No-Sew Fabric Strip Garland

    I plan to post about the "Sunshine" baby shower soon, but first I wanted to show you the garland that I made for the shower. I love the "shabby chic" look it has, and it was so easy to make. My mom and I first saw this type of garland at an adorable craft boutique and it was definitely one of those "I could make that!" moments. I love to work with fabric, even though I don't sew, mostly because I love to mix colors and prints. This garland combines both, and it adds a great textural element, too.

This garland isn't just easy to make, it is pretty inexpensive, too! You shouldn't need much that you don't already have. 

I used:

-6 coordinating fabrics, 1/4 yard each. They were all cut from the bolt, except one, and cost $0.66 each because calico was on sale at Joann's, yay! The yellow chevron is a "fat quarter" which you buy pre-cut in little squares for quilting, usually. It was $0.99, so still pretty cheap. 

-heavy string. You can buy this in a spool fairly inexpensively.

The total cost for this project was right around $5, and it is definitely a decoration you can store and reuse. That makes it worth a lot more in my mind!

   First, if you buy your fabric off the bolt you will want to check for "selvage"- that is the unprinted edges of the fabric. See the white line on the piece above? You will want to remove it, because it won't look nice. Cut those off before you get started, you can even tear them off so that you can start more easily.

     Decide which edge of your yardage you want to start with. I had mine cut to 1/4 yard, so I tore down the "long" side (think of it as a rectangle" so that my strips would have more length. I simply used the width of a ruler to determine the width of each strip, but this project is super forgiving, you don't need to aim for perfection!

     Start each strip by snipping an approximately half-inch cut into the fabric.

     And pull the cut portion firmly away from the fabric. It will give you the "torn" edge. Don't pull too quickly or you will end up with decidedly uneven pieces. You don't want it to measure 3/4 of an inch shorter at the top than the bottom!  Finish tearing all your pieces. It took me approximately an hour (Measured by two half-hour TV shows! Love projects I can do while catching up on my shows.) You will have a giant, messy pile of pieces. Pull off any decidedly hanging strings, and the hard part is done!

      I folded each strip in half, and stuck the bottom pieces through the loop formed by the top, catching the string in the center and pulling down on the pieces to tie it on. To achieve an intentionally mismatched but not messy look, I followed a pattern of gray, yellow and orange, but didn't pay attention what print.

     Once you have threaded all the pieces on, you are done! My finished garland is roughly six feet long- a terrific length for decorating. I was thrilled with how it turned out! My mom also loved it, she gave it a home on her entry way shelf. She has a similar one in her laundry room. And after the shower, a friend was inspired to make one for her outdoor patio area. It is great for so many spaces-I think it would be precious in a baby's room, too!

  
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Ombre+Fall=Love

If you aren't aware with my obsession for making garlands for my fireplace, please see here, here and here. If you are, read on. :)

I made this initial for my door, and realized I was absolutely in love with gray, yellow and black as fall colors. I do also love the traditional orange, reds and browns, too, but I was just ready for a change. Currently the trend right now is yellow and gray, and ombre everywhere! I decided that, since I usually follow all the trends anyway, to jump on that bandwagon!

This is such a great, simple project. From start to finish it took me about an hour. First I enlarged the leaf template I found here, to about 150%. Then I printed it off (I changed my print preview view to just the leaves, and chose to not print the turkey on the bottom of the page). When you are working with felt, you don't want details that are too intricate. I thought the larger maple leaf worked perfectly!

I did not end up using all the felt I bought. If you work carefully, you can use just one sheet of each color! I used two, just to be safe.

-heather gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-light gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-black felt, Hobby Lobby
-"goldenrod", from Michael's
-gold, from Michael's
-gray grosgrain from the Dollar Store (did  you know that gray ribbon is kind of hard to find?)

I toyed with the idea of using the exacto knife. I changed my mind-it was easier to do with scissors! I also opted against using the cream felt, I had enough pieces without it. However, I only figured that out *after* I cut out the cream leaves. Anyone need four cream felt leaves?

Cut out your pile of leaves. If you do not have fabric scissors (I love my Fiskars) I implore you: buy some now! Cutting felt is an absolutely dreadful task without nice, sharp scissors.  I cut out four leaves of each color. This is the most time consuming part, but once it is done, your garland practically puts itself together!

To make the slits to put the ribbon through, fold down the top part of your leaf. This doesn't have to be terribly precise, I did them in sets of two (if you have sharp scissors, you can cut your leaves out two at a time to make the process faster, too) and just eyeballed it.

 

See, how the leaf isn't folded quite in half? I then cut two slits, about an inch long and an inch and half apart. Each leaf needs two to thread the ribbon through.

 

I liked the way that it looked having the ribbon just peek through, so I threaded mine starting from the underside. I didn't secure the leaves in any way, they move freely on the ribbon. I overlapped them quite a bit, I preferred the way they looked like that.

 

I debated about putting them in pattern order, and decided instead to do them ombre style. I know it isn't a true ombre (my understanding is that is just one color gradient) and technically my brighter gold leaves should have come first, but I craft on the fly and I was just happy as a clam with the way it turned out. I love that it says fall without being blatant, and love, love, that it incorporates the gray and yellow combo that I am clearly obsessed with! 

 

I apologize for the bad photos, my living room does not have an overhead light on the fireplace side, and it was late. But you are welcome to come over and see how cute it is in person!;)

 

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