It's time to upgrade my advent calendar - I really like my current one but it has been well used since I was a child and unfortunately has seen better days. I might see if I can restore it in future, as it would be sad to see it go completely, but I thought for now that I would make a new one. I have been looking about for ideas without much luck, but then the other day something really caught my eye - advent bunting, I do love a bit of bunting so I knew it would be perfect!
Once I had the idea for bunting, I just had to think of a bunting shape to go for; I opted for a rectangular shape with the two bottom corners removed. I didn't go for a traditional triangular shape for the bunting as I thought the shape I chose to use would be best for putting in the sized sweets I wanted to use.
You will need:
Woven bias binding in pink - 5 1/2 metres
Embroidery threads in 3 different colours, I used dark grey, light grey and a light blue
Pins
Scissors
One full Fat Quarter set - I used The Craft Cotton Company North Pole Fat Quarter.
2 quarters from another Fat Quarter set (so 8 quarters are used in total) - I used the blue spot and pink star from The Craft Cotton Company North Star Fat Quarter.
First, make the pattern pieces:
For the front and back pattern pieces, draw a rectangle 13 x 16 cm. Mark a point 4cm up from the bottom and another point 4cm from the left hand side, then draw a line to join the two points. Repeat this on the other side then cut off these corner pieces.
For the pocket pattern piece, cut out another pattern piece the same as the front and back piece. However, with this one, remove 4cm from the top to make the pocket piece.
Next, cut out the fabric:
You want 24 pairs of fabric (one piece for the front and one for the back) to make 24 pockets. I chose the same fabric for the front and back bunting pieces and a different coloured pocket piece. Be careful when cutting out the fabric as there won’t be much spare.
Hem the top of the pocket:
Turn over the top edge of pocket twice to hem, and sew along to seal. You can use a straight stitch for this if you like, but I chose to use a snowflake stitch to add a bit more detail.
Draw on your numbers:
Draw your numbers onto the pockets in pencil. You could do any style of number you like; I chose to do an outline of each of the numbers.
Complete a threaded running stitch using embroidery thread around the number outline:
To do this, first complete a running stitch in dark grey around the outline of the number - I used 4 strands of thread for this so it would stand out well. Then thread another colour in and out of the running stitch (I chose a light grey) and then repeat with a second colour threading it the other way (I chose a blue-grey). For these two colours, I used 2 threads.
Sew the bunting together:
Place the back and front right sides together with the pocket piece in-between. Sew around the edges leaving the top edge unsewn.
Turn the bunting right way around.
Then put the bunting together:
Lay out your woven bias binding and take your first bunting piece and place it 60 cm from the start of the binding - place the bunting piece so the top edge is in the middle of the binding and fold over the binding and pin. Place the next piece of bunting 5cm along from the first piece, again with the top edge of the bunting in the middle of the binding and fold over the binding and pin. Repeat with the rest of the bunting pieces. Finish by leaving 60cm of binding at the other end after pinning final piece of bunting.
Sewing the binding:
Now to machine sew along the binding. To begin with, fold the raw edge of the binding inwards before folding down the top edge then pin, this will seal the raw edge. Repeat this processes at the other end.
Now, sew the whole length of the binding, sewing close to the edge.
Finally, fasten off any loose ends:
Ready to be hung up and filled!
© By Lesley Foster at Hook, Stitch, Sew for The Craft Cotton Company 2016