Creation Elation: Christmas Tea Time Advent Calendar

As you can see on the blog, I make a lot of tea pot stuff because I am a Tea Lover. So, I had to come up with an idea to incorporate that with an Advent calendar. So, here it is. My Christmas decor is silver and turquoise but I am sure that any color combinaiton will look fantastic with this design idea. What I think is so cool is that each "teabag" is a mini goody bag to insert candy, idea, or tiny toy. Another idea is to put actual tea bags in the mesh baggy. Each day having a different holiday tea to try. The teapot is open on top to either stuff the empty tea bags in each day, or to place a special Christmas day goodie inside.

Supplies:

Sari Fabric (35x24)background

Wool Felt (approx. 1/2 yard) teapot and tea cups

31x20 ( heavy interfacing)

broadcloth 5"x 45"

mosquito netting approx. 18"

embroidery thread ( for blanket stitch by machine )

basting thread

96" of gold cording

glitter and glitter fabric adhesive

paintbrush

Fray Check

sequins, pearl strands, genmstone

Glue Gun

Fusible 1" stitch witchery

Patterns:

I started with the Tea bags ( the most detailed part of the project)

Cut a strip p5"x 45"

serge along the 45" length on both edges (or zig zag)

fold & press lengthwise

Serge along the folded edge (or zig zag)

You will have a nice folded edge to guide through the serger or to zig zag. The other side will have two finished edges. That will be a little pocket to insert the gold cord.

Cut 24 1 6/8" peices. Serge(or zig zag) the edge of each peice.

Cut the tails off at the ends or the serged edge

apply Fray Check to prevent unraveling

(stack of tags before cutting)

After snipping, fray checking, paint the daily number 1-24 on each tag with

acrylic paint mixed with fabric glue for the glitter.

Add decorative items with hot glue

cut 4" peices of cording

cut 3 6" strips with rotary cutter and then cut those strips into 3" wide peices for the "tea bag"

fold and zig zag the 3" ends of all 24 "bags"

Straight stitch down cord on netting, then back stitch with a zig zag.

Inset the other end of the cord into the "pocket" end of the number tag and straight stitch across the top, over the gold cord.

Fold and sew the moquito net with wtong sides together, then turn right side out

It should look like this

Now, for the tea cups. Cut 24 handles and 24 cups out of wood felt. I used a disappearing ink on to trace the handles.

Cut the Tea Pot parts out of felt. The Pot is a pocket when the top is left unstitched to the back. I made a snowflake design with fabric glue and glitter before I hot glued the pearl strands to it in a pretty pattern, sewing a gemstone in the middle.

Place the tea pot on the top of the calendar and center it by "eye". Placing the spout and handle in the place you desire and then hand basting like the tea cups and machine stitching in place.

Place the tea cups onto background fabric, evenly spaced. Or you could tilt stack like crazy cups.

Then, baste the teacups in place before machine stitching onto the background.

Machine stitch to the background with whatever stitch you choose. I used a blanket stitch, making sure I used a mirror image depending on which direction I was sewing from.

I used a fusible "stitch witchery" to adhere the background fabric to the stiff interfacing. Turning over the extra 2" around the edge and using a pressing cloth and a water spray bottle to dampen the cloth so that the fusible material would adhere without damaging the sari fabric.