Winter White Felt Garland

There’s a neat phenomenon called frequency illusion that tries to explain how something you suddenly became interested in seems to be appearing all around you.

These days, it’s harder to tell if that’s really at work, or if it’s a website’s algorithm or the cookies on your computer that’s causing the same items to keep appearing around you.

Case in point – for quite some time  I’ve had felt projects on my brain. I made a phone holder, but that wasn’t enough. And then Julie at Sum of their Stories whipped up this cute upcycled felt garland (which technically was inspired by this good one at Pillar Box Blue).

After reading those, of course, my Pinterest feed flooded, mostly with pins pointing back to this Anthropologie garland.

I really liked this tutorial. But then I decided to shelve the entire idea, because I didn’t have any felt, and I really hate to go to the craft store and have fabric cut during the holidays. The ladies behind the counter try to keep up, but the entire experience can be major holiday buzz kill. I try and plan ahead, or just do without.

But a couple of weekends ago, while setting up the holiday decorations, I realized the white material I like to put under my holiday train set is felt. And the new location I wanted to put them on is at least half the size of the old. Which means – ding ding – I have extra felt to craft with!

This is a pretty simple craft – cut the pieces, thread them, and then squish them up until they are pretty.

How to create this garland

Cut the felt. I cut my felt into small rectangles, approximately 1″ long by 3/4″ wide. This craft really does NOT require consistency, which is a plus. In fact, the more random the pieces, the more ruffled the look.

Create a stop for the end. Tie a button onto one end of floss or thread that is the length of your desired garland. I used clear fishing line, which is neat because it is strong and invisible, but murder for threading the needle (and knotting up the button) for a person who wears progressive bifocal glasses. Consider yourself warned.

Pinch and thread. Fold each piece of felt longwise and thread it onto the needle. I grouped a couple at a time before sliding them down the length of the thread. Be careful not to tangle the thread.

Don’t panic when the first pieces of felt unfold themselves as the get scooted down the line. Eventually as the thread fills up, they hit up against that button at the end and start looking ruffled.

Keep adding felt rectangles until you reach the desired amount of ruffle and length for the garland. Tie a second button on to the end, and then trim off the extra thread.

All the other tutorials and pins I saw were for colorful garlands, and I do want to make one like that for the spring. But my monochrome white version is perfect for winter – not just Christmas, but into January or even Valentine’s Day.

I think it looks nice and wintery wrapped around my stair railing. It was looking a little plain after I took down all the holiday decorations.

 

 

 

This project was featured at the Sew Can Do Craftastic Monday Link Party.