Save it for later. We'll email you a link, no password.
Find it again on your phone or computer, with your finished steps ticked.
Based on a video by Lauren Guthrie
Opens their YouTube channel
Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step · Published
This is the kind of Christmas project that gets made once and used for twenty years. It is a proper sewing project rather than an afternoon craft - there is hemming, pressing, quilting through three layers and a bound edge - but none of the individual steps is difficult.
It starts from a printed fabric panel, which does the design work for you. The panel arrives as one large piece with the pockets, numbers and backing all marked out, and your job is to cut, press, sew and assemble.
The gusseted version has deep pockets with a fold at each side, so they hold more than a chocolate - small toys fit. The flat patch version is simpler and quicker, with each pocket cut and sewn individually. The quilting and binding stages are identical either way.
Once the panel, wadding and calico backing are layered, you are sewing through three thicknesses. A walking foot has feed dogs on the top as well as underneath, so all three layers move through together instead of the top one shifting. Without it the layers creep and the finished piece puckers.
Most printed panels scatter the numbers rather than running 1 to 24 in sequence. That is deliberate - hunting for the right pocket is half the fun for children, and it is the detail that makes these worth keeping.
Making the calendar is half a winter afternoon. Paper snowflakes fill the rest of it and go straight on the windows.
Free printable
One page you can take to the table. Free with a free account, no password.
Free, for this project
Sew a fabric pocket advent calendar from a printed panel. A medium project: about 2 hours 30 minutes. Materials cost about $25 to $45. You need 14 things, including printed advent calendar fabric panel, wadding and calico backing fabric. The 14 steps start with cut Out the Pocket Strips, hem the Top of Each Pocket, press the Gusset Folds, press the Bottom Edge Last, pin the Strip to the Panel, sew Between the Pockets, layer and Spray-Baste and fit a Walking Foot.
14 steps, about 7 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Cut the horizontal pocket strips out of the printed fabric panel. The panel arrives as one large piece with everything marked on it.
The panel comes as one big piece. Cut along the printed lines - the horizontal strips are your pocket rows.
Press the top edge of each pocket strip back with an iron, then sew along it to hem it.
Press the top edge back first, then stitch. Doing it in that order gives a far crisper line than trying to fold as you sew.
Press the side edges back, then fold each pocket edge over to the dashed black line to form the gusset and press that in place too.
Bring the pocket edge over to the dashed black line and press it flat. This fold is what gives the pocket its depth.
Press the bottom edge back last, holding the gusset folds in position as you go.
Hold the gussets in place while you do it, or they spring open and you lose the depth you just built.
Line the strip up on the panel and pin it down. The numbers sit in random order, which is half the fun of finding yours each morning.
Line the strip up before you commit any pins. The numbers are scattered on purpose, so there is no sequence to get wrong.
Sew down the dashed lines between the pockets first, then along the sides and bottom. Repeat for every column.
Stitch the dividing lines first, then the sides and bottom. Doing the dividers last tends to leave the pockets baggy.
Layer calico backing, wadding and the panel, holding them together with temporary spray adhesive. Smooth out every wrinkle before it sets.
Calico at the back, wadding in the middle, panel on top. Temporary spray adhesive saves pinning the whole thing and washes out - though this is not a piece you will ever wash.
Fit a walking foot to the machine. Its top feed dogs pull all three layers through evenly instead of shifting the top one.
Its top feed dogs pull all three layers through evenly. This is the one piece of equipment the project genuinely needs.
Quilt between the pockets and around the outer edge of the design to lock the layers together.
Quilt the dividing lines and around the outside of the design. It locks the layers together and adds the texture that makes it look finished.
Trim all three layers back to the same size so the edges are even and ready to bind.
Wadding and backing always end up slightly larger. Trim all three flush before binding or the edge will be lumpy.
Pin 10cm loops of red ribbon along the top back edge - two at the sides and a few spread across the middle - to carry the hanging dowel.
Ten-centimetre lengths of ribbon, two at the corners and three or four spread across the middle. They carry the whole weight, so do not skimp.
Sew the binding on, stopping just short of each corner and folding it back on itself to form a mitered corner.
Stop just short of each corner, fold the binding back on itself, then carry on down the next edge. That fold is what makes the mitre.
Press the binding round to the back and catch-stitch it down by hand, flipping each ribbon loop upward as you reach it.
Press it round to the back and catch-stitch by hand. Flip each ribbon loop upward as you reach it so it sits proud of the top edge.
Feed a wooden dowel through the loops, pin the label on, and fill the pockets.
Any hardware shop dowel works and cuts easily. Then fill the pockets - chocolates in the flat version, small toys in the gusseted one.
Keep going
How to Make a Christmas Stocking
You reached the last step
Your ticked steps, the free printable and your other saved makes, together in My Projects. Free, no password.
Free printable
The bonus is hidden until you sign up.
Free with a free account, no password. Every step above stays open to everyone.
How to Make an Advent Calendar
E6000
E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)
The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.
Gorilla
Gorilla Dual-Temp Full-Size Hot Glue Gun
Dual-temp so it handles delicate florals and heavy materials alike. A precise nozzle and built-in stand make it the everyday craft-table gun.
OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page may be affiliate links - clicking them and buying doesn't change your price, but helps support Crafting Step by Step.
The Crafter's Weekly
One short email with the week's best step-by-step guides. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Test your knowledge
5 questions covering what you just read. No signup, no score saved, and you can stop after this one.
Question 1 of 5
Where do the pockets come from?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Where do the pockets come from?
Answer: A printed fabric panel
The panel arrives as one piece with every pocket already marked on it.
2.Which edge of a pocket strip gets pressed last?
Answer: The bottom edge
Doing the bottom last holds the gusset folds in position while you work.
3.Why fit a walking foot before quilting?
Answer: It feeds all three layers evenly
Its top feed dogs stop the upper layer shifting against the ones below.
4.What holds backing, wadding and panel together to quilt?
Answer: Temporary spray adhesive
Spray baste holds the sandwich flat and smooth while you quilt it.
5.The pocket numbers run out of order. Why?
Answer: Hunting for your number is the fun
Finding the day's number is half the ritual each morning.
Did this work for you?
Curated theme pages that include this tutorial.
Hand-picked next reads based on the one you just finished.
Crafts
17:42 video · 10 steps
Based on a video by The Cozy Christmas Cottage
Crafts
6:43 video · 10 steps
Based on a video by She's Crafty and She Knows It
Pick the crafts you want to hear about. One email every Sunday with new step-by-step tutorials. No spam, easy to unsubscribe.
Weekly digest. Pick the categories you want. Unsubscribe anytime.
Send me tutorials about
