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Easy, Stunning, CHEAP Garland
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| Sunday November 28th, 2004 04:05 PM |
 Store bought garlands are cool, but they're always short (like six to nine feet) and expensive (like eight to twelve dollars and beyond). This garland costs about 25 cents to make.
I was inspired by this MS Kids magazine garland that used old Christmas cards cut into circles, but I used felt rectangles (easier to cut, readily available cheap material) instead. You can pretty much use anything for this, though, including paper (construction, cardstock, scrap-booking, etc.), cardboard (I did this the other day with painted cardboard discs), bits of ribbon (did this the other day), fake flowers and leaves, etc.
So, I used about 20 cents worth of felt for this project.
1. Get your felt ready. In my case, I cut some up into squares.
2. Pull about six to eight inches of thread "tail" and then sew through your first square.
3. Continue to sew a few revolutions without anything under the needle
4. Put your next felt square through -- I start holding the tail out immediately to help the square make it through straight.
5. Repeat.
That's it. Sooooo easy. You can wrap it around cardboard for a very fancy-schmancy looking way to store it. You can even give it as gifts. It looks fabulous on the tree, on wreaths, around presents, around garlands, etc. This is the cheapest, most eye-popping, handy, diy garland out there.
If you don't want to spend any money (and I'm all for that, I'm sure you have what you need at home!) try using: cut up junk mail, fabric scraps, yarn bits or six-inch pieces of yarn that you sew through and then tie into a bow, bits of wrapping paper, candy wrappers, magazine cut-outs, etc.
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| permalink | comments (17) |
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I love doing that! My cousin (16 years old) and I made some and she uses it as a curtain for her room (sort of like the bead curtains) she put it on her doorway
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looks great. how can we use the felt without a sewing machine? can it be glued somehow?
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beanie, I bet you could use glue and felt -- good idea! If you try it, post!
You could use E6000 glue & little mirrors and glue them to fishing line... sparkly!
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i did this with felt last year and no sewing machine-- just handsew it through with a needle and thread. (it was kind of a bitch, but i was using fishing wire which made it worse). it's definitely super cute and everyone comments on it. yay for felt!
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Felt roxxx..!! Thanks for that wonderful tutorial.
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that's fantastic! I could see me having to re-make those each year because even when I wrap strands on cardboard, the following year I have a tangled heap!
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Wooo! So cute. Do you just use all-purpose thread, or something a bit heavier?
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Just regular thread -- I think it was even polyester. It would be neat to use metallic thread, but I'm not sure how well that works through the sewing machine!!
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my friend uses metallic thread in her machine, but I'm afraid to try it at home.
I'm thinking I can use felted sweaters for this.
that is really the most exciting easy craft I've seen in awhile! Thanks.
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That looks so neat! I'm gonna have to try that. Looks so easy. And I like the idea about using metallic thread.
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has anyone had problems with their sewing machines jamming with this project? I have an old 'elnita' sewing machine, and it tends to have problems on a good sewing day, should i just go the glue route?
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Saw a similar idea in the window of a yarn shop - they made a garland without a sewing machine by sandwiching two circles of felted wool together (using glue I'm assuming) at regular intervals along a length of beautiful yarn. It looked really lovely, especially intertwined with white Chrismas lights.
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nancy, I would try a couple squares on your sewing machine to see if it works first, and use the glue as plan B... it doesn't hurt to at least try!
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Thanks for posting the glue and mirrors idea, yardenxanthe! I've been trying to think up an easy- and CHEAP- way to decorate an ugly doorway- this is it! Does anyone know what E6000 glue is? never heard of it....
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feministah, you should be able to get E6000 at craft shops or mass merch discount stores in the glue section!
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Another material to try is leftover foil wrapping paper. I've had some sitting since last Xmas and couldn't bear to throw it away.
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OOh thankyou thankyou thankyou so much for poting this- it's really helped me get out of my grumpy-no-crafting-rut i've been in- I've made about 6 different garlands now and if i can't sell them at the weekend well i'm going to have the best dressed house going!
you rule!
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