Countdown To Christmas With a No-Sew Jeans Advent Calendar

3 Materials
$13
2 Hours
Easy

I love the build-up to Christmas more than the day itself. Advent calendars are a lovely way to celebrate that anticipated excitement.

Every year I make the family a new upcycled advent calendar. Last years popular calendar was made from tin cans which you can see here. This year I decided to make my calendar from denim pockets. But you know what is the best thing about this jeans repurposing project is that it is NO-SEW.
The first thing to do is gather your old jeans and cut out the pockets. If you use both the front and back pockets you will be able to get 4 out of one pair of jeans.
You will need some fabric for the backing of your calendar something like drop cloth will do. I was fortunate in that I had an old cream curtain.
I laid the denim pockets out on the backing cloth in the arrangement I wanted.


Having posted a handmade Advent calendar on Hometalk before I know there is a lot of debate amongst Hometalkers whether they have 24 or 25days.


Personally, I just choose to make a 25-day calendar as I wanted my pockets in a 5X5 arrangement but if I wanted an 8x3 or 6x4 I would have just had a 24-day calendar.
After cutting the backing cloth to size. I hemmed it with an iron fusible hem (no-sewing).
Using a number stencil and white paint I stenciled a number from 1 to 25 on each pocket.
I stuck my denim pockets to the backing cloth using a special fabric Mod Podge glue like this one.


I coated the back of each pocket with the glue and the backing cloth with the glue also.
Then using a foam board under the cloth as backing, I stuck each pocket in place. However, I used drawing pins to hold the pockets in place as the glue dried. (More details on the blog)
Finally, once the glue had dried I removed the drawing pins and the advent calendar was ready to hang on the wall. You will notice I like my days to be random on my advent calenders, hunting for the right number just adds to the fun!


I fill my advent calendars with a sweet treat and a daily cheesy Christmas joke to bring a smile to my teenage son. What do you put in your advent calendars?
Resources for this project:
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Claire at Pillarboxblue
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 7 questions
  • Sur23782270 Sur23782270 on Nov 11, 2017

    Wondering, if you cut out the front pockets, you'd have to make a finished edge all around it, or is there something I'm missing? Thanks!



  • Cheryl Biermann Cheryl Biermann on Nov 11, 2017

    This is such a cute idea, but even in our large family we wouldn't have that many pairs of jeans! Did you purchase some at Goodwill too?

  • Lailasultani Lailasultani on Dec 03, 2017

    I like the idea, but what if I cut off the pocket with the back cloth n I don’t have to glue it on another fabric, can I do that?

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 90 comments
Next