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Go behind the scenes of the Biscuiteers advent calendar

02 November 2015

 | 

5 mins

It’s less than a month until advent begins and here at Biscuiteers we’re getting excited to start counting down the days with our limited edition biscuit advent calendar, filled with biscuits from our new advent tin! Our cloth calendar is handmade each year by our crafty friends at Susie Watson Designs, whilst our team of expert icers get to work on our Christmas biscuits.

The advent biscuit tin is a special one because it changes every year and it always features exactly 24 unique Christmas biscuits. This year you’ll find an array of snowy creatures and festive birds inside including a little red-breasted robin, reindeer, penguins and even some polar bears. We start collecting ideas for our advent biscuits a whole year in advance, and this collection was inspired by traditional wooden tree decorations.

To find out a little bit more about Susie Watson Designs and the Biscuiteers cloth advent calendar we decided to speak to the lovely lady herself. Read on to discover more about how she developed our design commission, and all about the enchanting design process too.
What was your inspiration for the Biscuiteers advent calendar?
The Biscuiteers advent calendar is tailor-made with a biscuit inspired touch so we were also influenced by your iconic Jolly Gingers. We worked closely with Biscuiteers to reproduce these properly in embroidery and applique. This is not as easy as it sounds!
How exactly do your craftsmen go about creating the Biscuiteers advent calendar?
As with every new product the creation starts with the artwork which, once completed, is sent to our workshop in Karur. Kartik, our pattern cutter, will print areas to scale and cut out any appliqué elements within the design, such as the reindeer, santa, presents and trees. Once all the pieces are cut out, they are placed onto the duck egg cotton that will form the base of the calendar. All the items are then sewed into place and any details are skilfully embroidered. The finishing touch is to back this onto our red piping stripe fabric and add a pompom trim to give us a beautifully crafted advent calendar. A true work of art!
We’ve heard you travel far and wide to source your materials. Where does the fabric come from for our calendar?
The fabric all comes from our textile factory in Karur and Mr Ravi and his son organise the weaving of all our cottons and linens. To find out more about the fabric production, you can view this lovely video on our Youtube channel.
How many craftsmen do you have and what kind of machinery do they use to make Susie Watson creations?
We work with a small family run textile workshop in Karur, which lies in the heart of the cotton weaving area in Southern India. Our cottons are traditionally dyed and woven and all our products are crafted by hand on sewing machines. We have a small team of tailors, and two highly skilled embroiderers who can create the finest details that you see within our designs. We also have a pattern cutter who creates the appliqué pieces for sewing on.
Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind Susie Watson Designs...
The idea for Susie Watson Designs came about when a charming toast rack on my kitchen table got me thinking about the possibilities for art in everyday things. The pottery we now make is inspired by trying to find pretty ceramics to use everyday and to decorate my kitchen at home. The textiles side of the business grew from some tablecloths I made in Tamil Nadu, South India. Mr Ravi, who runs our wonderful small textile factory was always asking me for more work and designs – and so our range gradually developed over time.
And lastly, you’re obviously a big fan of advent (as are we)! Do you have any other favourite Christmas traditions?
Creating a fairytale Christmas is something I look forward to. The Christmas tablecloth, hand-painted candles and handmade decorations are always an enchanting combination. I like lots of candlelight and a mixture of hurricane vases, tea lights and candlesticks for the table, with different heights to add to the atmosphere. I take pride in my table decorations, a seasonal mix of flowers is essential, interspersed with small bottles containing berries and holly. I do think our Christmas ceramics and textiles are a lot of fun too, they add that sense of occasion year after year.

Thank you to Susie Watson for sharing these answers with us! We were excited before, but now we really can't think of a better way to count down to the big day. Click here and here to shop the advent calendar and advent biscuit tin. Or view the full Christmas collection here. Here's to the start of Advent!