Welcome! I’m so excited about this project! Sounds like there’s a few of you wanting to follow along! Yay!

(if any of you have recommendations or questions along the way, let me know)!

If you’re just joining, don’t fret, there’s still time to make this before December 1st. 

Last week I gave you a list of supplies.

Today, we are getting our big things all cut out, and beginning our squares.

Here we go.

  1. Think it over in your mind. What colors do you want your squares to be? What types of decorations will you be doing? Exactly like Pottery Barns’? Or a few with your own spin?

 Here’s what I’m doing….

I cut  25 squares 4inches by 3.5 inches. You can get 6 squares out of one piece of felt using those measurements. (I just *might* be making more than one of these advents….)

I used brown, dark red, cream, green, yellow, turquoise, and light blue felt.

2. Then lay them out on your piece of green felt, so you can get a feel for what it’ll look like. I used the same spacing that Pottery Barn did, 7 rows of 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, and 6 squares. *The way I have them laid out here is too close together! I forgot to add space for the numbers that I will be embroidering underneath. This is just a rough draft.

3. I figured out the spacing of my squares, by turning them lengthwise on my felt. Now I have plenty of room for everything. Now its time to cut the tree. I placed a piece of muslin over my squares, and free handed the shape of my tree. I referred to the Pottery Barn picture many times to get it just right.

If you mess up, just cross out the marks that you don’t like, and keep going until your shape is just right.

4. Fold your muslin in half, and cut it all out.

Then place it on your tree, and cut it out. I love it!

*You will want 2 layers of felt for your tree. (not pictured)

Here’s the general shape so far.

8. Cut out a tree stump and a star. I want mine both to be 2 layers thick. I used one sheet of brown felt and folded it in half. For the star, I used 2 sheets of felt. (I free handed a star on a piece of muslin before cutting).

9. At this point, it is a good idea to come up with a “list” of decorations you plan on doing. I got started on the easy ones first. My list is at the bottom of this post. There will be lots more on pockets next Thursday!

10. For each pocket, after you do your hand-sewing, you should iron interfacing to the back to protect your stitching. Then, I folded the top of the pocket over 1/8 and sewed down, to protect it when its finished and you’re putting items in and out of the pocket.

You can get started with decorating your pockets! I’m going to have all mine done by next week to show you! Here are my plans… subject to change 🙂

1. snowman

2.stripes and buttons

3. wreath

4. gingerbread man

5. snowflakes

6. large dots

7. frill

8. mistletoe

9. frill

10.christmas tree

11. ice skate

12. mittens

13. penguin

14. presents

15. dots

16. ornament

17. stocking

18. dots

19. ballerina

20. stripes

21. bell

22. frill

23. dots

24. santa

25. baby jesus

Let me know if you have any questions!