Odds & Hens

Enjoy making this festive garland! The holly berry silhouettes are only a little bit fussy to cut and you will need a sewing machine to complete this project but the finished product can be used in many different ways from garland, mantle decoration, bunting, table runner or gift wrapping. I will put some ideas for variations at the end and if you create your own drop a picture or link in the comments. Rather just purchase? I have a few listed in my Etsy shop right now and could probably be persuaded to make some custom strands for you.

Holly Berry Garland

Supplies

Shade of Green felt, 6-8 sheets (~ 9 x 12 inches, per sheet)
So. Many. Holly leaves
2 sheets of red felt for berries
Craft glue, scissors, pins, sewing machine

Create a holly leaf pattern. I drew one based on a cookie cutter shape I had (keep it simple) and then laminated it (can also just cover with clear packing tape) as you will need to trace and cut a lot of holly leaves. Mine were about 3 inches in length and they overlap a bit when sewn together so a 6 foot length of garland needed about 30-36 leaves.
Cut red strips of felt about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch wide. Then cut them into shorter lengths. How short? Depends on how big a berry you wanted. I did 4 1/2 inches. Do not worry about being super exact. Let there be some variation. Make at least as many of these as leaves in your garland. I put one larger berry between each leave but could make smaller berries and put multiples, or use pom pom poms, flat red felt circles, sequins etc.
Dot some craft glue along the red felt strip and then roll it up and put a sewing pin to hold the end in place while glue dries. Viola! Holly berries!
Trace and cut out felt holly leaves. These will be sewn in a single layer so if they vary in size a bit, that is great!
If using multiple colors of leaves (and if you care), decide the order to have them in garland, get your sewing machine ready and then using a slightly longer stitch length (3.0) starting sewing the leaves lengthwise into one long chain, overlapping each leaf a bit (this is where berries will go).
Once holly leaves are sewn together, your holly berries should be dried and ready to be attached to garland. Note the berries also will cover any funny business/flaws.
You can add to the far end a loop of embroidery floss if you like.

Here are two ideas for other felt shapes. quick circles (just for fun or a nod to ornaments/Christmas lights, see also the paper version using greeting cards) and one using scraps pieces. This scrap one hangs in my crafting space.

Tips:

Play with colors or white felt for completely different looks.
Making sure that you are cutting on the inside of the drawn line so that no ink shows on the shape when done.
If cutting two layers at a time, I suggest pinning them to hold them together, with felt it is usually best to cut single layers to ensure clean lines and shapes.
Make the shapes over-sized or mini for different looks.
Scraps Rock! They are useful for other projects (e.g. baubles or another garland etc) or can be recycled in your Ridwell bin. (<3)

Does 2020 need more cowbell? Undecided but your 2020 does need more garland. Here are some other ideas!

I love a simple isosceles tree silhouette. It is not fussy to cut, feels fresh from fall through winter season and can be used in many different ways from garland, mantle decoration, bunting, table runner or gift wrapping. You also have the opportunity to use the word isosceles, which you probably never thought would happen back in the school days. Felt garlands are also a great craft idea for groups looking to create something together; just a few steps and none really requiring any special skill or tools. And since it is 2020, you could do this all on Zoom, sigh. I will put some tips and ideas for variations at the end and if you create your own drop a picture or link in the comments.

Felt Garland Overview

Decide on a shape
Make a pattern to trace.
Trace and cut out the shape
Prep the shapes either to sew or glue
Save the scraps!

For Tree Garland –

Supplies
- Felt, 4-6 sheets (~ 9 x 12 inches, per sheet)
- Two felt triangles per tree
- One small felt rectangle (tree trunk)
- Craft glue, scissors and/or rotary cutter, ruler
- Buttons or sequins
- Twine, yarn or ribbon, cut into desired garland lengths (e.g. 7-8 feet)

Trace and cut out felt triangle trees that are about 3-4 inches in height and 2-3 inches wide. For a group project last year, I did make a tree pattern (laminated paper) for a group project last year, so that they were consistent in shape when cut by multiple people. approximately 12 large trees per 6 feet or 18 small trees per 6 feet.
Cut out trunks. It is easy to cut a strip and then cut in to shorter lengths forming rectangles. Play around with different widths. No need to make a pattern or get to exact here.
Pair up two triangles, trim if necessary to have the edges match or remove any errant pen. Pair up different colors too if you like.
Glue a rectangle at the middle of the bottom edge between the two tree pieces. Eyeball it, don’t measure.
Glue the two triangles together. Suggest craft or Elmers’s glue and in a thin layer so that trees don’t dry lumpy. Leave the top points of the trees free/not glued together (maybe about 1/2 to 3/4 inch). This is where the string will be glued to form the strand of garland.
Plan out your spacing along the twine. I like to leave 8+ inches on either side for tying or hanging. If putting 12 trees over 6 feet, space them every 6 inches.
Hot glue is the easiest gluing the trees to the strand as it dries the quickest. Place a small dot of glue inside between the two trees and lay the string/twine in the glue then press the tops of the trees together.
Once trees are connected to string and dry, you can glue or sew a button or sequin to the top of the tree. You could also bedazzle the heck out them with glitter or puffy paint but I wanted a more plain aesthetic.
Enjoy!

Tips:

Buy or plan to use more felt than you will, so that you can have variety and scraps for other projects.
Play with colors or white felt for completely different looks. Most of my trees are different colors on front and back.
Mix in fabric with felt on the back.
When cutting out traced shapes, cut on the inside of the drawn line so that no ink shows when done.
If cutting two layers at a time with scissors, I suggest pinning them to hold them together.
Make the shapes over-sized or mini for different looks.
Scraps Rock! They are useful for other projects (e.g. ornament, baubles etc) or can be recycled in my Ridwell bin (love mine!)

Other Holiday Project Ideas

Sure these are all over Pinterest, but I still want to share my version of the felt Christmas Tree. Easy to make and the amount of time will really depend on how much detail you want to put into each ornament. I kept the ornaments simple but let the packages at the bottom be fun prints. Definitely use your craft store discount coupons to buy the big piece of felt. For this version I bought a yard of light blue for the background, a yard of the green tree and then smaller variety pack of sheets. Plenty to make a good size tree, as the felt on the bolt is really quite wide. I also picked up some half inch wood dowel for hanging, but you could also mount to the wall with velcro, tape, command strips etc.

Background and Tree: To make blue background: cut to size and then fold the top edge over about 1.5 inches and sew, creating a sleeve to slide the wooden dowel through. Just free hand draw your tree either on paper first or right onto the back side of the felt, doing the modern triangle or more classic tree outline with branches. Cut out the tree shape and position on the blue background. I put some tacky craft glue on the back of the tree to help hold it flat on background. Add a trunk if you want using brown felt. Then pin the edges of the the the tree and trunk to hold in place and sew onto the blue background with matching thread and a zig zag stitch. For the hanger, I used a length of twine tied to each end of the dowel.

Ornaments: Have fun! I used some clip art images, traced some cookie cutters and freehand drew a few items. My favorite are the Washington and Montana state ornaments. Home is where the heart is…… Usually felt will just stick to felt but some of the thicker colored felt didn’t seem to stay quite right AND to make cutting out easier, I traced on to iron on interfacing, ironed to felt (with a piece of fabric in-between to avoid any melting) and then cut out. In hindsight I might have not ironed it on as permanent and then pealed off the interfacing when done cutting. BUT the interfacing gives the pieces a little more shape and I couldn’t peel it off without incident. For some of the easier shapes I just traced and cut or used my circle rotary cutter (‘lights’). The interfacing sticks alright to felt tree but I sprayed the backs lightly some repositionable craft adhesive (3M, Elmers or others) for some extra grabbiness. For the bows on the packages I hotglued on velcro, putting the soft side on the package and the hook side on the bow.

Hang up and enjoy! Now, we might still be a little young for unsupervised felt tree interactions, so I put some of the interfaced ornaments up out of reach (since things tend to go right in his mouth) and left the lower ornaments for his repositioning enjoyment. The circles for tree lights are my favorite and will be easy to make more of, should any end up with teeth marks.

Please share your tips and photos.

Tag: felt

Holly Berry Garland to Deck your Space

Felt Tree Garland to ‘Spruce’ things up

Felt Christmas Tree DIY

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