Win an Advent Calendar fabric panel from elephant in my handbag

I love this time of year so much. I got an early start of my festive making with a sew your own Advent Calendar fabric panel from elephant in my handbag. It’s always lovely to make your own decorations and gifts (time permitting!) and I really enjoyed putting my Advent Calendar together over a couple of evenings.

I chose the Winter Wonderland panel, designed by Bethan Janine for Dashwood Studio. The panel is 100% cotton and the instructions are cleverly printed at the top of the panel. Once you have the fabric panel you need to buy wadding and some pretty fabric to back the advent calendar. The pockets are large enough to hold chocolate coins, a little toy or note.

I’ve been sharing some pics of my progress on Instagram but I’d thought I’d tell you a little more about how to put together a fabric Advent Calendar using a pre-printed panel.

Equipment needed to make a fabric Advent Calendar panel:
One Advent Calendar fabric panel
Cutting mat
Rotary cutter
Pins
Wadding
Fabric for backing
Iron

First cut up the panel along the dotted lines to leave yourself one large panel, the instruction panel and pockets. Then cut the pockets into two strips of pockets and the individual pockets.

I used a rotary cutter, a self healing cutting mat and quilting ruler I got free with a magazine to make sure I had straight lines.

I ironed everything to make sure there were no creases and started folding and pressing the pockets. Then I pinned them in their correct place on the fabric panel. I gave them a quick press again to make sure everything stayed in place and fitted.

Then I started sewing everything according to the instructions. First I did the individual pockets then the two longer strips. I took my time with the longer strips as you need to make box pleats and pin them in place making sure they fit correctly. I admit it took me a few attempts and a phone call to my mum!

When I reached this stage I sewed on the longer strips, removed my pins and gave it another press.

There were no detailed instructions for finishing it off so I trimmed the panel a little, measured and cut my batting and backing fabric. I placed the two pieces of fabric right sides together with the batting on top and sewed around the four edges, leaving a small gap to turn the panel the right way. I hand stitched the edge closed, making sure the corners were all pushed out.

You can quilt the panel as you like so I opted for simple lines around the red to look like binding and along the two long sides. You could hand quilt around the tree and deer if you liked. The finished panel measures 50x60cm and I’ve hung it up on my quilt gallery wall as it looks lovely on its own without the sweet treats.

Altogether it took me a couple of hours to make and I really enjoyed the process. You could probably hand sew the fabric panel but a sewing machine makes this a quick make. Of course I have 2 children so I’ll be making another panel as they are not interested in sharing Advent treats yet!

Win a Winter Wonderland fabric Advent Calendar panel from elephant in your handbag:

I’ve teamed up with fab fabric shop elephant in my handbag and have one extra Winter Wonderland fabric panel to giveaway to a reader of the gingerbread house. For your chance to win please answer the question and leave a comment on this post via the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway ends on Friday 13th November and the winners name will be announced on this post. Find more competitions at www.theprizefinder.com

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