Autumnal Felt Leaf Garland

So, the song that the babies and I rocked out to this morning was this little gem….

“Where it began, I can’t begin to know when
But then I know it’s growing strong
Oh, wasn’t the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who’d believe you’d come along

Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I’ve been inclined to believe it never would”

It made me feel so good and alive and babies don’t mind when you sing at the top of your voice. In fact they positively encourage that sort of behavior as they smile at you while you’re doing it. Of course it helped that at the time I was changing their nappies but I think it’s all down to my singing.

I love crafting almost as much as I like singing embarrassingly loudly in the morning. It’s really lovely to make something by hand for your home or as a gift for someone else. But nothing prepared me for how lovely it was to craft for my kids. If I could tell you all of the teeny tiny projects I have on the go at the house right now you’d wonder if I would ever get all of them done. But one of the projects has been completed and that is the one on offer today.

Clearly my kids didn’t help me make this as they can’t even hold their own heads up yet but this leaf garland made out of felt is fantastic for a parent to make and for a small baby to be fascinated by.

Ned LOVES the shapes and colours as they contrast well but this craft is also great for a parent to make and for an older child to help with. So, whatever the age this is a great autumnal craft for everyone.

For the project you will need the following items:

Various colours of felt for the leaves
Various colours of embroidery thread
Needle
Card for the leaf templates
String/Ribbon

• Draw out your various leaf shapes onto some card and cut them out, it doesn’t matter what card you use as it won’t be seen.
• Use a felt tip pen to trace around the edges of your cardboard  leaf shapes and then cut them out. (The children will love tracing around the leaf templates!)

• Remembering to cut out two felt leaves per cardboard template so that the template can be sandwiched between them. (This will make the leaves sturdier so that they won’t flop when they are hung on the garland.)

• Repeat this process until all of the leaves are cut out. It is up to you how many leaves you make as it will depend on the length of your garland.

• Use a contrasting embroidery thread to sew the veins on to one of the leaf shapes.

• Sandwich the cardboard leaf template back between the two leaf shaped pieces of felt and secure them together with a paperclip so they stay in place whilst sewing together. For this I used a blanket stitch with yet another contrasting coloured embroidery thread. In this case, black.

• Repeat this process until all of the leaves are complete.

• You can use any type of ribbon or string to attach your leaves to, I used some string and then wound some thin red ribbon around the string for extra colour. To attach the leaves to the string I used a needle and thread to stitch them securely in place, spacing them evenly along the string.

You are then ready to hang your beautifully autumnal leaf garland wherever takes your fancy.

Here it is in the nursery.

Lovely, lovely Autumn.

Have a fantastic day. It’s very autumnal here in West Sussex and I’m writing this from a rather cosy office right now. Looking out over the drive to the ENORMOUS beech tree that dominates the garden. I’ve watched that tree this year as a little bit pregnant, a lot pregnant and as a mummy. And here we are a year later. Back to where we started. I find comfort in that. A wee bit of stability in an ever changing life.

I love you and will see you back here tomorrow.

Cherry

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Cherry Menlove