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Advent Calendar Craft-Along {Part 4}

It’s time to see where I’m up to for the Advent Calendar Craft-Along. If you’re new, here are the posts so far:

Part 1: Introduction and Ideas
Part 2: Preparation and the Plan
Part 3: The Tree and Pockets

This week, I’ve been working on the decorations to put on the tree each day. I thought I’d start with the simplest decorations – the presents for under the tree:

Advent Calendar Decorations (2)

It’s a simple square of felt and then ribbon and a bow made from a thin strip of white felt (each gift is a different colour for each member of our family). The bows are simple folded over felt, with no knot in them. Each present is 1.5 inches, so it was too fiddly to try.

Advent Calendar felt presents (2)

I used a blanket stitch to attach the “ribbon” to the present. The hanging loop is elastic cord (that I hoarded from a pair of shoes!). I cut a loop and tied a knot in the end. I’m hoping the knot will make it harder to pull the hanging loop out.

Advent Calendar felt presents (1)

I backed the presents with another piece of felt and blanket-stitched around the outside. It hides the stitching mess on the back and gives a nice finish to the decorations.

So that’s 4 decorations out of 24 done. Next up, I made the baubles. Out came the baby ricrac and sequins to decorate them (because plain would just be too simple for me!).

Advent Calendar Decorations (4)

I used gold elastic cord for the hanging loops for these (well, actually, I’ve only finished 1, the other 3 still need their hanging loops and backing sewed on).

Advent Calendar Decorations (1)

So the tally is 5 decorations complete, 3 almost complete and another 16 to go. Then I have to sew the buttons on the Christmas tree for hanging the decorations, add the backing and bind the edges….

Advent Calendar Decorations (5)

12 days left for the month… I’ve got my work cut out for me! Come back next Tuesday to see how I’m going!

What progress have you made on your Advent calendar?