Saturday 21 November 2015

Fabric Advent Calendar

I mentioned earlier this year that I broke up with my ex back in June.  Since then I've started going out with someone new (ooh, exciting!) and decided to make him an advent calendar.  (No, he's not 7 years old - I just thought it would be fun and thoughtful... and he is a bit of a big kid at heart!)


What I didn't anticipate was quite how difficult it was going to be.  There are so many easier ideas for advent calendars - if you feel like doing one, I recommend the easy route!  But I got this vision in my head, and just had to try to make it.  It took a long time as I was trying to figure out how to do it as I went along.  (Check out my Advent Calendar Pinterest board for other ideas.)


I can't even begin to work out how many hours I put into it, and how often I cursed myself and my stupid ideas... but when it was done I was glad I'd made the effort!

It's a big old thing too - about 55cm x 111cm.  And when it's full of gifts it's pretty heavy!!


It's quite difficult to photograph, due to its size and the terrible light this time of year - the colours in the first picture are the most accurate.  It's just laid on the carpet at the moment, for these pictures, but I will be hanging it on the wall with command hooks.  (I hear good things about them, and hope they'll do the trick without ruining my paintwork!)

A bonus of the project was that it cost me nothing to make (not including the presents of course) - I used red upholstery fabric I'd been given as someone no longer needed it.  For the pocket borders I used fabric I already had which had been awaiting a Christmassy project since last year.  I already had the white felt which I used for the numbers.  Each of those was cut out by hand and hand-sewn on!  I found the hand sewing the only relaxing part of the project actually - whereas I thought it would drive me mad having to stitch on so many numbers!


I think I'm going to be more excited than him when it comes to the present openings...

What do you think - was it worth the effort, or should I have just bought a standard chocolate one from the shops and saved myself all that time?!





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12 comments:

  1. Looks Great and very thoughtful of you xxx

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    1. Thanks! I was really pleased with how it turned out! x

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  2. Ahhhhhhh the finished piece is amazing Maria! I was going to ask if you're going to do a tutorial of it, but quickly realised it is insanely intricate and the internet may actually break from all the steps. I'm not joking - I cannot imagine how difficult this was to make. Those pockets?! It's hurting my brain trying to figure out how you made them and figured out how to sew them on and (I'm guessing) pleated them in some way? I love how well your signature fabrics work along with the red fabric! So, so beautiful! Subtle little candy cane stripes and snow flakes :D

    Himself better be damn impressed. You crafty as hell. xxxxxx

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    1. Haha, you are quite right - there will be no tutorial!! No chance! I'm sure there must have been an easier way to make it, but as I figured it out as I went along, I'm sure I did it in a far more complicated manner than I needed to! And there was some pleating in the pockets, yes! I made a strip of what would be pockets, with each pocket a certain width. Then sewed them on to the backing fabric with vertical stitching between the pockets but at a width one inch smaller than the width of the pocket material. Then when I did the long horizontal row of stitching across the bottom of the strip, I pleated the bottom two corners of each pocket, so that it was flat at the bottom, but 'pocketed' out to the top in order to fit the goodies in!
      (Now you see why I'm not doing a tutorial - that was not a good explanation!!!)

      The boy was pleased, yay! xx

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  3. I said it before - it is brilliant! And so neat. Great fabrics also! To think it cost nothing! Greatgreat calendar! xxx

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    1. Thanks Anna - it was quite an achievement, and left me craftily exhausted!! Now is the time to get my craft back on, now I've recovered from that exertion!! xxx

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  4. What a wonderful idea for a gift. Besides taking a lot of effort to make, you must have put a lot of thought into choosing 24 gifts to go in it.

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    1. Thanks Janet, you're right! Thinking of 24 gifts was a tricky business! I didn't want to spend too much, or get a load of tat that would be pointless and useless. I think I did alright in the end. At least next year I can just focus on the gifts and don't have to make the 'holder' again!

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  5. This is so much more personal. I did one of these a few years ago for my man, I think I enjoyed it more than he did but I was OK with that.
    So pleased to hear things are going well for you my lovely, you deserve it.
    Love Gem x x x
    Gem'sCountryLifeDream

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    1. Thanks Gem - it is lovely to make the time to create something personal and special!
      Thanks for your kind words xx

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  6. Totally worth all your effort! It's such a fun and thoughtful thing to make for your new man. Glad to hear you've found someone, he's a lucky guy :o)
    I'm cheating and using the pre-printed fabric for my advent contribution this year, but I did have a look at your board and was very inspired, thanks for sharing xxx

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    1. Thanks Sam! Haha, he is a lucky guy!! ;) I'll make sure he sees that!
      I saw your calendar and it looked great!
      xx

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