Friday, August 14, 2009

An Apple Garland for Fall

finished garland

You could easily make this a leaf garland for fall, but to me, apple is good for back to school and fall.

This is super easy! You do need to know how to do some basic sewing, but not much.

I started with felt in three colors. Then I found some coordinating patterned fabric for each color.

2 use felt and patterned fabric

I hand drew my apple shapes. I wanted them to be individual so I didn’t use a pattern. You could easily do a search for apple and use something if you need a pattern.

1 draw your apples onto paper

Then I did a rough cut around the apples. Make sure to leave over 1/4 inch around your shape.

3 roughly cut around paper apples

This part is a little tricky but if you do it right, it saves many steps and is fun. You layer your felt and your fabric. Since I was using my garland in my front window, I wanted it to be double sided. I did rough cuts of the felt and the fabric about 1/2” bigger all the way around, than my apple drawing.

Start with a layer of your felt.

Next is a layer of your patterned fabric facing down.

Another layer of your patterned fabric facing up.

And the top layer is another layer of the felt.

I layered them in a way that you can see the direction of the material, but really I lined them up in the corner.

4 layer your felt and fabric to make a nice sandwich

Then I layered one of my apple drawings on top of the stack.

5 nicely stack your layers with a paper apple on top

This is my favorite way to sew with felt. Sewing paper is not good for your needle (and cutting paper isn’t good for your scissors) so remember to change out your needle for *real* sewing.

With a very short stitch length, sew through all the layers using your drawing as your guide.

6 using a very small stitch length sew around apple remember your needle isn't for paper

The paper should pop off almost on it’s own. It may take just a little careful help from you. Take the paper completely off.

7 peel off paper and trim up thread

Carefully snip just the outside layer of felt - enough so you can get your scissor blade under just the felt layer. (You do not want to cut through all the layers here. That would defeat the whole purpose. )

8 carefully snip just the felt on the outside then cut around inside of apple

Carefully cut around the inside of the apple. I left over 1/4 inch from my stitch line. Flip it over and do the cut out the center of the other side too.

9 it looks like this on the inside now do the other side

Cut through all the layers around the apple shape. Again I left about 1/4 inch from the stitch line.

10 trim through all layers around the outside of the apple

I cut green leaves out of felt and then brown rectangles out of felt. The brown is actually twice as long as you want your finished stem. I only used one leaf for each apple. I looped the brown rectangle around the top of the apple, with the leaf just under one side. I stitched the bottom of the stem. This stitched both the front and the back of the stem to the apple. I also stitched further to sew the middle of the leaf to the apple.

11 make a long piece of brown and a green leaf loop the brown around and sew both on

I threaded ribbon through the loops made from the stems. I rotated the apples so that the leaf faced forward on one and backwards on the other. Again, this was done because I want mine to be double sided.

12 thread your ribbon through the loop of the brown stems

Voila! You have a freaking adorable garland for the fall. I stitched this together in time for the first of school and will keep it up well into fall.

13 hang it up somewhere nice and enjoy for the fall

I hope you love it! I adore it. It was a simple project that I know, even those of you that say you can’t sew – you too could make this. (As long as you can thread your needle.)

Anjeanette

Falling for Fall

23 comments:

RootsAndWingsCo said...

Anjeanette,
So Cute! You told me about it and I had imagined it totally different. Your way turned out so much cuter than my imagination came up with. I love that the felt just outlines your apples!

Kat

Jen~ Lipstick and Laundry said...

Once again you have DONE it... I so want to make an apple garland... That cleaning fairy better come today so I can! Thanks for ALWAYS sharing your WONDERFUL creations!

the monkeys' mama said...

this is SO cute! I instantly felt like it was Fall when i read your post. I think I'm going to save this project for when my little monkey is old enough to help me with the kid-friendly parts. It would be so fun to make a creation like this with her! Totally bookmarking!

Elle said...

this is adorable! it's a lot easier to make than it looks! thanks for sharing!

molemann_services said...

This is such a cute idea. I was just thinking today I needed a new later summer wreath- I'm totally going to take this idea.

Thanks!

Unknown said...

Another great idea! I love the garland. Thanks for always sharing such detailed instructions as well!

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

This is darling! Just like your patriotic one. I'm linking to this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com Grab my "featured" button

Renee•Candy Stick Lane said...

This is THE most fabulous tutorial EVER! LOVE it! I posted a link to your blog on my fb page! ROCK ON! XO

MammaDucky said...

That is so friggen precious. Wonder if I can find the time to whip one of these up?!

Lhassa said...

Une bien jolie création, merci pour le tuto.

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

That's so cute, and great tutorial!! Love the simplicity of the gingham & felt. Love the apples. Love love.

Heather

MammaDucky said...

SOoooooo, I just completed this little project. Turned out super cute! The only thing I did differently was that I put four apples to one 8 1/2 X 11 in sheet of paper. I bought my felt in sheets that are just slightly larger than that. I also found that "fat quarters" of fabric, when folded in half (lengthwise), are also about 9 in wide. Sooo, I layered it up that way: felt sheet, folded fat quarter (right sides facing out), and another sheet of felt. I pinned the sheet of paper on top of all of that and stitched all four at once, then trimmed them up! Worked great! Less cutting (I think). Great idea! Thank you!!!!

Jessie Fincham said...

what an imaginative garland, just lovely! :)

Paperfection said...

It is beautiful!

erin, maker of chimes said...

This is super cute! So very creative!

Anonymous said...

It was rather interesting for me to read this article. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.

jamie said...

oh.my.goodness. this is SO cute!! i just found you through whip up and am so glad i stopped by. i LOVE this idea. it's christmas time now, so i'm imagining all the holiday shapes you could use instead of apples... wow! this could easily adapt itself to ANY time of year or occasion. you are a crafting genius! thank you so very much for sharing.

Amanda said...

This is absolutely fabulous! So glad I found your blog, subscribing now :)

JGoode said...

Thank you for sharing your idea on ProjectsforPreschoolers.com - Love these fabulous apples!

Kyla Armstrong said...

Wow! I love this. The layers had a whole new dimension to the apples. Fantastic!

http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/

Ash said...

This is adorable! I think sometimes apples get left out of the Fall decorating scheme.

Geek+Nerd said...

This is SO adorable! I just love it!

Sjazzey02 said...

Think this would be a great teacher appreciation gift or classroom decoration! Thanks for sharing!