Saturday, December 11, 2010

An Argyle Christmas Craft

I have two cousins, Erica and Brittney, who are incredibly crafty. Crafty and with kids. I hardly find time to craft, and I'm only in charge of making sure food makes it from the table into my own mouth. But with seven days of Panamanian beachy nothing-ness stretched before me over Thanksgiving week, I decided to put my hands to use.

Felt is the staple fabric in the Wood/Williams Christmas decorations. The majority of our ornaments, stockings, tree skirts, etc. are laboriously cut, sequined and beaded together by needlepoint. Knowing that lugging a sewing machine to Panama (if I had one) was out, I designed a tree garland I could craft upon while on the plane, sitting on the deck during a rainstorm, or while catching sun at the pool. And I needed something that could be completed. (I have a tendency to leave half-completed crafts.)

Step 1: Cut felt into squares. I did some 2" x 2" and some 3" x 3". It depends how big you want your garland and how much time you want it to take. (Larger size = faster to complete. Is this the best craft ever or what?) I'm lazy and didn't measure my cutting at all (isn't cutting always the worst part of crafting?) -- eyeballing it worked for the most part, but I'm not a true perfectionist when it comes to crafting. If you are, you may want to create a pattern.

Step 2: Thread your needle with three threads of embroidery floss. I used quite a large needle -- one with enough of a point on the needle to stick through the felt, but wanted an easy eye to thread. I used a #18 needle for Chenille. (This is me pretending I know what I'm talking about.)

Step 3: Stitch together. I used three colors--red, white, and cream in a bit of an argyle pattern. I created a star on the white squares, but any kind of pattern would be cute. (A green/orange/purple/black woudl be cute for Halloween too!)And thaaaaaaat's about it. Easy? Yes. I'm beyond pleased with the way it turned out and it'll be nice to have for the next few decades. Happy to answer questions if you've got them!

6 comments:

Erica Layne | Let Why Lead said...

Wow! It looks so cute! It really fills in your tree and brings it to life. I would never put myself in the same category, craft-wise, as Brittney, but thanks for the compliment!

Kendall said...

I love it! But most of all, I love that I can see my snowman. Helloooo me.

Oh yeah, and next year I want to try making one of those in small squares.

Katie said...

CLEVER. I like it.

Alicia said...

I like the crafty Nat. Yes, I really do. :)

Cute project!

NatAttack said...

Eck -- between your crafting and cooking, you give me something to aspire towards!

Ken -- better yet, let's get started while I'm in town! It'll give you something to do while you're feeding MY NEPHEW.

Alicia & Katie -- yall are sweet! Too bad I can't channel Crafty Nat more often. New Year's resolution?

Brittney said...

Great job, I love it! Most of my tree isn't decorated anymore, thanks mostly to Austin with a little help from Tyler...I envy a fully decorated tree. And the garland takes it to the next level of Christmasy-ness.

Definitely, maybe, probaby related posts:

If NatA! posted a photo with this blog, here it is!