Lepper Colony: DIY: Festive Birthday Garland

Yes, it's true... on top of baking and cooking... I love to DIY and be all crafty. And now, I am going to share it with you! You lucky dogs!

My birthday was last week and, whereas, my wonderful husband is great and talented at lots of things, creating birthday decorations may not be one of them. So, instead of waiting to find out, I decided to make my own birthday garland to hang up in the living room.

Yay! Cute and festive!

Confession: I love Joann Fabric.

I could happily browse the aisles for hours and be happy as a clam.

The day I went to pick out fabric for my banner all of the fat squares were $1!! Can you believe it?! What luck! So I picked out 4 different patterns for my birthday garland and 5 different patterns for my fall garland (that has yet to be worked on.. sigh).

This project is actually fairly easy but is not a quick project. I cut all my triangles on one day and then attacked the sewing another. My blocks of time are not always consistent so I take it as it comes.

FESTIVE TRIANGLE FLAG GARLAND

As I mentioned previously, the first step is cutting out all your triangles. I just made a triangle shape that I liked out of some cardboard laying around and then marked and cut all my triangles. Don't forget to cut a front & back for each triangle.

I cut about 5-6 of each pattern.

You will edge-stitch down the two long sides of each triangle. I would keep your stitch length pretty short to avoid any side blow-outs. (Or worse - point blow-out!)

I sewed down one side & with the needle down, rotated the triangle to sew back up the other side. I like doing this better than having to lift the needle and reposition the triangle.

Working smarter, not harder, since 1985.

Snip the tip off of your triangle to help cut down on the bulk inside your flag once you flip it right-side-out. Be careful not to cut the stitching!

Turn your triangle right-side-out and with a pen (or similar) push the triangle tip down so all the fabric is flat.

All my triangles are ready to be pressed!

Pressing the triangles will definitely help with sewing them. This fabric is 100% cotton so it gets nice and crisp when you press it. This definitely helps when sewing them to the tape.

Layout your triangles by color & then you can easily put them in order for sewing. I find it super helpful to have all my triangles in the sewing order before I start sewing. Then you can just grab from the top of the pile without having to worry that you just sewed 2 of the same color in a row. Eek!

I used 1/4" double-fold bias tape to make the garland. I think 3/8" or 1/2" might be easier (gives you a bit more room at the top to tuck the triangle in) but I went with 1/4" for this project. I liked the "dainty" size of it. For bigger triangles - definitely use a wider tape.

For the first triangle, I found it necessary to pin it in place to start sewing. Leave about 3-4 inches of the tape at the end (for the hanger loop) and then pin the top raw edge into the tape, sandwiching it between the top/bottom. The tape's fold should be facing up.

Using a short stitch-length (or SPI for the sewing savvy), edge stitch as close to the bottom side of the taping as possible. Edge-stitching will ensure you catch the whole length of the triangle in the taping. Once you have reached the end of the triangle, continue to sew for about 1/4" then, with the needle down, lift the foot and add your next triangle, sandwiching it in the tape. Put the foot back down and continue sewing until all your triangles are used or until you run out of taping. If it is the latter, be sure to save about 4" at the end of the taping for the hanger loop.