DIY - advent calender bags

Are advent calenders a thing for you?

Well, I love them. Especially as a kid it helped me shorten the time until Christmas. Every day from 1st of December till the 24th you get to open one “door” and behind it you find a little treat. You can of course buy an advent calender for you, for your kids or for friends.

But - isn’t a handmade advent calender so much more fun. And by the way - you can use that calender over and over again - all you need for next year are new yummy treats for filling the little bags ;-)

Today I show you the fastest way to make one.

Before we start lets talk about the fabrics: for this tutorial I used fabrics from my own “mistletoe” fabric collection - available HERE. As matching solids I used terracotta tile from Art Gallery Fabrics, slate and glacier from birchfabrics.

Ok - now lets get started:

You need:

• fabrics

• a zigzag sewing scissors or a rotary cutter with a zigzag blade

• any kind of ribbon (like satin ribbon)

• 24 labels

• the filling for your bags

Step 1: cut your fabrics

You can make them any size you want. I cut mine about 4 3/4 to 7 inches. With that sice there is enough space for little treats.

You need 48 of these pieces.

Step 2: treat the top edge

To prevent the top edge from fraying - cut it with a zigzag sewing sissors or your rotary cutter with a zigzag blade (red fabric).

In case you don’t have such a sissors - don’t worry I’ve got you covered as well. Just fold 1/2 inch from the top edge over to the left side (= wrong side of the fabric or the side without a print), press and topstich (green fabric).

Step 3: sew the bags

For each bag take 2 pieces of fabric, place them on top of each other, right sides facing. Pin the sides and bottom with a few pins and sew the sides and bottom together. To prevent the seam from coming undone, I recommend that you lock the seam by sewing 2-3 stitches back and forth or knot the upper and lower threads together.

Step 4: fill your bags with little treats and wait till the 1st of December

24 bags later - the fun part starts: Turn the bags and fill them with little treats. The bag is simply tied with a ribbon. My ribbons were about 8 inch long and after tying them I shortened them a little.

For the labels: I used a slightly stronger paper and drew 24 circles with a diameter of about 1 1/4 inch, cut them out and punched a hole with a little punching machine. But of course you can also use/buy ready made labels.

Voilà - your handmade advent calender is ready for the 1st of December.