Christmas Fabric Garland

So last week while I was doing my annual EVERY morning pinterest search I came across an amazing Christmas fabric garland that was being sold on etsy.com. Needless to say that most things I find on etsy, I at least try to make it before making the purchase. If I can't then I buy it but for the price listed, I was not willing to buy this one. So I planned it out and went out to find the material I liked that would match my country Christmas wonderland. I found it! I purchased 3 yards of material, a dark green with lighter green snowflakes (1 yd), a red and cream plaid (1 yd) and a country quilt pattern (1 yd).

You also need to buy some rope or cotton filler cord  5.5m is what I used. I also got a pack of american bells from hobby lobby. In all the supplies I purchased, I spent $12 on material, $2 on the cord and $3 on the bells. So for $17 you can make a 8 ft garland. 

Cut your fabric in half at the crease and also cut off any ends, most of the time it is white colored that shows at the bottom and top of the material. Cut every 2 in from the middle crease that you cut, this should make 36 strips in all with one yard of material. 

Now cut them in half, depending on the material it will range from 6 in or larger. Mine ended up being about 6 3/4 in x 2 in strips. 

The strips of material after cut in half

OK so cut all your material the same way. You will have 72 strips of each material ending up with 216 in all. Now take your cord out and knot one side about 3 in from the end. Depending on how you will hang this, you might want to go further into the cord. Start knotting.

My pattern and knots

This is just a one knot each and then just push them together. The fuller you want the garland, the closer and tighter the knots need to be. I would say I did medium knots and just slid them close together but not tightly. Do note that if you want a fuller garland you will need to use more material for a 8 ft garland piece. 

Keep knotting, this really does not take long. It took me about an hour to put all the strips on the cord. When you are done, knot the end. 

Now the bells I bought came with 6 bells but I didn't want to place all of them on the garland so I just used 3. I folded the garland in half and tied a bell around the cord with some small brown cord I had laying around. From the bell to the left side I folded that in half and placed and bell and did the same with the right side. 

My American Bells

Please note that if you are planning on wrapping this around your hand rail like I did, you might want to see if your bells will fit between the rail and the wall. If not you can hang them on the rail like I did or don't place the bells on there until you get the garland wrapped.

Now hang and enjoy!

Finished Project