I was inspired during advent this year to make a Jesse Tree that I hope will be enjoyed by my children one day (God willing). A Jesse Tree is a type of advent calendar that traces the lineage of Jesus starting with Genesis and culminating in his birth on Christmas Eve. While I always had an advent calendar growing up, and my family celebrated advent with lighting our advent wreath each Sunday, the tradition of the Jesse Tree was a new discovery for me. Because I love to sew I settled on making my Jesse Tree from fabric. I purchased my pattern from NavyMango on Etsy and made a few adjustments in order to make it more durable and to up the overall quality.
Pattern:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/103427148/pdf-pattern-for-the-original-handmade?ref=sr_gallery_2&ga_search_query=jesse+tree+pattern&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery
I constructed it much like I would a quilt with cotton fabric rather than felt and fleece as the pattern suggests and machine appliquéd the tree. I made the pockets from a nice nubby linen rather than felt and doubled each ornament and hand stitched around them. I am happy with the end result, it was so much fun to work on this project during advent and to contemplate each bible verse as I was making the ornaments.