It is Monday, the start of a new week, and the week that I begin to slowly, slowly decorate the house for Christmas. Pottering about the place in the evenings putting up lights and sorting out the decorations. We purchased our tree on Saturday and if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter (links below) I posted a picture of it yesterday evening. It’s a nice tree and as the weekends leading up to Christmas can occasionally get busy we grabbed the chance to buy it while we were out and about and get it installed in to the living room.
I have a Christmas craft for you to try today if you’d like. This Felt Bauble Garland is a nice ‘sit in front of the telly’ craft. Needs no sewing machine and doesn’t cost a fortune. It’s also a good one if you have children that are old enough to work with a needle and are interested in this sort of thing. Go to town on the decorative front. I chose white felt as the base colour for my baubles as I’m trying to keep everything clean and bright. But you can go with whatever will suit your house.
You also don’t have to stick to my choice of shapes for your baubles. You can go with stars, hearts, moons. Whatever you like. Just have fun!
I decided to have 6 Baubles on my garland but, again, if you have a larger or wider space to fill then you can choose to have more.
- Cut out 6 bauble shapes from card (I used cereal boxes) freehand or using a ruler/compass/upturned bowl. Keep the shapes as simple as you like.
- Next, you will need to cut out 12 pieces (or double the amount of baubles you are making) of felt to cover the card. These felt pieces need to be a tiny bit larger than the pieces of card (see picture above) as you’ll be encasing the card in the felt.
- Make each felt piece approximately half a centimeter larger than the card template, all the way around.
- Decorate the 6 baubles however you fancy (see full picture of my garland for inspiration). I decided to use different colour felt, embroidery thread and a few sequins & beads.
- Now, cut out 6 bauble tops from your choice of felt. I chose to use a beige colour. You need to make sure these rectangle tops are the same size as the felt bauble tops, not the card template tops.
- Once the front of the bauble is decorated & you have your bauble tops cut out you need to sew the pieces of the bauble together. You will need the plain back piece of the bauble, the card, the decorated front piece & the bauble top.
- Sandwich all these pieces together (with the card template in the middle of the two felt pieces & the bauble top at the top), or pin if you like.
- Sew blanket stitch all the way around. If you are unsure how to do blanket stitch then you can find out how to do it here
- Not forgetting to include the bauble top as you work your way around the outside edge.
- As a final step create a loop on the back of the bauble - Sew 2 vertical stitches on the back of your bauble top in the center.
Finish by threading all of your baubles on to some ribbon.
This is a lightweight garland so it can be hung anywhere. I may move mine from the mantle and hang it going up the stairs or perhaps in the kitchen. It would also look great in the kids bedroom and although they’re far too young to get excited about the season they certainly like bright colours.
Have a wonderful start to the week.
Are you ready to get cosy?
I love you and thank you so much for reading.
Cherry x
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I found you via the wonderful Thrifty Mrs – I love this tutorial, and have already planned where ours is going to go!
x
Great blog, happy to have stumbled across your little patch of internet
How lovely to get a reply Meridith. That’s never happened before. Happy Christmas.
I really enjoy your craft projects Cherry and always enjoy reading what is going on with you!Your mantle looks so calm and festive!
This garland is really a nice idea, I have just cut out the templates !
Thank you for the lovely craft ideas, recipes etc.Looking forward to your book!
From another mum of twins, a Brit in Ontario, Canada!
Linda
Love the garland! I agree older children would love to try this.
Hi Cherry, I have never worked with felt, so these pretty baubles are a perfect way to get started. Have cut out my board templates this evening and can’t wait to start tomorrow. Lovely xx
Cherry,
What a cute idea! With a large garland, you could easily drape it on a Christmas tree. Hmmm…it would be adorable on a small Christmas tree for your twins!!
I love projects like this that have maximum impact, with readily available supplies. Cute, cute, cute!
Marilyn (in Dallas)
Beautiful mantle! You have inspired me to get going! There’s something about garlands and banners that all three of my grandchildren love. They will love this. I think I might try a bit of a spin on yours and do one with Christmas trees. I wish I had your beautiful white mantle to help it stand out!. Ours is dark. Maybe I’ll make a “snowy” backdrop behind my garland. This is such a great idea rather than hanging something heavy or breakable with little ones around. Merry Christmas to you dear Cherry.
Meredith
Delightful Cherry. Thank you.
Very festive! This is a delightful project to do with the granddaughters.
This is so beautiful and looks like fun!!!!! Thank you!
I came on line this morning to see your new carpets. Will we get to see them? I love the felt baubles your kids are going to have such fun at Christmas times. I’m also keen to see your tree this year. Mine is going up earlier than usual as I have a church social here and we’re singing carols round the piano, very old fashioned but great fun with mince pies and drinkies. I think we should make the most of the run up to Christmas as it is really all over by Christmas Day or Boxing Day so why not start early.
Pam, That sounds like a lovely celebration and the kind we could all indulge in more if we start early and pace ourselves and be a bit more simple with our “to do” lists. We can so easily make ourselves crazy with more on our lists than we really need. I hope your carol sing is beautiful! Merry Christmas from Maine. Meredith
Oh, how sweet! Your baubles look loverly! What fun to try!
xoxo
Joni
Your fireplace looks gorgeous, so light and clean and I love the pointy trees too. Just perfect with the baubles.
They are gorgeous. You are just full of creative energy!!
This is lovely Cherry – simple with cheery colours. Do you mind me asking where you get your felt from? I have looked in a couple of shops and either the selection or the quality hasn’t been very good.
We had a wonderful time at a wedding this weekend and have another in Scotland this weekend, and then I think i’ll be able to get in to Christmas mood proper and the tree will go up and decs will come out. Really looking forward to it!
Have a great week, Take care, Bex.x
what a wonderful idea, I think I will be making these with the grandkids…
they are so sweet, beautifully made, and I agree, perfect for a kids room.
Doing the same myself this week, just making a start. Had to stop as I decided the tiny pink Christmas tree needed to be silver in the kitchen, so have made the most glorious mess covering it. have just download the before & after pics to twitter. http://yfrog.com/ntqt4fj
I’m a bit into pom poms. I made a garland for the mantel from pom poms of pink wool last year and will be putting it back again this year, it was rather cute. And I favour pink paper pom pom decorations too.
Yes, very ready to get cosy. the big tree is in water in the garage, waiting for Saturday, when I plan to put it up and decorate it. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Gorgeous! Love it.
Oh so very pretty!x
Cherry you are soooo good at this stuff! It looks gorgeous.
xox