Weekend Creative : Felt Garland
[ this project was also featured yesterday in the Home & Garden Buzz at CafeMom.com : thanks Sheri ]
This is a very simple, fun, inexpensive, low-stress project that can be done while sitting on the couch watching your favorite holiday movies. I got the idea from a recent craft/antique fair where they had some great cream felted-wool garlands hanging on the trees.
Really all you need is some felt, scissors for cutting, wire & needle for stringing, and some wire cutters to snip at the end.
I cut up a bunch of wonderfully imperfect squares (this means no measuring) and strung them onto the wire using a needle. My squares (and some became more like rectangles) were about
Make it as short or as long as you want. One color, multi-color, etc.
String it on the tree when you are done.
I think this is definitely a project that kids could participate in with supervision.
Here's some other felt garland ideas I found online - some are how-to's and others are from shops:
-
Anna Maria Horner Blanket Stitch Circle Garland : I had never been on her blog before but it looks really cool with lots of homemade projects -
Felt Ball Garland : for sale from abitare shop -
Felt Garland Tutorial from under construction : good photos + instructions for a stitched flat circle felt garland -
Felt Dot Garland from Penny Carnival -
Felt Alphabet Garland : for sale from Mahar Drygoods - Felt Ball Garland from Crate & Barrel
- Felt Garland Chain
- No Sew Felt & Fabric Garland
December Daily post coming later this morning.
oooh, i like this a lot. thank you for sharing!
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Very cute Ali! That weight of the felt you found is very nice and thick! Looking forward to you new post! I'm hoping to catch up on assembling my DD book this weekend. I'm already behind. lol
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Nice idea and your "imperfect" squares actually look pretty uniform to me.
Happy holidays!
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love!
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Definitely going to give this a try today. I enjoyed all the links you included too. This garland will be great for my son's mini tree.
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You have the best ideas! Thank you for awakening my creative side
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ali- I won the album 2 days ago & tried to e-mail you but just got a notification that the e-mail has been delayed...
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Cool idea!!! I love the way the felt looks on your tree!!!! How creative.
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Very cool -- how much felt would you say you used -- 2 yards???
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What a great project. Thanks for sharing.
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So glad you showed this craft. I saw it in one of your album pictures and wondered what you were doing. I'm making this!!!!!
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Thanks, Ali! This looks like a lot of fun! My boys had a great time making the button trees, so I think we'll try this next :)
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Oh an awesome idea! We would love to see your entire tree when you are done! Thank you for your creativite and generous spirit!
Cheers!
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what a fun idea!!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!!
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Oh. I like this a lot!
thanks for sharing this!
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Love it, definitely going to do this project this weekend. Let me ask do you think you can use a paper punch to cut out the squares?
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Anna Maria Horner has a great blog, lots of inspiration, luscious colors and wonderful fabric. You could also check out www.hellomynameisheather.com if you haven't seen hers yet either. Again more inspiration...
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Katie - please try to email me again. Not sure what is up :).
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Emily - the felt I had was fairly thick. I don't think a punch would do through it. I literally just cut random strips and snipped them into squares/rectangles as quick as I could :).
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Heather - not sure on the yardage. I bought a bunch at one time last year and have just had it sitting around. You really don't need a ton (all depends on how long you want it to be, how big your tree, etc).
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Looks like fun but time-consuming to cut individual squares. I'd recommend a large ruler and rotary cutter - then you could cut strips and just snip them apart to form the squares.
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Ali - Have you seen the Artgirlz website? I met them at a quilt show a couple of years ago and bought tons of their stuff. Their little felt tree kits are great (my friend bought it for her daughter) and I bought lots of charms and felt. They currently have felt balls on their site, which would be great for garlands. Here's the link:
http://www.artgirlz.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=28625W
Enjoy!
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love this! was hoping you'd share! :)
noticed your baby bump in the photo and am hoping that you're feeling well!
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Great tip Cheri - I actually cut strips freehand with scissors and then chopped them up from there ;).
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Ali (and Amy!), Ana Maria Horner does have some beautiful projects - she has a new book out and not all of them require sewing (thank goodness 'cause a seamstress I'm not!) - love her color combos - they're an inspiration in themselves!
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