DIY Christmas Advent Bags using Vinyl for Screen Printing

Nov 21, 2019 | Christmas, Cricut Projects, Project Ideas, Screen Printing, Vinyl Projects

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We love the excitement of holidays and enjoy celebrating each day leading up to the big event. This year, I wanted something a little different for our traditional countdown to Christmas. I was loving all of the cute ideas on Pinterest using drawstring bags. I ordered these Linen Burlap Bags on Amazon and added numbers using my Cricut and screen printing fabric ink.

I started by cutting the numbers on Oracal 651 Vinyl using my Cricut Maker. It took a little planning to determine the best spacing, but I wanted to get as many printed on the same screen as possible. I found that 6 bags fit nicely under my Speedball Hinge Frame. If you are using these exact bags, I have saved my template in Design Space to save you the time of figuring it out! Click to use this project in Design Space.

Once I had my 4 vinyl cuts ready, I started the screen printing process. Here's a look at the project in action:

Supplies Needed For Screen Printing Bags

Speedball Hinge Frame
4.7 x 7.5 inch Linen Burlap Bags
Speedball Fabric Ink in Black
Oracal 651 Vinyl (any color)
Squeegee
Transfer Tape
Painter’s Tape
Cricut Maker
Cricut Easy Press 2
24 items to fill your bags (see ideas below)

Why Screen Printing vs. Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV)?

If you are a craft fair vendor or Etsy seller looking for something new to add to your shop this holiday season, these Christmas Advent Calendar Bags are easy to make in bulk. The beauty and economy of screen printing comes when you need to make more than one of an item. With just 4 vinyl cuts (6 numbers per sheet), you can make TONS of sets of these fast and easy. You only need to weed the vinyl once then you can use the screen printing frame to print the same numbers over and over again. Want to make 10+ sets to sell at the craft fair? Screen printing is the way to go!

If you are new to screen printing with vinyl, I have so many resources, tutorials and tips to get you started. Beginners start here >

Heat Setting Fabric Ink

Once you your fabric ink has dried, it is important that you heat set the bags in order to make the ink permanent. My Cricut Easy Press 2 6×7 was the perfect size for this project. Don't have an Easy Press? There are a few other ways you can heat set the ink. Learn more about heat setting fabric ink >

Ideas for Filling Advent Calendar Bags (or Stocking Stuffers)

My girls are now 9 and 12, so I wanted to fill them with things they would actually play with or use. Here's a list of ideas to help you get started filling your advent calendar bags: