Advent Calendar: How to Make One

I love an Advent calendar.  This year I decided our nieces were old enough to "get" it so I made them (and our nephew) Advent calendars that had stockings of fun for each day.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, let me first say, that Mr. and I got this Advent calendar from our home away from home, David's Tea:

It is a new tea every day.  It is fab.

Now that that is over with, let's move on to "How to Make an Advent Calendar".

If you aren't aware, there are 24 gifts in an Advent calendar.  One is opened each day starting on December 1 and ending December 24. 

1.  Make a stocking template.  

I made two, one for a really small stocking and one for a slightly bigger one.  I did these free hand, cut them out of computer paper and used them as you would a pattern.  I did 17 small stockings and 7 slightly bigger ones for each calendar.

When you're making your template, remember to leave extra area to account for the seam.

2.  Cut out all of your stockings.  You will need enough material for 24 outer stockings and 24 liners.

Remember when cutting to flip the pattern for half of the stockings so you don't end up with all fronts of your stockings and no backs.

This was the most time-consuming part because I was making two of these.  So that is 48 stockings * 2 outsides * 2 liners = 192 stockings.  Yikes!  Fortunately, Mr. stepped it up and helped me on this.

I used Christmasy material I got from Etsy as the outside.  It was just regular cotton.  And I used white flannel for the linings.

3.  Cut ribbon a few inches long to make the loops for the stockings to hang from.  Melt the ends to prevent fraying.  Pin these loops to the right side of the liner stocking which faces right so that your stockings hang facing right and the loop is in the back.  

Make sure to account for the side seam so, assuming about a 5/8 inch seam, put the loop about an inch from the left.  Check that your ribbon has enough length for both the loop and for about a 1/2 inch to hang unseen in the stocking seam.

Here is a visual:

4.  Match the lining of each side of the stocking to its outside piece so that they are right sides together.

Pin across the top of the stocking.

5. Sew across the top.

I did about a 5/8 inch seam here.  Really this is all free-hand and home-made, so I didn't try to get every stocking exactly the same because that would be madness.

6. Trim the excess fabric across the top.  DON'T cut the ribbon.  It will hang out of the seam as you can see in the pic below.

I left about 1/4 inch seam.


7. Open up the stockings.  Pin right sides together.  Flannel to flannel.  Cotton to cotton.

8. Sew around the entire circumference of the stocking leaving about 2 inches unsewn.

I chose to leave the open part on the bottom of the flannel lining where it wouldn't be seen.


9.  Trim the seams and excess string.

Again, I only left a tiny amount of the seam because I wanted to reduce bulk.

10.  Flip the stocking through the hole so that the right side is out.

11.  Hand sew the hole shut.


12.  Push the flannel into the cotton so you have stocking #1.  Now repeat 23 times.


13.  When all your stockings are completed, make the long string to hang them from.

Start far enough in where you will have enough slack to hang up the calendar (a couple of feet maybe) and pin pieces of ribbon around 6-7 inches in length to the string, centering them.  They should be more or less evenly spaced.

Leave the same amount of string at the final end as the first end after all 24 are pinned.  Cut and melt the ends to prevent fraying.

Be careful about your string twisting.

I used 1/4 inch ric rac but you could really use whatever you want.

14.  Sew the ribbon to the ric rac.


15.  Hot glue your numbers to the ribbon/ string to hide the stitches.

I bought these bingo numbers off of Amazon.  I painted the raised edges white so they would stand out.

16.  Tie all of your stockings to the calendar by putting the ribbons through each loop and knotting.

17.  Fill with delights!  Then hang!

Voila!

(These are attached to the chairs for a 15 minute photo session.  If these were in my house permanently, I would have found somewhere better.  LOL)