a variety of materials. For a touch of yuletide luxe, Ferm Living’s velvet, grown-up’s stocking, pictured above, takes some beating (£54, trouva.com). But there’s something for everyone. This year Jan Constantine’s felt versions (£55, janconstantine.com) are appliquéd with different yuletide birds. The Contemporary Home has knitted red and white spotty and Nordic versions (£15, tch.net), both trimmed with fake fur.

CUSTOMISE

No doubt you have a drawer full of single socks. Everyone does, don’t they? Fish out the roomiest, stretchiest and plainest of your partnerless socks and decorate it with fake fur, tinsel, the initials of the recipient, or whatever looks suitably festive. Alternatively, treat a grown-up to a pair of cashmere socks like these (Ribbed Cashmere socks, £17, cosstores.com), pin something Christmassy on one of them, and tuck the other inside among the rest of the goodies.