DIY Holiday Garland

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This DIY holiday garland is a great way to spice up any mantle.  We used Heat Transfer Vinyl on wood for the very first time and it definitely won’t be the last.  So super easy!  The HTV is a great way to make the garland personalized.  Come along and I’ll show you exactly what we did.  Also feel free to scroll to the bottom where we have linked our FB live of us completing the project.

 

(want to learn more about types of vinyl then head over here)

This post does contain affiliate links, which just means at no extra cost to you we earn a small percentage of the sale.

SUPPLIES

Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl

Wooden Star Garland (I got mine from the Target dollar spot but this one is similar and has way more stars)

Holiday Fabric (make sure to get colors for the holiday or occasion you are making the garland for)

Pinking Shears

Iron

Teflon Sheet

Check out more of our favorite supplies from Amazon here.

 

STEP ONE

This first step is optional but I have found the banner hangs much nicer when the iron is run over the fabric.  It is easiest to do that before any of the fabric is cut.  If you are like me these scraps have been shoved in the bottom of the drawer for a while and needed to get a few creases out.

 

STEP TWO

Then, cut your fabric into strips. This is probably the most time consuming step.  If you want fabric strips on the banner to hang at 12 inches long, your strips need to be 24 inches.  Just double the length that you want them to be on your banner and that way you know how long to cut them.  For this project each strip doesn’t need to be exact.

Eyeballing should work fine.  I like to take the fabric and fold it in half to make the cutting a little quicker (so the folded fabric will be the length of your final banner strips).  Then I trim around the edges with the pinking shears to ensure the strips won’t fray.  (plus it looks super cute) *Just make sure to not cut off the folded edge or your strips will be too short*

Next just cut the strips about 2 fingers in width.  Again, eyeballing it should work fine for this project.  It gives the banner a little bit more dimension and character.

STEP THREE

Once you have all the strips cut (I used about 30 or so strips for the banner pictured)now it’s time to apply the glitter HTV to the wood.

Line up all the wooden pieces of the garland to make sure you apply the letters or numbers in the correct order.  If you are doing full names lining them up doesn’t matter as much, just double check they are all facing the same way when applied.

 

 

STEP FOUR

Now cut and weed out your design (don’t forget to mirror when cutting since it is heat transfer).  Because the wooden pieces are so small this is a great vinyl scrap buster project.  Sometimes weeding glitter HTV is a little trickier.  Check out all our tips for weeding vinyl here.

Lay the design flat down on the wood.  Then lay a teflon sheet on top before applying the heat from the iron.  Use the teflon sheet just to ensure the carrier sheet doesn’t melt.  For this specific project I used an iron.   I wasn’t worried about the letters coming off in the wash and I knew that the banner wouldn’t have tons of wear and tear.  I wasn’t as worried about durability.  You could also do the same thing with a heat press though.  This press is the one I have and is my absolute favorite.

 

STEP FIVE

Once your design is applied it is time to add the fabric.  Take each of the strips and while it is folded in half tuck the loop underneath in the direction you want the fabric to hang.  Then fold the ends over the top of the string and tuck them into the loop pulling straight down.  This part is a little tricky to explain but if you watch the video below we show you exactly how to fold the fabric strips over the string so they lay nice and flat.  Feel free to go in a pattern or mix it up with alternating the fabric designs.  Just make sure to balance how many pieces of fabric are between each wood piece.

Once the banner is where you think you might like it in regards to fabric fullness hang it up and take a step back.  This will help give a better vision of where you might need to fill in with leftover pieces.

That’s it!  In less than 30 minutes you can create a beautiful DIY garland for any occasion.

 

Check out us making the garland real time here:

 

There are so many different ways that you could use this garland banner idea!  First birthday banner, 4th of July, New Year’s, and more!  You can also switch up the words and letters on the banner as well…. years, names, even shapes!

 

 

We can’t wait to see what type of holiday garland you create!  Post below, over on Facebook, or tag us in your IG photo (@mydesignsinthechaos)!  It is so fun seeing the projects come to life!

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