Advent calendars are a great way to count down to Christmas. Advent calendars as we know them now originated in the mid-1800’s in Germany. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out what the deal was with advent calendars in Europe because they are EVERYWHERE right now, much more popular an item here than in the United States. I think the origin being centered in Europe has a lot to do with it 😉 These types of calendars begin on December 1st and count down every day until Christmas.

Advent calendars are great for people with kids too- of which category I am definitely in- so I was under pressure from the small people in my house to get one for this year abroad. I was very lucky to find the Makower UK Merry Christmas Advent Calendar Panel at Tissus Reine here in Paris, so I bought it without question!

Like a lot of fabric panel advent calendars, I had to cut the pocket pieces out and do a little ironing and stitching to the main panel to get everything ready. For mine, I opted to go with a quilted look, so I first did some loopy and echo-quilting on the panel before adding the pockets. My favorite part is the tree and presents in the middle, the quilting makes it look so great! It’s hard to see in pictures how fun the texture really is.

The ice skaters and shoppers in the panel are so cute, I’m a sucker for adorable illustrations! The backing is actually the skaters in a fun toss pattern. The binding is from another line and another manufacturer, but the colors and illustrations went well together… and it was one of the only other options the fabric store had so yep, I got it.

Working on this project and researching advent calendars had my mind working on how many other advent calendar options there are out there that I could make myself- especially in the sewing room since all my standard craft supplies are across the ocean in a storage unit.

Obviously, my first instinct is to find ready-to-sew panels like this Makower UK one. In our Tucson home, we had a Dashwood Studios (also a UK company) advent calendar that was just adorable too. I ran an Etsy search for advent calendar panels and found a lot of really cute options.

If panels like this one are a little too on-the-nose for your tastes, you can fully customize your own with whatever fabrics you want, especially if you find a good tutorial! This one from Apple Green Cottage is very cute, looks like a faster project than even the ready-to-sew panel, and of course makes it possible for you to add your own personal spin.

There are the banner-style advent calendars too, like this button-closure option found on Spoonflower. I do like how the buttons double as functional and the countdown- very fun.

If banner-style is your thing but you want something really impressive, the Queen of Drawstring herself, Jeni from In Color Order, has instructions for this drawstring bag advent calendar. It’s so amazing and can hold bigger goodies than the basic pockets in my advent project.

I think my favorite banner-style calendar I came across was using miniature stockings! These can be super creative or keep them uniform and classic. Regardless of the style, stockings hung by the chimney advent style is just as fun as it gets. These stockings I found on Trillium Design are ultra-simple, but she has used very bright, festive colors and fabrics that stand out on her neutral background. These stockings would be great just hanging on twine too!

I hope you are able to find some good ideas for your own Christmas advent calendar too! Time is short for this year, but Christmas comes around again next year too. Save your ideas and pull them out when you’re ready to count down to Christmas!