Annual Christmas auction launched with ‘Sandringham Stockings’ crafted from recycled historic curtains
Today we launched our 2025 ‘12 Days of Christmas’ charity auction, which will this year give members of the public the opportunity to bid on their very own piece of Royal history from the Sandringham estate. The auction will run for 12 days from Monday 1 until Friday 12 December.
For the first time, curtains which once hung in Sandringham House have been expertly transformed into 25 luxurious festive stockings by the Dumfries House Sewing Bee. Over the next 12 days, 24 of the stockings will be individually auctioned off in support of The King’s Foundation, which provides opportunities for more than 15,000 students every year to learn practical heritage skills, rooted in nature and tradition, that help them play an active role in their communities. The final stocking, number 25, will be gifted to His Majesty The King as a Christmas present from the Foundation.
The stockings were created by the Dumfries House Sewing Bee, a community initiative spearheaded by The King’s Foundation which has been running weekly at the charity’s headquarters since 2016. It aims to bring people who have an interest in sewing together to learn new skills, explore more sustainable ways of working, and become involved in their local community. More than six hours of work went into creating each stocking, with The Sewing Bee using advanced skills and techniques such as hand embroidery, piping and seam matching to create them. Each stocking is individually numbered, making each lot one-of-a-kind.
“This was such an exciting project for the Sewing Bee to work on. Being given the opportunity to work with such historically significant fabric was a real honour for them and they are so proud of how the stockings turned out.
Sarah McClymont, Lead Tutor for The King’s Foundation’s Future Textiles initiative
“The Sewing Bee transforming the Sandringham curtains into 25 luxury Christmas stockings really demonstrates The King’s Foundation’s commitment to craftsmanship, responsible design, and sustainable fashion and textiles. We hope that whoever is lucky enough to win one of the stockings at auction will pass it down as a family heirloom to be treasured for decades to come.”
The Christmas auction is the third to be held by The King’s Foundation in recent years. In 2023, the charity created an exclusive range of kimono jackets from curtains which previously hung at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. In 2024, students from Highgrove Gardens’ furniture school, the Snowdon School of Furniture, crafted footstools which were then upholstered also using curtains from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
The King’s Foundation’s 2025 Christmas Charity Auction is open until midnight on Friday 12 December and can be accessed here.