DIY Drawstring Bag Advent Calendar

 Hello Everybody! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend! Today I have a DIY Advent Calender for you. I am going to show you how to make an advent calendar of little drawstring pouches. These pouches are a great size to slip candy or a small toy in for your family. I don’t have children yet, but I always do an advent for my husband. He’s a big kid, and always really enjoys it! I used Spoonflower to design my little bags. You can design your own fabric at Spoonflower or you can use fabric of your choice and embroider or paint numbers on them. Stitching these up is time consuming since there are twenty-four bags, but it is really easy as well.

The first thing you want to do is iron your fabric and cut it down to size. I wanted to make my finished bags about 3.5×5, so I cut them 4″ wide by 7″ tall allowing for 1/4″ seam allowance and 1.5″ for the top casing. Next, fold the top edge under 1/8″ and stitch down. Repeat with all other pieces. Then put your front and back pieces together with right sides facing each other. Begin your seam about 1.5-2″ down the side, continue around the side, the bottom and the other side up to 1.5-2″ from the top, clip threads. If you have a sleeve board iron your seams open. If not, try to press and crease them open by hand. With the sides folded into place or pressed into place, fold the top over to just below where the side seams start. Stitch it down, forming a casing on the front and back pieces. Clip threads. Next, cut pieces of ribbon or string 16-18″ long. Attach one end of ribbon to a small safety pin. Insert the safety pin into the casing and scooch it through to the other opening of the front casing and into the first opening of the back casing. Continue to pull through to the second opening of the back casing and pull the ribbon until it evenly meets the other end of ribbon making the drawstring. You can knot the two ribbon pieces together or you can leave them loose and tie the bag up once it is filled. And that’s it, easy right! I find it makes things easier when doing a lot of something to do all the pieces one step at a time. So I would stitch all the side seams of all my bags, then press them all, etc.

 I really love my new advent calendar! If you want to make an advent just like mine, my Spoonflower fabric is available to purchase to the public through the spoonflower website Here. These are so adorable and fun! I think they are the perfect size! You can gather them all in a basket or bowl, or you could string them up on some ribbon or twine and hang on a fireplace or wall. I hope you all enjoyed my little advent craft! I had such a blast making it! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a Christmas decorating diy from the wonderful world of Pinterest!

Happy Crafting!