No Sew Felt & Fabric Garland
Courtesy of Beth Allums and Dawn Anderson of the Richmond Craft Mafia
(As seen on Virginia This Morning, WTVR Channel 6 Richmond, VA)
Here is a quick and easy garland to use for the holiday season or
for any occasion. Materials:
• Craft felt in various colors (here we used red and 3 different shades of green)
• Cotton holiday themed print or coordinating fabrics (scraps are fine)
• Iron on, double-sided adhesive (such as HeatnBond Lite)
• Iron & protected surface to iron on
• Pinking shears
• Metal brads
• Various items to use for circle templates
• Marking pen (Sharpies work well)
• Hole punch (optional)
• Grommets (optional)
• Ribbon (optional) Instructions:
1. Gather all your materials. 2. Lay out felt (inexpensive acrylic craft felt squares are
perfect for this). Use various items found around the house to use
as templates to draw circles onto felt. These felt circles will be
the background for the garland. We've found those items with
diameters between 3 inches and 1 ½ inches work best for this step.
You can use empty plastic containers, empty ribbon spools, old
thread spools, Styrofoam cups or whatever you can find or have
available. (NOTE: you may not want to use items you plan on
reusing for anything else since the marking pen/Sharpie color may
get onto it.) You want a good mix of sizes in each color of felt.
Approximately six (6) circles will measure about one (1) foot of
finished garland. 3. Use pinking shears to cut out circles. Remember to cut just
inside the line drawn to ensure no marking is on the final cutout. 4. Next, iron on the double-sided adhesive to the back or wrong
side of your cotton fabrics according to the package/manufacturers
instructions. Most adhesives will have a paper side (smooth side)
which should be the side facing up when you iron it to the wrong
side of the cotton. 5. Working on the paper side of the cotton fabric, repeat the
process outlined in Step 2 – using your templates to draw circles.
These circles should be ¼ to ½ inch smaller than the circles drawn
on the felt. Please make sure you are working on the paper adhesive
side and not the cotton fabric side when you draw your circles!
Some marking pens will bleed into the cotton fabric side and ruin
your fabric. 6. Use pinking shears to cut out circles. Since you are
working on the paper side, its okay if you cut right on the marking
line or even outside of it since it won't show on the final cutout. 7. Match cotton fabric cutouts with felt cutouts of appropriate
size. When paired, the felt cutout should give about a ¼ inch to ½
inch "border" around the cotton fabric cutout. Play with different
color combinations mixing and matching the cotton fabrics with the
solid felt colors. 8. Once you've decided on your pairings, follow the
package/manufacturers instructions to adhere the second side of the
iron on adhesive. Adhere the cotton fabric cutout to the felt
cutout. Normally it will require peeling off the paper backing,
placing that side down onto the felt (right side of cotton fabric
will be facing up) and ironing with a dry iron for just a few
seconds. (NOTE: if you are using acrylic felt, it will melt if your
iron is too hot or you iron too long. Follow the instructions on
your adhesive.) You now have your finished circles. 9. Now it's time to "string" your garland. Take two (2)
finished circles and overlap the borders. Take one brad and poke it
through both borders of felt to connect the circles. Position brad
prongs so that they open horizontally. Open brad prongs. Your
first two (2) circles should now be securely attached to each other. 10. Continue to repeat step 9 until your garland reaches the
desired length or all your circles are used. 11. If you want to hang your finished garland, use a hole punch
to cut a small hole into the outside border of the circles on the
end. You can leave the hole as is or insert a grommet and run
ribbon or string through the grommet so that the garland can be
attached. 12. Display and enjoy your finished crafty work! |
