Christmas Light Garland

By Alisa

I saw an adorable vintage Christmas bulb felt ornament on Instagram and loved it! A search online unearthed a pattern and tutorial from Oh Yay Studio -- along with a lot of other cute things.

I loved the colors in the Oh Yay version, but I wanted to do something a bit more traditional, which required me to search for a picture of the classic Christmas bulb for reference.

I had wool felt on hand for a couple of the colors but I had to order the green and blue from Benzie Design on Etsy. They have lots of lovely colors and very quick shipping!

I used the Oh Yay template for the bulb; I cut the pattern out of printer paper, leaving the black border, and laminated the pattern with packing tape. I prepped a bunch of felt rectangles and cut the bulbs two at a time, using a clip to hold the felt and template together. I kept the felt pairs together using a clip until it was time to sew.

Once all the bulbs were cut, I sewed them on my machine starting about halfway down one side of the base and went around the bulb using a slow speed and a straight stitch ending back at the other side of the base. I used a neutral beige thread but a silver or contrast thread would be great here.

Then it was time to stuff! I used my blunt small scissors to push a small handful of PolyFil into the bulbs. I think they look best lightly filled, so don't overstuff!

Once the bulbs were filled I cut the green felt, rectangular bases and sewed them across the top of the lightbulb base, leaving the sides of the rectangles open.

I had decided to make a garland, so I strung some bakers twine (red & white!) thru the open base of each stuffed bulb and, voila! Energy-independent Christmas lights!

I put a small section on the tiny tree I have in my office this year; and it is just the perfect festive touch! I sent the rest to a friend who is a connoisseur of vintage Christmas decor. I hope that he enjoys it on his tree!

When I make these again -- which I certainly will -- I'm going to try a quilt-like method by layering 8 x11-inch rectangles of batting between felt layers, and adding a paper template with multiple bulb outlines on top. Then I'll sew inside of the outline of each before cutting them out and then removing the remaining template paper. I have printable template paper to use for this method.

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