Advent Calendar

My last make of 2013 was a very festive one in mid December. 

If there was ever a make that should be completed by a fixed date it has to be an advent calender! Of course by the time I finished mine it was well into December.

This advent calender is from Hobbycraft. It was a really simple make as it was basically a pre-printed sheet of fabric which just needed the pockets cut out and then stitched on to the main face of the calender. 

I really enjoyed sewing in the evening next to my tree with a nice hot chocolate.

The worst part of making this was all of the ironing that was involved in a nice fold in the seam allowance for the little pockets.

Some of the pockets came in strips like the one in the bottom of this picture. These were folded into box pleats and then top stitched into place.

The remaining pockets were just top stitched to match up with the corresponding square on the main fabric. I used gold thread for all of the top stitching as it matched the border of all the pockets.

To give the calendar some body when it is hanging I quilted it. Despite how simple this sounds I manage to make one really stupid mistake (I blame the mulled wine). I sandwiched my batting in between the front and back and then stitched it together. Obviously this was completely wrong and I had to unpick it.

Front then back (nice sides together) then batting... I will never forget!!!

Here is the finished product. I decided to stitch a wooden dowel into the top border so it doesn't sag when hanging. I am very pleased with the result. Hopefully it will last ages and I can look forward to filling it with chocs of my choosing for many more Christmases to come.