As I have demonstrated again, and again, and again, I love garlands! I love how cheerful they are. They up the party game in no time. I also love making them. It is really really hard to mess up a garland. I love that they can be very basic or fairly ornate and can fit virtually any theme and any decor. Of course Felt February demanded I make a garland out of felt and I knew I really wanted colorful circles, but I didn't want to sew them together and I didn't want to just glue them to a string. I wanted it to be attractive when viewed from either side (in case I chose to hang it an archway or zigzagging over my patio). The other problem, though, is I'm running low on felt and don't know when I'll get the chance to pick up more, so just making felt and string sandwiches wasn't really going to work out so well for me. It wasn't long before I came up with what seemed like a brilliant plan: one side could be felt, but the other side could be raided from my fat quarter cotton stash! Behold!
I am so so happy with how this turned out! It's cheerful, easy, and deserves a place of honor at the next party I plan! I know you want one of your own, so let's get started! You'll need:
- felt in the colors you want
- a pen, scissors, and a circle template (my template was 3")
- fat quarters of cotton that coordinate with each other and the felt on the other side
- twine or ribbon
- hot glue and glue sticks
The easy first step is grabbing your felt and tracing circles onto it. I wanted three of each color with a white "spacer" circle every three runs (so 6 white circles total). Now cut those out and arrange them in a pattern you like. I went for a fairly basic coordinating repetition.
You don't have to be too careful about the ink because that will be on the inside of the sandwich when you glue them together later. Next, raid the fabric stash (mine is primarily made up of fat quarters I picked up at Michael's over the years but let's not focus on the fact that i bought them and haven't used them yet because it doesn't count because I'm using them now!) and pick some coordinating colors to be the flip side. I kept it really simple by backing the color felt with a mostly matching patterned color. It gives the other side some interest but still keeps the theme and keeps the whole thing toned down so it's not too kindergarten with primary colors all over the place (also the purpose of the white spacers).
Iron your fabric and then trace the circle template again on the wrong side of the fabric (I used a pencil since I didn't want the ink to bleed through). Cut out all the circles (you should have enough circles to match the felt). Now get gluing! One thin line around the perimeter of the felt, then put the twine right in the center.
Now place the fabric circle right side up on top of the glue and gently tap it down around the edges. Be careful of course because the glue is hot. But really, you have an awesome felt/twine/fabric sandwich. You have got to love that!
Now keep doing that. As a side tip, I just used the length of my index finger as a sort of ruler for the distance between each circle edge. I'm pretty fond of just eyeballing it, but I decided I wanted some form of consistency without going full-on ruler crazy. In the end, you will have a gorgeous, fun garland!
How could you not love this?
Let me know if you make one of these! Better yet, show me (maybe as part of the Felt February challenge)! I'd love to see other color variations! I'll bet this would look really great in other shapes, too!
