Advent Calendar | Pattern and Tutorial

Advent calendars have become my obsession this holiday season, thanks to my friend Suzanne. A couple weeks ago, I was in Fayetteville spending the weekend with her and we started talking about how she loves Advent. We never really did anything with Advent at my house growing up, so its one of those holiday traditions that I’ve kinda been intrigued by. I always thought it was something that very liturgical churches did by lighting a candle and doing the 4 Sunday’s leading up to Christmas….boy was I wrong!

Of course like so many holiday things, it can run in so many directions. Some people fill their Advent holder with candy, some with service projects, some with fun holiday traditions, some with scriptures, some with devotionals. I’m kinda the fan of the “combination” tactic. You know a little of everything!

After we visited, I became curious and spent some time researching online about Advent. There were all kinds of info about these felt, holiday shaped things that you can purchase at places like Pottery Barn. But, I didn’t find anything that was the combo that I was feeling or that had the “look” I really like. So, I decided to branch out based on the ideas I’d seen and make a “wall hanging” advent calendar myself and then decided I would put my own set of “to-do” activities inside.

In the process of looking at these ideas, I couldn’t find a great “how-to” on sewing an Advent calendar of your own..maybe that’s a sales ploy and I apologize now to the Etsy’s shops I’m killing business for, but I thought in my process of making an Advent calendar, that it would be fun to take pics and create a little “how-to” demo for you guys (or for me to come back to next year!)

Keep in mind the goal is to make it personal, so pick fabrics, threads, and accessories that match your home, your personal style, or the colors of your Christmas decorations. This is also a great time to dig through that scrap bin and see what you have to use up – or to check out that sale section at Wal-mart or a fabric center.

For my wall hanging, I chose a herringbone bone designed fabric. I’ll be honest. It took me a while to decide what kind, but I loved this..its really fabric to make dress pants out of and I thought really would complement the home of the person I made it for. They have a very comfortable, yet modern home decorating style. To me, something like this should complement your home – not stand out!  Since her home is decorated in Black, White and Grey, I chose those colors as my main focus and then accented with other colors I’d seen around her house – my thread was a dark brick red like the colors in her kitchen.

Gather your supplies:

I worked off the dimensions of 17″ wide x 20″ tall for the back ground fabric (x2)

5 strips that were 17″ wide x 4″ tall – for this it was the same fabric as the background, but I did another one where I used a solid on the background and stripes and polka dots on the strips.

17″x20″ piece of iron on interfacing

accent thread – will show from the outside

25-2″ squares of felt – again, you could use any fabric, I just wanted a solid for this one

decorative pieces you can sew or glue on

3 – 4″ strips of ribbon

fabric paint for numbers or on my second one, I hand embroidered the #’s on – you could monogram them as well if you have that type of machine.

using my lovely Fiskars cutter, I cut all my fabrics first so they were ready when I needed them:

2 – 17″x20″ background pieces

1 – 17″x20″ piece of adhesive interfacing

5 – 17″x4″ strips – can match background fabrics or be an accent

25 – 2″ felt squares or whatever fabric you want to put your #’s on

I folded down one long edge of the strips by 1/2 ”  – iron down and sew to make a hem/finished edge

I’m horrible at ironing, but every time on this b/c of the type of fabric I used, I always went back and ironed after I did any sewing just to reinforce the crease.

***Let me add in here.  If you are planning on putting #’s on the squares by monogram or hand stitching, this would be the place you would want to do that, BEFORE you secure them to the strips.  Since I painted mine on, I did not include this step until the end.***

Next, find the middle of each strip and place a felt square – centered – over the space and pin down (it doesn’t have to be completely exact)

Place two squares on each side of the center one, making sure everything is evenly spaced as you go. Remember that the outside edges will be sewn in so when centering, allow for a seam allowance. The same is true when centering top to bottom. leave more space at the bottom with the raw edge than you have with the finished edge seam since that will be sewn on and turned up in a later step.

(use the picture above as a guide)

Repeat this on all the strips.

Then, sew a straight line down the top and bottoms of the strip to secure the felt squares in place. This is the way I chose to do it – I didn’t want glue over time deteriorating or discoloring the fabric. I also didn’t want the fabric squares flapping because the top was secured, but the bottom wasn’t.

Once all of your strips have everything you want added to them before they are sewn on to the back, you are ready to “assemble” your calendar. Strategy and measurement really come into play at this point.

*Make sure you pay attention to which side of the strip is the finished edge and which side is raw. – You will want to sew the raw edge to the bigger fabric so when it is turned up, the edge is finished*

Place the background fabric flat on your surface with the “right” side up.  place your bottom strip on the fabric – rights sides together with the raw edge facing away from you.  Measure up an inch from the bottom of the background fabric and pin down your strip straight across.  Sew your strip to the background fabric, trimming your threads as you go.

bring your fabric with one strip sewn to the back to your flat surface.  Roll the strip up to make a giant pocket where the embellishments are facing up.  Pin down, pulling the pocket taught as you go.

*hint, you will want to put your pins along the top seam going parallel with the seam, in a minute when you sew down the fabric to make the individual pockets it will be much easier if you can keep your pins in place.*

(close up to see what the pockets look like when you pull them taught and pin)

Repeat with each layer, remembering to keep a small distance between the top of the previous layer and your seam allowance.

Once all 5 rows are sewn on the back fabric and pined, you are going to sew straight down (top of the first row to bottom of the last row) to make the individual pockets.  You may measure to be exact, but the felt squares should serve as a guide for you to see the individual rows.  I also sewed down each side just to reinforce the edges of the pockets even though they will be caught when you add the backing.

Iron your interfacing to the back of the other large piece of your background fabric.  Remember to iron it to the “wrong” side (inside) of your fabric.

decide where you want your 3 hangers to be on your calendar.  Above you will see that I used one giant loop.  I DO NOT recommend this method. The edges curl down when it is hanging.  I would instead suggest one loop in the middle and one towards each end that you could run a dowel rod or other stick through to hold the calendar once it is done.

Grommets on each corner would be a great option as well and could be held up by nails. If you choose this option, you will want to add the grommets after to flip and rehem your finished project.

With raw edges together, pin the loops to the fabric with the pockets on it.  Remember that when this is turned inside out, the loops will flip over, so when you pin it down make sure the “loop” is facing the bottom and the raw edges are pinned to the edge of the fabric.

Turn the calendar right side out, making sure to push out all the corners to a point (trim them before you turn them if you need to).  Iron down all the seams to make a nice crease.  Also, fold under the opening to the same seam as the rest of the calendar.  Pin in place.

Sew right along the edge of the Calendar all the way around.  This will make a clean edge and will help close your opening at the same time.

you’re almost done.

Since I chose to paint my numbers on the pockets, I had to make sure everything else was done b/c once I painted, I need to let it air dry for a couple days to let the paint fully dry.

While you wait, you can pick the 25 things you are going to put in each pocket. I made a  list of activities, service projects and prayer/Scripture projects. It was so fun to come up with the ideas. I might also suggest looking at the calendar and seeing what day Dec 1st falls on so you can plan accordingly as you fill your calendar – some activities are better over a weekend vs. a weekday, you may also already have something on your calendar that you can incorporate into your advent  (like a holiday party or parade). I just typed my activities out on the computer and cut them in strips that I folded and put in each pocket. You could also fill the pockets with a little holiday toy or candy. The possibilities here really are endless. However, make sure your numbers or any other embellishments are dry before you start messing with the projects.

You can see the finished product below.

If you are like me and have never really done Advent, let me encourage you to research it and check it out.  There are so many ways you can incorporate this into your holiday tradition and I can already see how it really can help you get in the holiday spirit.

Remember this should be something that’s fun and helps get you in the holiday spirit.  But, it’s also an easy way to prepare your heart for the Christmas season. Let me encourage you to include scripture and service ideas as part of your 25 days of activities. It really does make you think about the endless possibilities we have when we just take the time.

Here are some ideas not included in my calendar this year that you can steal:

Take food to a local food pantry

Take doggie treats to the local humane society

Send a holiday card to a military person