Valentine’s Garland

January 16, 2011
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39 comments

We were getting out the Valentine’s Day decorations with the kids yesterday, and my wife was wishing we had a garland. She asked me if I wanted to make one for her present this year. I’ve never made a garland before, but I had to try! It was quite fun to make, although I have no idea if I did it correctly. I cut some hearts out of felt, then sewed the backs to some ribbon, and top stitched a small heart on the top. It worked pretty well, but if any of you have some garland tips, I’d love to hear them!

39 Responses
  2. Jannette

    Looks lovely to me! We usually don't celebrate Valentine's day as much overhere in the UK, but this looks like a lovely thing to do..

  4. Sam

    Looks wonderful! I like the way you cleverly hid the stiching-to-ribbon bit under the topstitched heart.
    That's the kind of thing I would only think of, once I'd finished ;-)

  6. Complete Kitchens Colorado

    Really nice! Looks awfully hard to straight stitch the big heart on to that tiny tiny ribbon – a zig zag stitch might allow more room for misalignment ('cause I'm pretty sure I can not align).

  10. Joel Henriques

    Thanks everybody! (And thanks mom!)

    Complete Kitchens Colorado – I was thinking on a zig-zag for the back too, but with the small ribbon, I thought it might zig-zag over both sides of the ribbon and not secure it in place. I probably should have done a small zig-zag though and it would have been easier. Next time!

  11. christie

    I've just discovered your blog and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!

    I'm in school to become an early childhood educator and am so inspired by your creativity, thriftiness, and inovative ideas :)

    Sharing your blog with my family and friends!

    Keep up the amazing work!

  13. Marianne Norup - Dig-Mig

    I am impressed. Really a nice garland and then think about that it was your first time!! Creativity has no limit!!

  15. 'Joyce'

    Joel – congrats, this is just lovely. We don't celebrate Valentines here at our house, however, now you have posted this, then I think we just might start. It's mainly the whole commercial side of Valentines we don't swing with. I think a lovely heart garland is perfecto! Thanks so much for sharing.

  16. Amy

    The garland is just beautiful!

    Just a tip, it looks like you sewed these in the middles of the hearts, and that could make them prone to tipping over. Sew them more toward the tops, so the bottoms will be heavier and they'll all stay upright.

  19. Joel Henriques

    Thanks everyone!

    'Joyce' – Yes, we prefer a quiet dinner in as well!

    Amy – Thanks. Yes, if these aren't against a wall (or mirror, which is where they are currently), then they tip a bit. Next time I'm going a little higher up on the shape.

    Steph at ModernParentsMessyKids.com – Good point! It would be fun to make one with miscellaneous scrap shapes. Just have it be abstract. I can see how people can get hooked on making garlands. Very fun!

  21. CathyAgent

    I like it a lot. I have some I'd like to make something like this for. And I have sut-out flet hearts from last year because I made these cute little heart pins that I saw on Purl bee. I just kept some in my pocket and would give to friends or check out people who were nice. I handstitched mine last year but I think on the machine would be more fun and quick. http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-pins/

  22. LadyJ

    Oh so Pretty. I would cheat and use wider ribbon to make it easier to catch. Oh and you could have ribbon hanging down from a few with extra hearts hanging down. Cute I may have to make one.

  25. rachelle @ tinkerlab.com

    These are so cute, and I imagine your wife loves them. And your photos are divine, as usual! I'm stockpiling valentines ideas, and this is a winner :)

  30. paperminties

    Lovely, lovely project as usual! Since I love working with paper, I would make a paper garland with your felt garland as inspiration! = ) I like how you used black – some would shy away from black for V-day decor! =) Needless to say, great job! ;-)

  33. pieface

    Garlands are like the gateway craft, right? Like once you start, you just want to make one for every season, holiday, day of the week, etc. And of course you can stop whenever you want to.
    I've found that using bias tape as the rope works really well, because then you can sandwich the hangy items and just sew the side of the bias tape together and everything is pert secure. Does that make any sense?

  34. Joel Henriques

    Thanks everyone!

    pieface – Yes! And also, great tip with the bias tape! I was totally thinking that there must be an easier way, and that's it. Nice!

  35. paperminties

    Because the black, red and white V-day decor inspired me, I'm doing an Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts theme for our class Bulletin Board for the month of Feb! =) I have never been a fan of the usual red+pink combos! So thank you, thank you!

    1. Joel

      Thanks! Yeah, share whatever you’d like! Not much advice that I can think of. I have such limited sewing skills that everything I make has to be super easy!