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Sunday, August 18, 2013

DIY - Star Garlands




I have been eying up pretty paper garlands on Etsy for months in hopes of purchasing a few ready for Enid's first birthday, but I just kept thinking (as always!) "I could just make them myself". Being fairly handy with a sewing machine and craft scissors makes you think that way about a lot of things and having the time to do it last weekend, I decided to try it for myself.

Supplies needed:

  
A craft punch (I used this 2inch star punch from Hobbycraft)
A selection of card (I used a variety of kids craft card and scrapbooking card)
Sewing Machine and cotton


Step 1. Go crazy with your paper punch, I cut out 2 A4 sheets worth of stars in each of my card colours so that I'd have enough to make a few garlands.


Step 2. Position your first star under the foot of your machine, make sure you have a decent length of cotton trailing behind. Start slowly sewing through the card, guiding it with your hand. 


Step 3. When you reach the end of the star, slowly continue sewing while gently pulling the star to keep the cotton string you are creating from becoming too loose. 


Step 4. Work out how much of a gap you would like between your stars. I placed a piece of paper a couple of inches behind my machine and sewed my string until the star I was holding became parallel with the paper. This allowed me to get even distances all the way through.


Step 5. Once you've got your desired gap, slip the next star under the foot and sew through. Repeat the process until your string is long enough to hang. Make sure to keep picking your string off the floor as you sew to ensure it doesn't get tangled as you work.


Hang and enjoy! I have already hung a pastel coloured string in my living room as I just couldn't wait to put them up, but I'm hoping to make some new, more personalised garlands for Enid's birthday and to give to friends. I hope this tutorial will inspire some DIY!

Happy Sunday!



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