Make a winter felt ball garland perfect for decorating a mantel or even a tree! This is easy to make and looks great with seasonal themes. Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see a video of how it’s made.
Skills Required: Beginner. This felt ball 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 (making it a good kids craft, especially for teens!).
Hello friends! I know many of you are in your post-holiday malaise. Maybe you blew yourself up with Christmas activities, decorating, and (of course) the delicious desserts.
You’re not even sure how you will get the strength put away the holiday decor and bring out the winter decorations. Maybe you want to try some winter crafting, but you also want to start with something easy.
I have the project for you!
This simple winter felt ball garland is a fun and easy craft that adds some color and interest in an unexpected spot.
For this home decor project, you will need felt balls (I used 48 1″ balls), a skein of embroidery floss, foam snowflakes, 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″ (48 – 50)
- Foam snowflakes – mine are from Dollar Tree
- Embroidery floss – 1 skein, color of your choice
- Tapestry needle
- Scissors
Note: I got the snowflakes as part of a Christmas table scatter package from Dollar Tree. You can usually find foam shapes (snowflakes) at DT during the holidays. You can also look at Michaels, JoAnn, etc. for something to string!
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 pins to push it into the wall. You won’t see them (use a hammer to tap them in).
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!
Or you could try draping them over some white curtains. No pins are required for either method!
Honestly, it could go anywhere! Just customize the color of the balls to your winter desires. Get the printable how-to card for this project below!
Winter Felt Ball Garland
Don’t buy a felt garland for winter decorating when they are SO easy to make! Use felt balls and embroidery floss with some cute snowflakes and you'll have one in minutes.
Materials
- Felt balls - I used 50
- Foam snowflakes - 4 to 8
- One skein of embroidery floss
Tools
- Needle
- Scissors
Instructions
- Arrange your felt balls and ghosts 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 snowflake 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 about 9.5 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 50 felt balls, .78" width. Also note that estimated completion times above are for pre-made balls.
If you want to put snowflakes throughout your garland, I recommend doing it every 5 - 10 balls.
Recommended Products
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Are you ready for a video that will show you how to make this fun felt garland? Check out the video in this post!
Let me know what you think of this project in the comments! If you like decorating with fun colors or making garlands, I’d also love for you to check out these other ideas: