Sunday, December 2, 2012

Tied Ribbon Christmas Tree Garland


When I think patriotic... I think Americana.  And when I think Americana, I think rag items.  Rugs, blankets, garlands.  I love the look of rag garlands but they have never really fit my motif.  Thankfully, a Patriotic Christmas is the perfect opportunity to make one of these gorgeous pieces.  Even better, this can definitely do double-duty for Fourth of July!


Materials
10.5 Yards of Fabric {Used: 1.5 yds of 7 different fabrics}
30 ft Strand of Lights
Scissors
Ruler or Measuring Tape

Instructions
1.  Absolutely the first thing to do is test your strand of lights.  Nothing would suck more than finishing this project your light strand doesn't work.

2.  Cut fabric into 4"x1" strips.  This does not have to be exact but do not go shorter than 4".  The strips will be near impossible to tie if you do.  Cut all your strips and put into a piles.

3.  Organize the order of your strips.  You know me, I like order in the chaos.  If you'd rather pull at random, go for it.

4.  Start on the end and tie them on!  Start on "female" end of string.  If you will be using this garland on a tree, this is likely the end that will be at the top of the tree and therefore, you want it to be full.  I was able to tie 6-7 pieces in between each light bulb.  It's up to you and truly depends on the strand on how many you can fit between each bulb.


5.  Hang and marvel at your craftiness.




13 comments:

  1. I just cut up some material (4" length) and tied a piece to my strand. It looks awful tiny. How big around would you say this garland is? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mine looked small when I first started too. My garland ended up being about 3" in diameter/thick. Be sure to pull the fabric really tightly. If you haven't cut all of your fabric yet, you can also cut a few pieces a little longer and alternate between your shorter and longer pieces. Hope this helps and I'm glad you're giving it a try! Let me know how it goes!

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  2. This garland is super cute!!! What did you do about material ends fraying?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just let them fray! I think that's part of the charm of doing "rag" decor - it's weather and used look. If you don't like the frayed ends, I would suggest using ribbon and melting the tips you cut (which will take a bit of time).

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  3. I used pinking shears to cut my fabric. And used scraps of Christmas fabric from another project. Turned out great, and have enough ties to make a few more. Will be using this for fall fabric also. Thanks!

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  4. Thank you for listing the supplies you used! Looks beautiful!

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  5. If I don't want to tie the ribbons to a strand of lights, do you have another suggestion? I'm just afraid that the strand will only last a year or 2 and that is a lot of ribbon to untie and tie back onto a new strand of lights. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Use twine to tie all of your pieces of fabric to. Then take a zip tie and attach to your lights. This way you can switch out

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  6. are you not worried about the lights getting the fabric too hot? and starting a fire? or not?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Use led lights they don't get hot

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  7. So you can use regular ribbon? Not burlap?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I made one for my kitchen window

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