DIY felt flower garland

One thing I’ve wanted from the moment we bought Algie the campervan is one of those tacky floral garland lei things that campervan owners hang from their rear view mirrors. Except that when Algie arrived, he didn’t even have a rear view mirror (because he didn’t have rear windows at that point), so there was nowhere to hang one anyway!

And then the van had rear windows and a rear view mirror, but Ben dropped the bombshell that he didn’t want a lei hanging in the van. Some weeks later I have made an executive decision that his aversion to a floral garland is based on the tackiness of the garlands we were looking at on the stall at the VW show, and that all that  was required to change his mind was a beautiful, handmade DIY felt flower garland. And I got an excuse to get crafty, which is something that feels like I hardly ever do these days.

Materials
Felt in a variety of colours
Scissors
Needle and thread (I used embroidery thread)

Instructions

1. Fold the felt over so that you have four layers (to speed up the cutting process).

2. Cut heart shapes out in all your chosen colours (these don’t need to be perfect hearts – I prefer them a little asymmetrical!).

3. Arrange the colours in the order you’d like them in the garland.

4. Fold the point of the heart up.

5. Fold the bottom of the hear in half, sandwiching the point in the centre.

6. Thread the needle with the embroidery thread and push up through the felt to hold the folds in place. Continue with each heart.

7. I decided to add a few leaves – cut out leaf shapes and thread these onto the garland ever so often.

8. Continue threading on the hearts until you reach the desired length of garland, then knot the thread to secure it in place, leaving a loop for hanging.

Hands up, I admit it, I didn’t even attempt to get a photograph of my DIY garland hanging from the campervan’s rear view mirror. I went for the easy photo option, but I promise it’s going to live in the van in the end! I just haven’t found the right moment to sneak it in there without Ben noticing…. 😉