Today the girls and I decided to make a Christmas Advent calendar for our family that we will use this year and for many years to come. It was a really fun activity and didn’t take long at all. We decided to use pinking shears, they are quick and easy to use and the result is such a pretty edging, and of course no seams!
Materials:
Two different fabrics
Pinking Shears
Scissors
Yarn
Sewing machine
Ribbon
Pegs
I love this Christmas fabric, I bought it last year and used it as a centrepiece for our Christmas table. Today we just cut a thin slither off the one end to make our little advent bags.
Fold your material double, place the base of your template on the fabric fold and mark out your bag.
Cut out your bags with pinking shears, just around the top and sides.
Jen sewing straight up the sides of each bag on the right side of the fabric. The top the bags have been cut with the pinking shears too so no need for a seam there.
Here are all our little bags, sewn and ironed, 13 in Christmas fabric and 12 in plain hemp.
We hung a ribbon from one end of our fireplace to the other and wrapped the red yarn around the bags and tied them onto the hanging ribbon with a bow. We were going to add pegs but decided not to. We hung the bags alternating the Christmas fabric and the hemp.
Such a sweet project for mama and her girls… I still need to think about what treasures I will be adding to these little bags for Advent, any suggestions? I would love to hear your thoughts…
xo
Linda
Such a wonderful idea.I greatly admire any mother who home schools her children, they should be considered our hero’s. I raised 2 sons and could never homeschooled them,homework nearly killed LOL ! But now I work for them,yes it can be rather odd to take instructions from your child !
Loved your blog and will visit often.I just started to knit and can only make dish cloths so far.So I am in awe of your designs!-Rebecca
Hah! I have been trying to come up with something different for this year. We will have to try this idea too. Thanks for sharing!
So cute! We meant to make one of these last year but it became a “maybe next year” project. Auri has been begging for a new sewing project to do, and I think this would be PERFECT. Thank you for sharing.:o)
What a lovely idea! I love that they are cut out with pinking shears and sewn right-side out.
Casey’s Wood Products might have some fun little treasures for your bags. 🙂
Advent things always fascinate me. Secrets of this kind – anticipation, small treasures – deeee-light. One thing I’d like to find in one of those bags – peppermint pillows – those really light, puffy peppermint candies, about marble sized. And tiny animals. Or a tiny pod or cone with glitter on it. A beautiful marble. A small beaded ring (so easily made – do you know how?). A tiny scroll with a clue inside of it that might lead out into the yard – where I’d find another scroll that might lead to the bookshelf, and so on, till I found a piece of fresh hot bread and butter and honey waiting for me. Stuff like that.
Advent things always fascinate me. Secrets of this kind – anticipation, small treasures – deeee-light. One thing I’d like to find in one of those bags – peppermint pillows – those really light, puffy peppermint candies, about marble sized. And tiny animals. Or a tiny pod or cone with glitter on it. A beautiful marble. A small beaded ring (so easily made – do you know how?). A tiny scroll with a clue inside of it that might lead out into the yard – where I’d find another scroll that might lead to the bookshelf, and so on, till I found a piece of fresh hot bread and butter and honey waiting for me. Stuff like that.
Such a wonderful idea. I will have a go at making them over the next few days. My sister is coming for a visit at the weekend and she can take it home with her for the grandchildren.
I will also need to think of some little ideas for gifts in each one.
Thank you so much for the idea.
Happy week
What a wonderful idea. I might actually think of making something like that myself. I really like that idea and your calendar buntings.
Dear Linda,, don’t you want to come and live with me and teach me all these wonderful things…:).. Your little wreath is cute. I shall make one tomorrow. I also do the advent bags, except mine are the lazy way. I use paper bags with decoration on the front. We’ve had them for a few years and when I go to the USA, I shall invest in wonderful material to sew some projects. I have never seen a material or sewing store here in Dominican Rep.
What I put in my advents bags: little shells, you could cover a matchbox with pretty felt and put a felted star or heart (to make a treasure box), I make hazelnut babies but gluing two hazelnuts together, a little wool hair and a wool cape. They are adorable. I shall try to send you a photo. You could put a peppermint cane, a chocolate, I put some little wooden wall stickers with pictures of boats, monkeys, etc., stickers, a gem stone, make a felted necklace or one with leather, little bag of marbles, a candle, fruit, .. little balls, poms poms. Enjoy,, this is my boys favorite time and my busiest.
Dear Linda,, don’t you want to come and live with me and teach me all these wonderful things…:).. Your little wreath is cute. I shall make one tomorrow. I also do the advent bags, except mine are the lazy way. I use paper bags with decoration on the front. We’ve had them for a few years and when I go to the USA, I shall invest in wonderful material to sew some projects. I have never seen a material or sewing store here in Dominican Rep.
What I put in my advents bags: little shells, you could cover a matchbox with pretty felt and put a felted star or heart (to make a treasure box), I make hazelnut babies but gluing two hazelnuts together, a little wool hair and a wool cape. They are adorable. I shall try to send you a photo. You could put a peppermint cane, a chocolate, I put some little wooden wall stickers with pictures of boats, monkeys, etc., stickers, a gem stone, make a felted necklace or one with leather, little bag of marbles, a candle, fruit, .. little balls, poms poms. Enjoy,, this is my boys favorite time and my busiest.
I love your advent calendar! I have to admit I have found it really hard to balance the ‘I wants’ when I was doing an advent calendar which contained little goodies. My friend sent me a card about 5 years back that had a little door or window that you opened and a picture was behind so we have been re-using that each year. My mum had one like that also?? (funny that) This year Jackie Lawson animated cards extraordinare has an advent calendar for the computer so I will probably go with that one too 🙂
Yes Linda, I saw that you had been been making your Advent calendar the same day, I like that 🙂
It is too late for me to think of little gift ideas at the moment, but Jeanene sure has lots of nice ideas, she made with her boys the sweet little hazelnut babies for my girls, they are adorable.
Every Sunday of Advent we have a special story evening.. for Sunday’s or another day perhaps a story could be the gift and in the bag could be the title of the story. Or maybe a short poem written on a pretty bit of paper.
Those are my sleepy ideas for now…
Renee xo
This calender reminded me of the ones my mother used to make for me and my sisters when I was little in Germany. I remember each bag had a number made of felt on it. I should really make one for my kids this year. But alas, with all the sewing I do these days I am lacking the energy.
I just love your blog!!
My suggestion is to put treats, supplies for handmade ornaments, and little papers with suggestions for family togetherness activities on them inside the bags. The papers could suggest things like making cocoa together and watching a favorite Christmas video, singing carols, making Christmas cards, etc.
I think I’m going to try sewing an Advent calendar this year, too – we’ll see how it works out!
Jess
Hi Linda
So lovely. I love the way your girls played such an active part in making this. Enjoy this beautiful time of year. How the years roll by and how your girls are growing!
Best wishes, dear friend!
Kelly
Oh this is fun! This is something my 10 year old and I could do. She is always asking me to help her sew something on her machine she got for Christmas a few years ago. This would be a great first project for her.
What a lovely idea 🙂
Thank you for sharing
Thank you so much everyone for your lovely comments and ideas:)
xo
Linda
I’ve just decided to do bags rather than the calendar with “windows” I have drawn the last few years. Your bags are so lovely! I am going mainly with craft supplies for decorations, gifts and cards, rather than gifts for my (very little) girls. I’m going to find a CD of carols from the library and pop that in. Today we hunted out our star and tree biscuit cutters for the day we’ll do some baking.
Linda,
Super idea. Lots of neat ideas given for treats. My kids love nuts, to eat. They collect gem stones, maybe beads and string to make a necklace. Something they can place on the nature table.
This is so sweet! We wrap our offerings in tissue paper, then tie them onto a sturdy stick. Advent sticks! Love how your girls got involved in this project!
Great idea and what a beautiful garland to have on the fireplace.
It’s beautiful. I love that it can be reused for years and years to come, and is imbued with the love of all of its makers. Perfect.
Hi Linda,
I love this idea and in fact I’m working on my own set of bags right now! It gave me a good excuse to buy some pinking shears, which I’ve wanted to add to my collection of sewing supplies for some time. 🙂
I bought a bunch of stuff at the Dollar Store to put in–Christmas stickers, stamps, small decorations, etc. And I also picked up some special candies at the grocery store. I will add in some written things, like poems or coupons to do something fun together.
I just have to sew a few more bags and I’ll be done. When I get it hung up, if I remember I’ll come back here and post a link.
Thanks for the idea, Linda! 🙂
Laura (from The Wood Garden and Getting There)
What a unique idea. Just found your blog but will be back for many more visits and ideas. In the meantime I wonder if I have enough time to make some of those myself. Only two days until December! And what to fill them with indeed. My kids are older so they’d tell you such things as an iPod Touch, new headphones, a car! I don’t think I’ll make the bags quite that big. 😉
Hi Linda,
I hope all is well over there in South Africa. I love your advent calendar. We make ours out of knitted squares which we fold in half and use i-cord to hang them on our string. It’s a fun project for new knitters. Be well and enjoy the season.
Here is my calendar, Linda!
http://gettingthere.typepad.com/getting-there/2010/11/advent-calendar-.html
🙂
I can’t thank you enough for this WONDERFUL and beautiful idea. I made mine within 24 hours of reading your post! I had looked high and low for an advent box/trunk/chest/calendar that would make the experience special and memorable for years to come, and nothing seemed to fit the bill. Everything is so commercialized, sterile and uniform now that I couldn’t settle on anything. Then I saw your bags and I fell in LOVE. Here is a picture of my version. My 3 year old will hopefully enjoy these for MANY years to come. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff422/Ebayleeese2010/adventbags.jpg
What an awesome idea, and how beautiful. We have a little cardboard advent calendar that my sister bought for me at Starbucks a number of years ago. It’s like a stacked pile of boxes/drawers and is quite stiff and nice. It’s very reuseable and she filled it with stuff for me again this year. The other day it had two little stones etched with the words “namaste” and “gratitude” on them. Perfect!
Loved this advent idea! My three children and I made the bags and then we divided them up and filled them. It’s been very fun to open one each day and see what was tucked inside! All focusing on the amazing gift of God with Us!