This festive season, unleash your creativity and craft a charming felt Christmas tree garland that’s sure to become a cherished holiday tradition. With just a few simple steps, you can transform plain felt into a beautiful, rustic-inspired decoration that will add a warm, cozy touch to your home. Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or a newcomer to the world of DIY projects, this easy-to-follow guide will walk you through every step of the process, from cutting and shaping the felt to creating a lush, verdant tree shape. And if you enjoy crafting around Christmas time, you might also want to try your hand at making a crochet star garland, dried orange garland, or salt dough gingerbread man garland to add even more festive flair to your decor.
What You Need to Make Felt Christmas Garlands
The foundation of any successful felt garland is, of course, the felt itself. With various types to select from, including wool felt, you can opt for the one that best suits your creative vision. Regardless of the type, it will serve as the base for your Christmas tree garland. In addition to the felt, a few essential tools come into play. A marker is useful for adding personal touches or labels, while jute twine provides an earthy and rustic touch when used as a binding material. Scissors are a must-have for cutting the felt to size, and a darning needle can be employed to create intricate details. Finally, a hot glue gun is necessary for securely fastening any embellishments in place.
How to Make a Felt Christmas Tree Garland
Start by printing the Christmas tree stencil, or if you’re feeling artistic, create your own design directly on the felt. This will serve as a guide for tracing the shape onto the material. Having multiple sizes of tree shapes is crucial, as you’ll be layering them to create a unique, dimensional effect. The smallest trees should be placed on the lightest shade of felt, with the medium-sized ones in the middle and the largest on the darkest green wool felt.Once you have all your pieces cut out using fabric scissors or sharp kitchen scissors, arrange them as they will appear once glued together. This will help you visualize the final product and make any necessary adjustments before committing to a specific design.To create the illusion of depth, cut small rectangles from the leftover lightest green felt. These don’t need to be precise, as their primary function is to act as guides for threading the trees together.
Christmas Tree PDF Template Download
The Finishing Touches
As you approach the final stages of crafting your Christmas tree garland, it’s time to bring all the elements together. Start by attaching the small tree shapes to the medium ones, and subsequently connect them to the larger ones. This will form the foundation of your garland. Next, take one of the rectangles you cut earlier and attach it to the back of each tree shape, leaving a small gap to accommodate the twine. Once this is complete, thread the twine through these loops, allowing you to join the trees together seamlessly. With this step completed, you’re free to decide where to display your beautiful garland, adding to the festive atmosphere of your home.
5 Handy Tips for the Perfect Christmas Tree Garland
When crafting a Christmas tree garland, it’s essential to reverse-trace the outlines on the marker to avoid any visual distractions on the finished product. If you’re fortunate enough to have a Cricut machine or know someone who does, this tool can be incredibly helpful in cutting out precise stencil and felt pieces. A crucial consideration when working with wool felt is that the overlapping pieces will require adjustments during cutting. To streamline the process, try cutting the top of larger felt sheets flat, making it easier to achieve clean cuts. As a rough guide, one sheet of felt should suffice for 15 trees measuring three inches in diameter. If you’re creating larger or more trees, you’ll need additional felt supplies. Feel free to add your personal touch by incorporating creative embellishments, such as tiny brass bells or Christmas ornaments, between the trees. Despite its seeming complexity, this beautiful garland is surprisingly easy to make with minimal required materials.
Felt Christmas Garland DIY
How to Make a Felt Christmas Tree Garland
Get ready to spread some holiday cheer with this delightfully simple felt Christmas tree garland project. Crafted in just over an hour, this festive decoration is the perfect way to add a touch of creative flair to your home decor. With a mere 5 minutes spent on prep time, you’ll be well on your way to creating a charming and unique piece that’s sure to become a holiday tradition.
Equipment
Instructions
Print the stencil attached and trace it onto your felt using a marker on the wrong side. Alternatively, freehand draw a design for your tree. Once printed or drawn, my stencil was approximately 3 inches tall. Cut out the stencil to create a template. Use this template to guide you as you cut out three identical shapes from different shades of green felt – one lightest, one middle-toned, and one darkest. You will need to cut out 15 shapes of each size. Arrange these pieces on your work surface, slightly overlapping them as desired. Set the excess lightest green felt aside for a moment. Cut 15 small rectangles, roughly an inch long from this leftover felt. These will serve as channels for threading the trees once they’re attached. To assemble the tree, use hot glue to attach each layer in succession. Once the glue has cooled, flip the tree and secure a rectangular strip to the back, near the top, leaving a small gap for twine passage. A chopstick or straw can be helpful in holding up the loop as the glue dries. Finally, employ a darning needle to sew twine through the back loops of each Christmas tree.
Notes
To simplify the cutting process, I flattened the top of my two larger stencil pieces before cutting the felt. This ensured a smooth overlap when combining the felt pieces later. The number of felt sheets needed depends on the tree size and desired quantity. For instance, one sheet can cover up to 15 stencil pieces for a 3-inch tree. If you require more or slightly larger trees, a second sheet will be necessary.
To avoid any marker residue showing through after cutting out the shapes, I traced the stencils onto the wrong side of the felt. This approach also allows me to neatly cut out the stencil and felt pieces using a Cricut machine if available.