Silent Night Nativity Advent Calendar Wall Hanging

Countdown to Christmas with a beautiful wall hanging Advent calendar you've made yourself!  This gorgeous Silent Night Nativity Advent Fabric Panel is designed as a quilt centerpiece, but with the easy steps below, it turns into a stunning wall hanging.  And even without this particular panel, you can totally make this type of Advent calendar, with your favorite fabrics, by using the simple how-to below.

 

 

The padded pockets for each day of Advent are perfectly sized for treats, notes, chocolate coins or any little goodies.

 

 

 

Each pocket features an ornament style version of the Nativity figures in the triptych panel above it.  The metallic detailing gives it beautiful dimension too. 

The panel comes with easy-to-follow cut lines and directions on how to assemble the pocket section printed right on the panel.  The steps to turn it into a wall hanging are simple.

 

Materials:

- Silent Night Advent Calendar Fabric Panel or using 3/4 yd of another fabric(s)

- 1 1/2 yds coordinating fabric (Silent Night Star Foulard Black)

- 1/2 yd fusible fleece or fusible stabilizer

- 1/2 inch wide dowel rod

- 1yd cord or ribbon

 

All seam allowances are 1/4 inch unless otherwise stated.

 

Using this panel, there are simple cut lines to follow to cut the main image on the left from the 5 strips on the right.  If using your own fabrics, cut a main piece that is 21 inches wide by 24 inches high.  Cut 5 strips that are by 20 1/2 inches wide by 4 inches high.

 

After cutting each pocket strip, cut a strip for each from stabilizer that is 1/2 inch shorter (20 inches long x 3 1/2 inches high) and fuse to the wrong side of each strip with iron.  I used fusible fleece to nicely pad mine (which also meant avoiding needing to do a fiddly box pleat for each square).  Press top, bottom and side edges over to wrong side.

 

 

 

Top stitch the top edges in place.

 

 

Cut a 24 inch high by 21 inch wide piece from the coordinating fabric for the lower half of the calendar.  Mark the center vertically and horizontally.

 

Line up each calendar row, starting with the center row along the center marking lines and placing the remaining rows an inch apart, pinning into place.  Stitch down the sides and bottoms of each row.

 

Stitch down the lines between each box to create the pockets (if using a different fabric, stitch every 4 inches).

With right sides facing, stitch the bottom edge of the top piece to the top of the calendar piece.  Press open. 

Cut a 49 inch long by 21 inch wide piece from the coordinating fabric.

With right sides facing, pin, then stitch together the top end of the front to the backing.  

 

Bring the bottom ends together and begin pinning around the bottom and sides.  As the backing piece is longer than the front, it will wrap around to the front at the very top.

  

Stitch along sides and bottom, leaving a 3 inch gap at the bottom center for turning.  Turn right side out and press flat.

 

Slip stitch the bottom gap closed by hand.  Fold the top edge over to the backside 1 1/4 inches and stitch 1/8 inch from the edge.

Insert dowel rod (cut to 22 inches in length) into casing.  Attach cord or ribbon to create hanger at desired length.

Fill each pocket as desired.  Hang on the wall or door & count down the days to Christmas!

Plush Noah's Ark Toy Set from a Fabric Panel

Between homeschooling my 3 big kids, chasing after an almost 2yr old, a baby about to arrive + running my fabric shop, the past couple months were really short on crafting time.  I still wanted to do some handmade gifts at Christmas, so I used this Noah's Ark Soft Toy Set fabric panel, which I carry in my shop, to make a fun play set for my small guy.  

I loved how it came with a Noah figure & a nice assortment of animals & the directions are printed right on the panel so you just cut, sew and stuff.  Sew easy!



  It's also nice that the finished ark has pockets on both sides for a place to store all the figures and make play more fun.  



It seemed like the perfect handmade Christmas gift for my not quite two year old - especially as I didn't have the energy to do anything time consuming or complicated. 



 Despite sewing for 10+yrs, this was the first time I'd ever sewn a plush toy from a panel.  I wanted to see just how easy it would be to put together.

Cutting out all the pieces is straightforward.  I didn't prewash it since I didn't want things to shrink.  It can be hand or delicate machine washed when done.  The seam allowance is included in the pieces.  The next step is hemming the ark pocket pieces by folding, pressing and then stitching the top edges to the wrong side:

These get basted to the ark side pieces along the sides & bottom.  There are markings to make matching them up easy:

Then the top edges of the ark sides are pinned & stitched together, starting & stopping where the pocket edges are:

The bottom gusset piece gets added there to give the dimension for the ark:

There are markings at the bottom to show where to leave a gap for turning:

All the seam allowances should get trimmed down and clipped near the curves.  I find using pinking shears makes this easy to do in one step:

After turning right side out, it's time to stuff with polyfill.  It's key to stuff with small amounts at a time and really pushing into the curves and corners to give it a good shape.  

The figures are easy to do - stitching right along their printed designs gives a nice smooth finish when turned right side out & are stuffed just like the ark:

The gaps get pinned & slip stitched closed by hand:

It was pretty quick to make and it turned out just as expected.  It's easy enough for a beginner, which is a real plus.  I used some of my Multi Sky Cloud fabric & some blue velour to make a fun playscape back drop too:

Sew cute & easy to make too!

Easy DIY Fabric Panel Wall Art

Sometimes you need an easy win craft project.  I just haven't had loads of time to make many intricate or frivolous things this summer, so most of my projects have the "need to do" kind.  My Easy DIY Fabric Panel Wall Art is one of them.

A year ago we completely renovated our downstairs bathroom.  An over the toilet cabinet was removed so we ended up with a big blank wall space on one wall.  I just couldn't find the right thing to put there to "finish" the room.   I didn't want a bunch of stuff on shelves that would get dusty or potentially fall in the toilet.  I'd deliberately chosen neutral grey, white and cream shades for my teens who primarily use this bathroom.  But when it was done I felt like it was too stark.  

Then I had the idea to turn a fabric panel into the perfect decorative solution.  It's a small change, but it's had a big impact:

I fell in love with this Grateful Cotton Blossom fabric panel.  I'd ordered it to carry in my shop and had impatiently waited many months for the bolt to come in.  Even though I'm not usually an "on-trend" design kind of girl, the pretty cotton blossoms, weathered shiplap background and combination of colors all appealed to me.  I knew I had to make something with it.

I also loved the photo-realistic burlap bow on the wreath.  Since this is hanging in a bathroom it's ideal- there's the look of a real bow, but won't get damp or dusty!

It seemed the perfect way to add a splash of color and home-y-ness to our previously too boring bathroom.  

I'd done a similar faux painting fabric wall art project a few years back for our foyer, except that used home decor fabric and had some additional dimensional paint detailing.  This one was even quicker to do.

Materials:
- Fabric panel (mine is available here)
- Blank canvas (mine was 22"x28")*
- Iron
- Staple gun
- Picture hanging materials 

* Make sure the fabric panel will wrap around to the back of the canvas - having at least 2 inches of play from the canvas dimensions is ideal.

Start with a fabric panel and blank canvas.  Iron the panel smooth to get it as wrinkle-free and flat as possible.  No need to prewash.

Wrap the panel over the canvas until you get the spacing you like and it's nice & straight.  I had the wreath to make it easy to center mine:

To keep things from shifting out of place while stapling, or when flipping the canvas over, use small clips on the sides and remove as you go.  This is key when you have horizontal stripes like this:

Flip the canvas over onto a solid flat surface.  The floor is ideal to get right up over it for good leverage with the staple gun.  Pull the fabric taut against the canvas frame and, if possible, fold the raw edges under (but as it's the back that no one will see, it's not necessary).   Working from the center out towards the corners, begin stapling every few inches.  

Once you've reached the corners fold the excess fabric on an pulled one side down and then fold over the other and staple on an angle:

I didn't want to faff about with trimming off my longer top & bottom edges so I just folded them under and stapled them in place.

We nailed a sawtooth picture hanger on the back and hung it up.  I added a matching woven basket and trash can to tie things together.  Now it feels more finished. . .

And I've found a great way to enjoy my new favorite fabric panel every day:)