Homemade Christmas Decoration: Advent Calendar

The spirit of Christmas fills the entire month of December with magic: decorating the tree, setting up the Nativity scene, and hanging the Advent calendar with the countdown to Christmas Day. There’s nothing more exciting for a girl or boy than waking up every morning and discovering the small gift of the day!

This Advent calendar is very easy to make. Children can have their own handmade Christmas decoration.

Is everything ready to make your own fabric ornament for this Christmas?

Let’s get started!

Materials for this Christmas craft:

Linen fabric in two colors, natural and gray, to contrast with the red
White and red thread
Pins and needles
2 jingle bells
Two lace trims
Manubens fabric ribbons with the following references:
- Christmas ribbon P.152/16mm color 2
- Acrylic cord P.200 color red 45
- Vichy ribbon P.4600/16 color red 46
- Vichy ribbon P.4600/16 color gray 8
- Vichy ribbon P.4600/16 color black 1
- Vichy ribbon P.4600/25 color black 1
- Corrugated cardboard P.5500/2 color white 2
- Corrugated cardboard P.5500/2 color red 45
- Corrugated cardboard P.5500/3 color red 45
- Top taffeta P.1410/10mm color red 145
- Top taffeta P.1410/16mm color red 145
- Top taffeta P.1410/38mm color red 145
- Mouse tail cord P.750 color white 2

This has been our proposal but it’s not mandatory. Play with your creativity!

Step 1:

Cut a piece of natural linen 60 x 60 cm for the base. Also, cut 4 strips of gray linen measuring 6 x 60 cm to give it rigidity, and sew them to the back of the natural fabric as if it were a frame. (To get an idea, see the photo in step 5 below). Take this opportunity to sew the ribbon that will hold the DIY Advent calendar between one of the frame strips and the front. This time, we used organza ribbon, but you can choose your preferred one.

With the remaining pieces of fabric (natural and gray), cut squares or rectangles for the pockets, combining both fabrics to your liking. You can also make some pockets with two combined triangles, as you can see in the photo numbers 1 and 2.

Distribute the pockets on the calendar and adjust the measurements.

Step 2:

Select the ribbons that will adorn your Christmas craft and sew them onto the pockets.

Step 3:

Create the numbers 1 to 25 with red cord. You can place a wire inside the cord to shape the numbers more easily.

Step 4:

With the red thread, sew the numbers onto the fabric pieces that will be the pockets. How are the children doing with the step-by-step so far? They must be impatient! It’s almost time to see our fabric Advent calendar.

Step 5:

Distribute the 25 pockets across the fabric rectangle. You can put them in order or randomly to make it more fun to find the day.

Secure them with pins until you find the distribution you like the most. Then sew the little pockets onto the fabric, remembering to leave one side open for the gifts!

Step 6:

Finish decorating the pockets with ribbon bows, jingle bells, or the ornaments you like.

This Christmas craft can be sewn by hand or by machine. Whatever is more comfortable for you!

Step 7:

And, following these steps, you have completed your first handmade Advent Calendar ready to be filled with sweets, chocolates, gingerbread cookies, or small gifts. You can even put notes with activities for the whole family: read a Christmas story, watch a movie… If you’re interested in Christmas crafts, take a look at our Advent wreath made with ribbons. Remember that you can also make your calendar with other colors or ribbons. Contact your nearest haberdashery and let your imagination soar – let the fun begin!