Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ruffled Felt Garland

I love garlands.  Especially ones that are cheap and quick to whip up.  Because I also love making new garlands every year (along with new wreaths...and new decor items...and new holiday decorations...hmmm I sense a pattern).  This year my Halloween theme is candy corn and I just had to make a new garland for our stairs.  Coming up with a new garland for this railing can be a little challenging - Hubs insists that the railing be functional (pesky safety!), which means I can't wrap a garland around the railing.  So that means I have to attach it to either the back or underside of railing using either staples or thumbtacks.  After some brainstorming, a tri-strand ruffled felt garland in candy corn colors is what I dreamed up:



I used the same method as the St. Patty's day rainbow garland to ruffle up a looooong strip of orange, yellow and white felt.  Then just attached the garland using thumbtacks to the back of the hardwood railing.  And let me tell you, it is some very hard wood. 


Here's the very simple how to:


1 - To determine how much felt you'll need, measure the area that you plan to decorate and double the measurement.  For this garland, I used a length of yarn to create a sort of template for the finished garland (looping it on the railing) and then doubled the length of the piece of yarn to get my measurement.  I needed 1/2 yard of each color.


2 - Using pinking shears, cut the felt in 3 inch wide strips.




3 - Ruffle the felt by scrunching it as you run it through the sewing machine.  When you come to the end of a strip, just lay the next strip slightly overlapping and continue scrunching




4 - Once all the colors are ruffled, just gather them up and swag them together.  Yes, my orange and yellow are technically reversed.  I always seem to reverse the yellow and orange.  I am obviously candy corn dyslexic. 




Simple and easy - from beginning to end in a half hour :)


I participate in the following link parties: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Miss Crafty Pants, Super Stinky Boys, Mad In Crafts, Embellishing Life Everyday, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Chocolate Drool & Kisses, Simply Cadence, Polly Wanna Crafter, Sew Can Do, Tip Junkie, My Frugal Family, Coastal Charm, New Nostagalia, Blessed with Grace, The Creative Itch, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Home Stories A to ZThe Lettered Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, At Home with K, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, Gluesticks, Extreme Personal Measures, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts, All Things Heart and Home, Elements Interiors, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty Three, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Black Kat Design, Thrifty 101, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, Poppies at Play, The Inspired Room, KoJo Designs, Whipperberry, Inspiring CreationsRomantic Home, The Speckled Dog, At the Picket Fence, Little Brick Ranch, Designer Garden, Simply Sweet Home, Simply Designing, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Saturday Morning Blog, It's a Crafty Life, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Jewish Mom, Flamingo Toes, The DIY Showoff, Marvelously Messy, Nifty Thrifty Things, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Cottage Chick, Running with Glitter, One Artsy Mama, One Tough Mother,

46 comments:

Sarah said...

That is such a great idea & it looks so darn cute! :)

Dresden said...

just found this project on running with glitter. this is such an amazing idea! I think I'll do something like this for Christmas. Love how it turned out!

www.dresdencarrie.com

Unknown said...

Beautiful! Great tutorial as well. I would love it if you would stop by and share at the Cure for the Common Monday.
:) Rachel
http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com/2011/10/cure-for-common-monday-12.html

Anne said...

I LOVE this! And I always mess up my candy corn colors too. :p

Becca Bertotti said...

Such a cute, creative and festive idea that I'd love to try ... that is, until I saw that a sewing machine is involved. LOL. One of these days, I will learn how to sew! *Becca*

www.adventuresindecorating1.blogspot.com

PeggyJean said...

wow this is such a great idea! And thank you for the easy directions! I am for sure going to try this!

Nicole Bieri said...

I love this idea! I have a lot of extra felt to use up, and I think this is the perfect way to do so. Thanks for posting.

Alison @ mommadidit.blogspot.com said...

I love this! Great job. Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

How crafty are you!?! I love this! I'd love to have it on {Not So} Tough Tuesday's on One Tough Mother, going on until Wednesday at midnight!

www.onetoughmom.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!

Leslie said...

What a great way to take something cutesy and turn it into something beautiful!

PaperVine said...

Fabulous project and great tutorial too. I love the way it looks.
Thanks for sharing.
Visiting from One Tough Mother
Lowri
http://papervinenz.blogspot.com

Lauren said...

YOU CAN RUFFLE FELT?!?! This blows my mind! I've never thought of it before. I'm going to admit that I was trying to make a onesie dress and was so frustrated with making ruffles. Everytime I pulled the thread it'd break. So I used non-cheap thread and it helped. And after I finished my project, I come to learn that #9 on my tension is the highest, not the lowest (DUH!). So excited to try out my new ruffling skillz on something like this. What a great idea! Stopping by from Trendy Treehouse and sorry to leave you a novel with lots of exclamation points!

Anonymous said...

So pretty! I wish I was better with my sewing machine!

Jen said...

I love the ruffles! Such a cute idea for Halloween :)

Unknown said...

Great idea! Cute and simple. I love that it is Halloween without being over the top.

Sarah said...

I featured this today on my blog, come check it out:

http://craftingandcreativity.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-i-like-thursday-14.html

Sarah :)

Jennifer said...

I adore this!! It is so clever and yet simple to do! Perfect! I'd love it if you linked it up to my link party!

http://daysofchalkandchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/10/latest-greatest-friday-link-party-1.html

So well done!

Patti @ Pandoras Box said...

Very cute and festive! Stop over to enter my giveaway of 100 printed postcards!

Courtney ~ French Country Cottage said...

Soo cute and clever!! Thanks for the tutorial too~ I host Feathered Nest Friday at my blog if you would like to come link up sometime! This is darling!

At The Picket Fence said...

That is just so darling! I just love it and we are so thrilled that you shared it with us at Inspiration Friday!
Vanessa

Lori said...

You are right in front of me at favorite things party. Now how cute and easy is this project. Reminds me of candy.

Unknown said...

crafting and sewing with felt is just about my favorite thing to do! I MUST try this idea! Totally cute and affordable and doable! I LOVE the ruffled effect it has for your staircase! and don't worry - you're not alone in wanting to make new holiday decorations every year!!
Would be tickled if you stopped by and linked up this awesome idea to WWWW!
http://itstoilegood.blogspot.com/2011/10/chevron-pumpkin-mat-for-halloween.html

Unknown said...

woops - here's the party link if you're interested!
http://itstoilegood.blogspot.com/2011/10/whatcha-workin-with-features-and-better.html

Mandi@MandiBeingCrafty said...

ummmm that is the best craft/diy project I have seen tonight! Good job!!!

Christina said...

I love buntings of all kinds but I've never seen one like this. It's adorable! Using felt is so smart.
I would love it if you would share this at my "It's a Celebration" link party!
Christina
http://www.inspirationforcelebration.com/2011/10/its-celebration-link-party-october-2011.html

Trina Rae said...

This is SO cute! I love the "candy corn" colors, but it could definitely be modified to fit any holiday. I will be pinning! :o)

Jaime Lyn at Crafty Scrappy Happy said...

I LOVE this so so much! You are amazing! Thank you so much for linking up and for sharing!
Jaime from crafty scrappy happy

Stephanie said...

So cute--love how it looks!

Anonymous said...

This is REALLY cute! I like how you used the pinking shears and also how you made the ruffle part easy by scrunching the felt. I was just discussing with my husband the order of candy corn colors the other night . . . I just eat them, I don't look at them!!
Stopping by from Embellishing Life.

Misty @Creative Itch said...

I absolutely ADORE this garland!! Thanks for sharing @'Sew Cute Tuesday'! I'll be featuring you tomorrow, so be sure to stop by and grab a 'featured' button!

rebecca @ beurrista said...

OOohh, this is a VERY PRETTY garland!

(saw you at Skip to My Lou!)

Anonymous said...

Ooh SO cute!

Kara said...

Oh my goodness, I love this! I never would have thought of making ruffles into candy corn. So dang cute! You should link it up on my linky party today. I bet my readers would love it!
http://www.creationsbykara.com/2011/10/look-what-i-made-linky-party-10-19-11.html

KimMalk said...

What a cute garland. I love anything candy corn inspired.

Unknown said...

I really love this!! I'd love for you to come share it with all my readers at Wow Me Wednesday!!

http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/10/wow-me-wednesday-32.html

Alison @ Oopsey Daisy said...

This is incredible! Such a cute idea! I featured you today on my blog:

http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/10/wednesdays-wowzers-best-time-of-the-year.html

Thanks for inspiring!
~Alison

michele said...

the garland is ohmygoodness lovely!

come visit anytime--and hope you will enter my shabby chic giveaway:

http://hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-is-pearl-blushing.html

warmly,

michele

Unknown said...

So in love with this! Just pinned it!

patti west said...

holy crap...I love this garland!!! thanks so much for the tutorial! :)

Our Seven Dwarfs said...

I love me some Candy Corn! This garland is great. Thanks for the tutorial!

Jill of oursevendwarfs.com

Kara said...

Thanks so much for linking up! I'm featuring you tomorrow at Creations by Kara. :)

LBP said...

That is just adorable! I would love to see it is peppermint Christmas colors!

Blessings

Linda

MsFoxsSweets said...

Here from Tatertots & Jello! This looks cute, I could totally see it in my daughters room in pink!

Michelle Paige said...

Love this candy corn colored ruffle! It is so adorable and I love how you made it with felt!

juliemadtx said...

I love candy corn - the colors and the actual candy! What a cute idea! You could do that for any holiday in other colors. (visiting from TT&J)

D.S. Rose said...

I made your garland this year, and it's beautiful. Because we have such large and long banisters in our house, I cut the felt into 6" wide strips that I ruffled. I also sewed each piece to the next before sewing the ruffles, so I would be sure the garland wouldn't come apart (since I used a wider basting stitch when ruffling). I attached it to our banister using our clear plastic Christmas hooks, and arranged it in scallops. Great design, and thanks!

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