12.11.2010

DIY felt phrase garland

This year I have been crafting away as the stores don't hold many holiday decorations that I like. While I would love to just hop on etsy and buy, buy, buy all of the beautiful decor, the money to do so doesn't exist. Last year there was a happy holidays garland I wanted desparately from Anthropologie, but it was something like $120, so, of course, I bought 12! Ha- kidding. No, I was disappointed it was out of my reach, but with all my pent up crafting energy, I decided to make something similar although much less adorned. I chose a line from Joy to the World for my garland, bought a bunch of felt, and crafted away. I'm happy with the result and wanted to share a half-hearted tutorial with you. Half-hearted because I didn't take detailed photos and I stopped taking photos when I ran into the problem of floppy felt and had to run back to the craft store to get foam and then cut foam letters to glue to the back of the felt letters. Hopefully it makes sense even though it is not as complete as it could be. If you have problems completing any steps- let me know and I'll add more photos and more detail. Enjoy!


Supplies needed:

-felt -scissors -pins -sticky backed foam -a computer with a printer -yarn and big yarn needle

1.) Start off by getting on a word processing program on your computer and finding a font you like. Type out the words you would like on your garland as large as you would them to be. I believe mine were size 500. I had one or two per page. Print up your word/s. You will be using the printed letters as a pattern.

1.5.) I didn't do this step but think it would make things much easier than the order in which I did them. You can get some of the foam with the sticky backing and stick it to the pieces of felt you will be using before moving onto step 2.

2.) Pin your first letter to a piece of the felt (that has the foam backing) like you would with a sewing pattern. Hold the felt and paper firmly together so you don't have wrinkles as you cut around the outside of the letter. Do this with each letter until your words are all cut out.


3.) Put your letters in order and thread your yarn. Sew through the top of each letter to string them up. When you are done your garland should look like the top photo.


The cutting takes a while, but it is easy to do while watching a Christmas movie. If you make some garland, please send me a link to the finished product. I'd love to see it!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Adorable bunting!

Ali said...

what a cute idea! I love felt! It is cheap to buy but you can get so creative with it! great idea!

Kristen said...

So cute! And I love the idea of using the foam to make it a little more sturdy.

jasonmarkjones said...

well done! your garland is awesome.

felt is the new duct tape :)

samantha ramage said...

i LOVE this idea. such a perfect quote :)

xo
sami

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