Christmas advent calendar tutorial

Call it nesting but... I started working on Christmas projects in JULY!!! My baby is due in the beginning of November and I thought it was important to get a head start on all things holiday.  I know how much of a zombie I am those first few months and I didn't want Christmas/Holiday traditions be the thing that was just accidentally forgotten.

So here it is my version of this. You can probably tell by my handy work that I am not an expert seamstress.  I just go for it and most of the time don't even measure.

But I did keep track of what I was doing so if any of you lovely's wanted to recreate it you could.

Start with:

Background fabric~ 18.5 inches by 30 inches

Tree~ 16 inches by 14 inches 

Three strips of fabric~ 18.5 inches by 6.5

Once you cut out your strips fold them in half (hot dog style) with right sides touching and iron the edge.

Using a regular straight stitch sew the open ends closed.

Flip the tube of fabric inside out and iron again.

Pin them to the bottom of your background fabric.

Next I used a zig zag stitch to attach my tree and I added a little tree stump.

I really liked having striped fabric because it made creating the pockets much easier (especially for a girl who doesn't measure).   You will probably want to use a ruler to break up your pockets each of mine are 2 and 1/8th of an inch with more space on the side pockets for a seam allowance.

First I sewed across the bottom of all three strips. Next I sewed down in single lines that went through all three strips.

I chose purple felt for my backing because it was all that I had. I cut it to match my background materiel exactly. Now, with right sides facing, pin edges of both these pieces of fabric together so you can sew around the edges. I added giant rick rack for fun. Make sure to leave a few inches so you can turn your fabric right side in. Lastly, hand stitch the last few inches together. 

Now you can hand sew on your bells. 24 of course!

I bought gold paint and small number stencils and painted on numbers 1-24.

 Putting the dowel in the back was trial and error for me. First I made a loop that the dowel could slide into but then the calendar hung forward so finally I just cut right into the top like this:

 and attached large red grosgrain ribbon to either side.

Finally you will need to purchase 24 small ornaments. I had no trouble finding them at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby also always has coupons for 40% off so I got all of my ornaments for 5 dollars. I painted fabric gold and cut it out for a star and I hot glued on some small red rick rack for my tree. 

I used all scrap fabric so I really only bought the trimmings. 

Bells~1.27

Small rick rack~ 1.00

Large rick rack~1.50

Ornaments~5.00

Paint~1.36

Dowel~.67

Total cost: 11.00

(I used all my own fabric scraps so I didn't need to buy any.)

Events for days 1-24:

Thursday December 1^st: Put our gift to Jesus under the tree (whenever we are serving or doing something kind we write it down and it goes in our gift to Jesus that stays under the tree all month)
Friday December 2^nd: Listen to Christmas music
Saturday December 3^rd: Go visit Temple Square

Sunday December 4^th: Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes 
Monday December 5^th: Make a gift for Grandparents

Tuesday December 6^th: Make the house smell like Christmas 
Wednesday December 7^th: Read a Christmas Story Book 
Thursday December 8^th: Wrap Christmas Gifts for Grandparents
Friday December 9^th: Make a new Christmas Decoration 
Saturday December 10^th: Color a Christmas picture 
Sunday December 11^th: Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn

Monday December 12^th: Elf some people in your neighborhood 
Tuesday December 13^th: Build a snowman or hang up paper snowflakes 
Wednesday December 14^th: Go out for a Christmas treat 
Thursday December 15^th: Do something nice for someone 
Friday December 16^th: Drive around and look for Christmas lights 
Saturday December 17^th: Do service for someone in need 
Sunday December 18^th: Make and decorate cookies 
Monday December 19^th: Call a loved one
Tuesday December 20^th: Go caroling and drop off treats to neighbors/friends 
Wednesday December 21^st: Read a story or watch a movie about the birth of Baby Jesus 
Thursday December 22^nd: Write letters for Santa Clause 
Friday December 23^rd: Read "The Night Before Christmas"

Saturday December 24^th: Act out the Nativity

Well, there you go! Is anyone else out there crazy like me and creating holiday decorations before summer is even over?

xoxo~Sophie