Make a fast rag tag Christmas garland…… and a cheat to make it even faster!
Hello again……
You know, there’s still a bit of time to make stuff for Christmas- not much I grant you- but, if we started this very minute, this project would be finished in about an hour from now!
SO, without further ado…. I now bring you a Christmas project with only three steps – 3 steps??? Yep, truly! ….and it goes without saying that since it also has the bonus of being NO SEW, then it’s definitely a good friend of mine!
I’ve seen these rag garlands in lots of mags- rustic country versions, a pretty pastel one for a ballerina, and dozens of Christmas ones…… It seemed only right for us to have a crack at making one!
Here’s how– (by the way, if you’re thinking you might bust out the fabric and tackle this yourself, you may want to read to the end to learn about THE BETTER WAY)
To make a fast rag tag Christmas garland you need…..
- Something to tie your fabric strips around. Stuff like twine or wire or a Christmas light string.
- Some fabric. Like scraps saved from other projects or ugly “What was I thinking when I bought this!” or ribbons or lace or maybe an ugly Hawaiian shirt (there’s one in this household that was saved only because there was a body inside it when I was gathering my supplies!). I used about 3⁄4 to 1 m fabric total to make a 2.5m garland.
- Scissors. If you already have them, pinking shears work great (these are the ones that cut zig zags). If not, just use regular ones.
As you can see, I went for the “what were you thinking/ugly fabric” option- but to my surprise, it didn’t matter, even tho these fabrics are only remotely coordinated, end result was still OK.
To make: Stay with me…. There’s only 3 steps-
STEP 1: Make fabric strips about 2-2.5cm wide (about 3⁄4 to 1”) and 12-15cm long (about 5-6”). You could cut these strips neatly using your scissors, OR you could just tear the fabrics strips- Tearing is faster, cutting is neater- you choose.
STEP 2: Tie the fabric strips around the stuff (twine/wire/lights). It’s true, I chose a string of lights (my obsession with lights has been noted). The light string was much longer than I needed for my
garland, so I folded it into quarters- MORE lights per inch- BONUS! Keep tying and tying and tying ….and tying, till the stuff is covered with tiny knots of fabric
Step 3: Hang the garland and marvel at your craftiness!
SO…… My short concentration span kicked in early with tying and tying and t…y…i….n…g the knots, but this caused the creation of “THE BETTER WAY”.
I know you are probably waaaay ahead of me and have already figured this out; but to save yourself loads of time – just don’t tie all those babies separately:
Yes, it’s simple – Tie the fabric strips in bunches first! Simple right? You don’t even need a pic to understand this startling improvement. Tie the strips in bundles of 3, then tie them to the stuff. Much faster!
You can get the kiddos involved in either helping tie the knots or making the bundles.
Decision time…..Want a slower, longer project to keep the kids busy? Definitely go for single knots. Want to crank this out and get onto other things as fast as you can? Go for the bunches!
This technique would make an amazing wreath too. Want to have a go and need a wire wreath form?? Jump over to www.tistheseason.co.nz and check out our 18” diameter wire forms. Makes a 25” wreath when completed (depending on how long your fabric strips are) .
Anyway…..that’s it from me this week, thanks for reading! See you again soon
