Make a Christmas felt ball garland perfect for decorating a tree or a mantel! This is easy to make and looks great with most holiday themes. Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see a video of how it’s made.

Skills Required: Beginner. This felt garland is as easy as it gets, especially if you purchase the felt balls ready-made.

However, you can also make the balls using wool, and that process is quite easy as well. Even a child could make this garland.

How to make a Christmas felt ball garland

I’m kind of excited to share this Christmas decor project. It was such a FUN and easy one to put together that I can’t wait to show you!

I love using felt in my Christmas crafts and decorating. I think I’ve proven myself in that regard with felt ornaments, a felt wreath on wood, and felt mistletoe. I even used some old scraps of felt to make the hats for these gnome ornaments!

Once I get obsessed with a craft material, it’s done. I’m going to make anything and everything I can with it! And I’m all about felt and plain wood this year.

I’ve made a felt ball garland, and a winter felt ball garland too. The process is so easy that I decided to repeat it in Christmas colors! And I added some polka dot balls and felt candy canes too.

This garland can be hung around a doorway, on a mantel (that’s how I display mine) or (of course) on the Christmas tree. It’s lightweight and easy to hang up with pins or Command strips. So basically? It can go anywhere!

felt ball christmas tree garland — *Finished garland longer than pictured here*

For this home decor project, you will need felt balls (I used 48 1″ balls), a skein of embroidery floss, and a thick needle. Embroidery floss comes in skeins that are 8.7 yards long, or 26.1 feet.

These are the supplies you’ll need for one garland, and you can obviously tie two garlands together if you like.

Making Felt Balls

Since I wanted a wide array of different felt colors, I found it more practical to buy my felt balls already made.

However, you can definitely make your own felt balls using roving, felt sheets, or yarn scraps. It’s more time consuming but it’s fun, especially when you can put the kids to work doing it! 😀

How to Make Felt Balls Using Roving

If you want to make your own felt balls, the process is called “wet felting.” You’ll need to purchase wool roving. Besides the wool, you’ll need hot water and dish soap.

The basic process is to dip pieces of wool roving into warm, sudsy water and then shape into balls. Then you’ll let them dry overnight before creating your felt ball garland (you can get more details here on the process).

Using Felt Sheets or Yarn Scraps

You can also make your balls using felt sheets (or scraps of felt sheets), or yarn scraps. The process is very similar to using the roving, but you’re going to have to work the material a little more. You’ll still want to use wool felt or wool yarn.

There will be quite a bit of manipulation of your felt or yarn as you massage it in the water and soap mixture. Having said that that, the colorful effects you can get when using scraps are very unique, so it’s something to consider. No two balls will be the same, and it’s very colorful!

How Many Balls?

How many wool balls will you get out of a 1/2 oz. package of wool roving? Approximately 12 – 16 at about a 1/2″ diameter. It varies greatly depending on how tightly you squeeze the balls, etc.

I recommend estimating conservatively so that you have wool roving to make your balls. Also you can’t lose if you have too many, but it can look sparse if you don’t have enough.

Are you ready to make your garland? Here’s what you’re going to need.

Gather These Supplies

Felt balls – 1″ or 2.5cm (48 – 50)
Embroidery floss – 1 skein, color of your choice
Tapestry needle
Scissors

How to Hang Your Felt Garland

You can drape your DIY garland over just about anything. I highly recommend doing it the way I’ve shown in the pictures below. If you don’t have anything to hang the garland on, just use thin pins or small nails to hang on the mantel.

Swag your DIY garland about every three to five feet for a little interest. You never want to hang it straight. The swag (tacking it up at various points) will integrate into your decor better. Trust me!

This Christmas felt ball garland doesn’t have to be the same colors I used. Just customize the color of the balls. So to speak.

Get the printable how-to card for this project below!

Yield: 1 garland

Christmas Felt Ball Garland

Don’t buy a felt ball garland for your Christmas tree or mantel when they are SO easy to make! Use felt balls and embroidery floss and you'll have one in minutes.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $24

Materials

Felt balls - I used 48 to 50
Red and white polka dotted balls - 10 to 12
Felt candy canes - 6 to 8
One skein of embroidery floss

Tools

Needle
Scissors

Instructions

Arrange your felt balls in the order you will string them. You can string out the colors any way you like; I spaced them approximately 1" apart.
Open the embroidery floss. The floss should be about 8 - 9 yards long, and you'll cut in half.
Tie a knot at one end, leaving a 9" tail or so. String a needle onto the other end of the floss.
String a felt ball onto the floss using the tapestry needle. Push the needle through the center of the ball and to the knot.
Continue stringing felt balls onto the floss, doing several at a time. Every so often, add a polka dot ball or a felt candy cane piece.
Once you have several balls on the garland, space them out about 1" apart. Continue stringing balls onto the garland until you get it to the length you want (mine is 8 feet long).
Once you get to the last ball, tie off the end in a knot and trim with the scissors. Your garland is ready to hang.

Notes

I used 48 felt balls, .78" width. Also note that estimated completion times above are for pre-made balls.

If you want to put felt candy canes and polka dot balls throughout your garland, just do it every 6 - 8 balls. The polka dot balls and the candy cane felt pieces are more expensive than the solid color ones, so the garland will get really expensive if you use too many.