Advent Calendar Tutorial

If you have never made an Advent quilt, this one is a good one to start with. It is really quite easy and can be completed pretty quickly. You will need to start with your color scheme. I had some very nice ivory wool in the fabric closet so that was an easy starting point. From there, I decided to go with bright and festive colors. This way, if my sister wants to use the pockets to hole things year round, she can without it screaming Christmas.

1. Choose heavy weight background fabric and felt for the pockets.
2. Make a template for the larger "back" square. I used a 4 inch square.
3. Make a template for the smaller "front" square. I used a 3 inch square.
4. Layout your color scheme and cut 24 four inch squares and 24 three inch squares.

5. Stitch the "front" square to the "back" square using a straight stitch. (Be sure to center the smaller square, you should probably pin them but I did not.)

Be sure to remove only one at a time from your layout, otherwise it  will be difficult to find your original layout.

6. Hem all 4 sides of your background fabric. Make sure you have laid out the pockets so you know what size you want the background. Mine was 23 inches wide before hemming.  Be sure to allow for a large turnover at the top for a dowel if you are not going to use tabs.

7. Pin the pockets onto the back ground fabric keeping even margins.

These flat head  pins are great if you have a little one in the house. They are very easy to spot when cleaning up. 

8. Stitch pocket to the background fabric. 

Take your time, I didn't and things got a little out of line.

9. Using leftover felt, stitch tabs to the top of your quilt.

Yes, it was that dark while I was sewing...sleeping baby.

10. Ta da! You are done! Now you just have to make something for each pocket...

 

My goal is to post each day's gift...check back each day of Advent to see what my sister in opening!