Fabric Halloween Garland

I was gone longer than I expected to be. I got caught up in work and life and a preschool project (which was a lesson in humility, but more on that another day). It's been a glorious few days and it feels like fall has arrived, earIier than usual, which has put me in the mood for the holiday season. I managed to get my house decorated for Halloween, which is a great accomplishment considering I usually feel lucky just to get the pumpkins out on time. My son's loving it, too, though he's not quite sure whether it's Halloween for real or Halloween for work. 

I have the luxury of three (!!) mantels in my home and it's always fun for me to decorate each of them in a different way. You've seen my kitchen mantel with its bone garland. Featured here today is my dining room mantel which I gave more of a colorful, folk art feel.

The Halloween garland is an easy project I thought I'd share with you. It combines the ease of a paper garland with the texture and saturation of a fabric garland. It's also durable and stores well for future seasons.  Here are the directions and some fonts that I think would work well for this project: 

 

Materials:

Heavy cardstock
computer and printer
sharp fine-tipped scissors
double-sided adhesive sheets
patterned fabrics (fat quarters work well)
narrow (1/4-inch) ribbon for hanging loops
quick-setting gel glue
ribbon for hanging (1/4-inch)

Directions:

1. Enlarge a font to the desired size and print onto cardstock, printing on the mirror image setting (you can also flip the letters in a program like Photoshop). The reversed, printed font will be the back side of your garland.

2.  Cut each letter into a rectangle (cutting close to the printed letter so that you don't waste double-sided adhesive) and cut a piece of double-sided adhesive that's the same size. Adhere the double-sided adhesive to the front (the plain side) of the printed piece. Peel off the top layer of paper and adhere a piece of fabric to the adhesive.  Smooth out any creases or air bubbles with your fingers.

3.  Using sharp, fine-tipped scissors, cut each letter out, following the lines of the printed font.  

4.  Cut small pieces of 1/4-inch ribbon, gluing the ends together to make a loop just wide enough to slide the ribbon for hanging through. Glue the loops to the back of each letter (some letters like "A" will require only one ribbon loop, others like "W" will require three). Let them dry for a few minutes, then slide the hanging ribbon through. Hang as shown and space the letters out as desired.

Resources:

Fiskars Micro-tip scissors
Therm-O-Web Peel n Stick double-sided adhesive sheets
Beacon Adhesive 3-n-1 gel glue 

Fonts:

Download Links:

Armenian Circus
Big Top
Circus
Coney Island
Geronto Bis
Hoedown
Mesquite Std
Pointedly Mad
URWWood Typd
JFFerrule 

In closing, THANK YOU for rallying and sending votes my way in the Better Homes and Gardens contest. You brought me back up to number 2. This is the last week of this round, which was the longest. The next three rounds will only last a week apiece and will include some tutorials (I can't wait to show you the pumpkins. I was so pleased with how they turned out that I used them in my own holiday decor this year).

Comments

[rachel]

i really like the garland, and the rest of the mantle decorations as well :) the cat and pumpkin (candle holders?) are so cool. i can't wait to start decorating my house, best time of the year!

[Wendy]

Love the garland and the fonts. :) I have a few of those vintage looking Halloween decorations around here somewhere... thanks for reminding me.

(still voting every day)