Simple To Make Jeans Handmade Advent Calendar

Get ready to turn worn-out jeans into a festive DIY treasure with this no-sew denim-pocket advent calendar. Using 25 recycled pockets, a large backing cloth and simple stencils, you’ll create a collage of denim. Pretty, practical and perfect for the holiday countdown.

To me, the best bit about Christmas is the build-up. I love the excitement in the preparations for the big day more than the day itself. What better way to revel in that fun anticipation than with a handmade denim advent calendar?

We love Advent calendars in our home. We don't just have one, but at least 3! One for each of my boys. Even though my oldest son is 20 years old, he still expects an Advent calendar. Our homemade Advent calendars are filled with a daily sweet treat and cheesy Christmas joke. Just so my boys start the day with a smile.

Last year, I made a tin can upcycled advent calendar and a paper envelope advent calendar, which I made the year before.

Easy Denim Handmade Advent Calendar

This year, my homemade Advent calendar was going to be a fabric one made out of recycled jeans pockets. The idea came from the denim pocket organiser I had made for my son's room.

However, the wall organiser only has 16 pockets, and I needed to make one with 25 pockets for a denim homemade advent calendar.

Denim can be pretty challenging to sew with, especially in areas such as seams and pockets. Therefore, I designed and made a no-sew recycled jeans pocket advent calendar.

 Getting the denim advent calendar out year after year. Filling my pockets with treats and jokes will be the start of my Christmas excitement. The fact that this handmade calendar is made out of the pockets of the family's old jeans also makes it extra special.

This denim craft featured under the letter A in my A to Z of denim crafts.

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What you need to make a denim handmade advent calendar

• Jeans Pockets - 25 in total. (However, some people only have 24-day advent calendars but that's another debate). That may seem like a lot of pairs of jeans, but if you use the front pockets as well as the back, you can get four pockets out of one pair.
   
  I have created numerous denim craft and DIY projects over the last year and have been saving the pockets for this project.

• A large piece of backing cloth, such as a drop cloth. I was fortunate to have a large, old curtain in my stash, which was perfect for this upcycle.
• Number Stencils - You can use a stencilled ruler or buy sets of number stencils on Amazon. As I stencil on denim frequently, I use the "Alphabet Stencil Book," which features several letter and number stencils in different fonts to choose from.

• White fabric paint and a stencil brush
• Fusible hem tape
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Fabric Mod Podge
• Drawing/push pins
• Foam board or a large corkboard

How to make a denim Advent calendar

Step 1: First, lay the jeans pockets on top of your backing cloth (old curtain/drop cloth). You will need to decide how to arrange the Advent calendar. I chose a 25-pocket Advent calendar in a 5x5 arrangement.
 
If you have a 24-pocket Christmas advent calendar, you can opt for either a 6x4 or 8x3 arrangement.

Step 2: Next, when you are sure of your Christmas calendar layout, cut the background cloth to fit. Use a rotary cutter and mat for this, and don't forget a ½" seam allowance.

Step 3: Next, hem the exposed edges of your background cloth using an iron and the fusible web.

If you have a sewing machine, you may want to use it to stitch the seams instead.

Step 4: Next, paint a number from one to 25 (or 24!) onto each jeans pocket using a stencil and white paint.

Step 5: Due to its thickness, denim can be challenging to sew, especially when it comes to sewing the pockets. Therefore, I attached the pockets to the backing cloth using fabric glue. To do this, first lay your backing cloth onto a foam board or corkboard.
 
Cover the back of the pocket with fabric glue, paying particular attention to the edges. Also, cover the relevant area with a backing cloth and glue. Press the pocket down onto the cloth.

Step 6: Then, using push pins, pin around the edges of the pocket through the denim and backing cloth into the foam board. This is to hold the pocket down whilst the glue dries. Continue until all the pockets have been secured.

Step 7: Once the fabric glue has dried, remove all the push pins. As I used an old curtain, I had some convenient eyelet holes for hanging the Advent calendar. If you don't have eyelet holes, create some fabric hanging loops for the top of the calendar.

I used a rustic branch to hang the calendar from the wall, resting the ends on some brackets or nails in the wall.

Finishing Off

Now all you need to do is fill the pockets of your handmade advent calendar before deciding where to hang it. I will fill it with random chocolates and sweets, accompanied by a daily Christmas-themed joke. There is a wonderful collection of printable cheesy Christmas jokes with my DIY Christmas Cracker craft.

The rustic industrial denim look of the advent calendar will go really well in my youngest son's room, so I will probably hang it there this year.

What do you put in your Advent calendar?

The felt garland draped over the calendar is made from old sweaters. You can also check out some of my other denim crafts for the home here.

There are many fantastic ideas for homemade advent calendars, many of which are made from upcycled materials, such as this repurposed paper bag advent calendar.

If you still have some denim pockets left over after this craft, you are bound to find something to make with them from this list of jeans pocket upcycles.