So, ever since we purchased our mid-century modern home (built in 1959), we've been busy trying to fix it up, and trying to restore a bit of the MCM charm it undoubtedly had but over the years lost with previous owner's modifications.

One such thing bugging me was the house numbers; now, admittedly, they never would have looked like the ones I put up. But, I think they give the house a bit of flair.

I started scouring Pinterest in search of something cool but somewhat period appropriate, and came upon this tutorial by Michelle of 4 MEN 1 lady. In her tutorial she creates a vertical house number plaque; I had limited space between my house light and mailbox and was forced to modify her tutorial to a horizontal orientation.

I have made some additions and modifications to her tutorial, and thought I would share my spin on her take. I hope you enjoy my post, and if you end up making one, make sure to leave a comment with a link to a picture of your house numbers, because I'd love to see it!

SPECIAL NOTE: Home Depot has since started printing/embossing on both sides of their sticks - one side has their logo, the other, a ruler. Check out these Made in the USA paint sticks on Amazon as an alternative!

Materials:
(based on a 4 - number address plate; Amazon affiliate links below to the products I used)

• 2x6 Pressure treated piece of lumber, cut to about 24" long (you can have the hardware store cut this for you)
• About 10 paint sticks - don't want to head to the hardware store? Check out these Made in the USA sticks on Amazon
• Minwax Mahogany Gel Stain (I just used interior stain and sealed it) and foam brushes
• Thompson's WaterSeal spray
• Stand-off/floating house numbers (I used these ones)
• Silicone caulk
• Construction adhesive/No-nails
• Keyhole hangers
• Screws and Washers

3. Attach your sticks with the construction adhesive.
I used Loctite's Construction Adhesive, and I've used Liquid Nails in the past and had great results with it. I bought a large tube, since I have a caulk gun kicking around the house and I knew I'd need the adhesive for some other projects around the house. It comes in smaller, more manageable tubes if this is the only project you're buying it for.


4. Touch up any chips.
You'll have a few chips to touch up from cutting your sticks, and you'll need to stain the cut ends to make them more weather resistant, as well as stain the edges of the backerboard:

5. Seal your backer board.
I used Thompson's WaterSeal. Make sure to read the instructions on the can, and let the backer board dry for the appropriate time. This'll help increase the longevity of your new numbers by making it more weather-proof. Make sure to seal the backside and edges of your board, too, since they'll be in contact with the elements as well.

6. Attach your Hangers
Draw a straight, square line across the top of the backside of your board - attach your keyhole hooks using the line as a guide.



7. Attach your numbers.
I used the stand-off or 'floating' MCM looking numbers from The Hillman Group (here's the Amazon link).

I wanted the modern look that these numbers from Rejuvenation give, but without the price tag. For about $6 a piece, these were a bargain!

Now, these were easy to use, however, I do have a few comments to make about them:

- the templates supplied are a little 'off'.
Each number comes with a cardboard template which you use to determine where you're going to drill your holes. I found that these were 'off' - my suggestion is to dry fit your numbers, then manually mark your holes. Each number has 3 stand-offs you'll need to drill for. I marked each hole place, drilled one, aligned my number, checked my marks, drilled the next hole, checked my marks, etc. Took a while, but it was worth it.

- the bit sizes recommended for drilling are a bit big.
The instructions state that you drill a 1/8" pilot hole, followed by a 1/4" finishing hole, then place your silicone caulk in the holes, and drop your numbers in. I found the holes to be a bit big - if I were to do this again, I'd drop the second bit size down to 15/64" or even 7/32". I think these sized holes would still give you plenty of room for caulk and offer maybe a bit more stability.

- You'll need to touch up the drilled holes a bit with some stain (I should have done this before I slotted the numbers in, but a Q-tip worked well for the stain touch ups around the standoffs).

And, voila!
If you decide to use my tutorial, I'd love to see or hear about your Midcentury styled house number projects - so make sure to leave me a comment below and add a picture so we can all see.

If you're interested in picking up a mailbox similar to mine (the one I purchased is discontinued and no longer available,) here are 4 similar options on Amazon* with that modern mid-century feel:

top to bottom, left to right:

Well, it's that time of the year again!

My kids have been hopped up on sugar and Santa-crazy for about a month now. It's like that line in that song,

"/and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again/".

I jest. I'm having fun with them home, but it's been an exhausting time!

I've been in a rush to try and complete a series of new stockings for the family; the last set I made was years ago (so long ago in fact that it was before my son was born - so he's been using a store-bought hand-me-down for, uh, a few years). Here's the tutorial for our 'old' stockings in {this post}.

I had *so* much fun making these new oversized, Buffalo Plaid pattern stockings I thought I would write it up as a tutorial for the ol' blog!

Enjoy!


*this post may contain affiliate links to Amazon at no additional cost to you - the income earned helps me to pay for domain fees and supplies. For more information, please visit my Disclosure Statement and Advertising Policies page.

Please note and respect that all free patterns published on Sew at Home Mummy are for personal use only and may not be sold or used to create items to be sold. Thank you!

SUPPLIES:

• Jumbo Stocking Pattern (Click the button above to download and print the PDF version)
• COLOR 3: Moda Crossweave*, Studio E Brushstrokes*, or the like, or, medium dark solid
• COLOR 1 & 2: Moda* or Kona Solids, or the like, coordinating, 1 each fat quarter light and dark
• BACK & LINING: 3 Coordinating FQs (or the equivalent) (I used Bella Ivory*)
• Hobbs Cotton Blend Batting*
• That Purple Thang* (for turning, or a chopstick would work!)
• Coordinating thread for piecing and quilting (for piecing I used a cream Aurifil* and coordinating Aurifil 50wt* to quilt each stocking) 
• Glue Basting Spray* or Curved pins for basting your mini plaid quilt top to the batting

CUTTING:

Color 1 (light FQ): (3) strips 2.5" x 22"

Color 2 (dark FQ): (3) strips 2.5" x 22"

Color 3 (medium FQ, 'textured'/crossweave fabric): (6) strips 2.5" x 22"

Hanging Tab: from one of the colored fabrics (1) piece 2.5" x 6"

Batting: (2) pieces 20" x 24"

Stocking Back: (1) piece, cut from supplied pattern

Stocking Lining: (2) pieces, cut from supplied pattern

Stocking Front:

Row 1: 3 SET A's (6 squares)
Row 2: 3 SET B's (6 squares)
Row 3: 3 SET A's (6 squares)
Row 4: 3 SET B's (6 squares)
Row 5: 3 SET A's (6 squares)
Row 6: 3 SET B's (6 squares)
Row 7: 3 SET A's (6 squares)
Row 8: 4 SET B's (8 squares)
Row 9: 5 SET A's (10 squares)
Row 10: 5 SET B's (10 squares)
Row 11: 5 SET A's (10 squares)

5) Matching intersecting seams, sew rows of strips together.

And here's what your sewn strip sets will look like (see the stocking shape starting to take form?):

6) Layer your 2 batting pieces on top of each other matching edges (safety pin the outer edges to keep them from shifting); baste your plaid piecing on top of the batting (I used June Tailor's glue basting spray* for this step, but you could also use curved pins*)

7) Quilt your stockings! Here are two quilting patterns which I used as examples -


8) Using the pattern/template provided, trace your stocking shape onto the quilted squares; trim (you'll see here that I used an Olfa pinking blade (click here to see it on Amazon)* on my regular good old 45mm Olfa rotary cutter* to cut down on any fraying with the turning process) -

9) Pin backing to quilted front, right sides together and sew.

10) Clip corners and curves to get a nice clean curve when you turn, like so:

11) Turn right side out, using your That Purple Thang* or chopstick to poke out those curves. Press well.

Create Lining:

From lining fabric cut 2 of stocking pattern. Sew together, leaving about a 4" opening on the long side to be able to turn your stocking in a later step.

TIP:

When sewing up to the opening, sew back to the edge of the fabric at a 90deg corner - this helps to make creating your closing seam allowance a little easier.

Create Hanging Tab

1) following the image guide below,

1. fold tab fabric in half lengthwise and press.
2. open fabric and fold each left and right sides in to align with pressed center line and press in place.
3. fold fabric again in half aligning pressed edges; press in place.
4. sew down the length of the tab.

Finish Stocking:

1) Shove that stocking front inside the lining, right sides together.

2) Matching side seams, pin upper raw edges together, placing your hanging tab, folded in half, between the lining and stocking front at the stocking rear seam matching raw edges. Sew using 1/4" seam.

3) Turn stocking through the opening you left in the lining.

4) Turn the open-seam portion of lining to create a seam allowance tucked to the wrong side of fabric; press. Pin the two open sides of lining together. Sew opening shut with a narrow 1/8" seam.

5) Push stocking lining into stocking front; press upper seam at stocking opening.

And here are all of my finished stockings!
...no chimney to hang them by but still hung and awaiting Santa's arrival nonetheless!

Thanks for reading along, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you end up making one of these stockings, send me an email with a photo, I love to see what you're making.

Happy Holidays!

remember to nest your seams