Felt Flower Garland

Spring always gets me in the mood to craft! That is why I was so excited when Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores contacted me to do a craft using one or more of the spring trends--floral, geometric, radiant orchid, and nautical. I've already shared a floral craft and got the kids involved with a geometric craft, but I have been so inspired to create that I decided to make something else.  Lydia Grace loves this creation because it's going in her room. It's a felt flower garland with pops of radiant orchid, teal, and raspberry.

The internet and Pinterest are filled with inspiration for felt flower garlands. Here's how I made mine...

Supplies
pencil and paper
felt
sewing machine
basic sewing supplies (coordinating thread, scissors)

Directions
1. Choose the colors of felt that you want to use.
2. Draw flower shapes and circles with your paper and pencil. Cut them out to make pattern pieces. Use the pattern pieces to cut out felt flowers and circles.  I used pins to help secure the patterns to the felt while I was cutting.
3. Piece your felt flowers together and lay them out in the order you want them sewn together.
4. Set your sewing machine to do a normal straight stitch.  Tip: You may want to turn the tension down a notch when sewing with felt. Feed the first flower through the machine and stitch straight across ensuring to sew through all of its pieces.

5. When you get to the end of one flower, feed the next flower through. (This is very similar to the paper garlands I make.)  I overlapped each of my flowers slightly. Tip: Since you are sewing through multiple layers make sure to hold the pieces of each flower together as your feed them through the machine. If you notice the felt puckering at any point, make sure your needle is in the felt and lift the presser foot to lay it flat again. Put the presser foot back down and begin again. Once you have sewn through the last flower, pull the garland out of the machine and snip the loose threads. You may want to keep the threads at end about 6 inches long to help with hanging. You can sew lace or ribbon to each end for hanging or just use the threads that are already there.
6. Hang and enjoy your felt garland.

Happy crafting!