Ready in the nick of time for advent: A Handsewn advent calendar

I have FINALLY finished my Advent Calendar that I have been making on and off for months and months.

I am terrible when doing crafts as I always start something else before finishing the first thing, but alas I got there with a day to spare!

I bought some Hessian fabric and felt multi-packs off separate sellers on eBay a while ago. I like Christmas decorations etc. to be traditional colours so I chose red, green, and white felt. Cut 23 6x6cm squares and one 9x7cm rectangle for the '24' pocket.

I made sure each square had details in each of the 3 colours, combining hand cut numbers and shapes with hand sewn numbers and shapes. This is very time consuming but a great little project to do when the little one has a nap.

I then messed around with the positioning of the pockets on the Hessian fabric and decided to go for the numbers all messed up rather than in order as that is part of the fun isn't it :)
Hand sewed all the pockets in position (again very lengthy process)!

Before the bells and blanket stitch

I bought some mini 'jingle bells' off eBay too, these are great sewn onto the pockets, and the jingles help with chocolate thieves! I like the added sparkle they give too without being over the top.
I then used red wool to blanket stitch around the outside (this was my first attempt at blanket stitch so it isn't perfect).

Close up of pockets

All I need to do now is thread some nice ribbon or twine through the top and find somewhere big enough and high enough to hang it...that might be the hardest part!

I'm very pleased with the outcome as it's my first effort at hand sewing something so large and looking forward to using it year after year after all the hours and days work that has gone into making it!

Finished Advent Calendar