Halloween is without a doubt my favorite holiday to decorate for. Every year I try to add a decoration or two to the house. This year, I decided to make a garland of our family for our media console. Complete with a little preggo ghost.
This is a very approachable craft and doesn't require a sewing machine. I'd say it could be completed in a weekend depending on how motivated you are.
Materials:
I used scrap natural denim fabric in a medium weight
Embroidery floss in cream and black
Embroidery hoop
Embroidery needle
Printed ghost pattern available below (or free hand it)
Pencil
Scissors
I modeled my garland based on our household. A Jeffery ghost, Sarah ghost, Brutus dog ghost, Kitty ghost, and Luna dog ghost.
You can download a pdf of a couple typical ghost shapes:
and here are the animal ghosts:
Making the ghosts:
Download the patterns, print on paper, and cut them out.
Trace what will be the front of the ghost on the front of the fabric.
You will want to intially cut out the ghost with enough fabric in the surrounding area to fit within the hoop. I used a simple chain stitch for the eyes and gave my cat some whiskers with a straight stitch.
Once you have your ghost face sorted out, you can cut out along the traced lines of the ghost shape.
Trace the ghost on a second piece of fabric with the pattern face down on the right (front) side of the fabric and cut it out.
Now you have the front and back cut out. They should mirror one another when you lay them out with the backside of the fabric facing up.
Use your needle to make a loop with the embroidery floss on the right side of the fabric and tie a knot on the wrong side of fabric. Once you match up the two sides, the knot will be inside the ghost.
Match up the sides. I used an extra needle to hold the two pieces of fabric together and did a whip stitch around the edges. This is a super simple stitch where you are just going around the edges of the fabric with the embroidery floss.
Repeat for each ghost.
Knotting the garland
After you have your ghost's all ready, it's time for the garland. This might look complicated, but I assure you, if you can tie your shoes then you can make this.
I ordered my string from Ganxxet and used the 4mm single strand zero waste cotton. The string spool was pretty large but I already have a couple of other idea's brewing for the string.
Essentially, you are just making a series of half knots around a cord.
You'll want to measure the length you want your garland to span. Cut a string to the this length with enough extra length to eventually tie loops on each end. This will be your center string.
Take the span length and cut a separate cord eight times the length of the center string. The longer cord will be what you use to tie the knots. We will refer to this as your knotting string.
Tie a loop on your center string. This loop has two functions. Fastening the garland when complete, and you will use it to hold the strings steady while knotting.
Find center on your knotting string and thread it through the center string's loop.
I used a hanger to fasten my center string loop to. This creates tension which makes it easier to tighten the knots.
I always had the string on the left going over the center string with the right string coming behind the center string to tie a half knot. The below graphic and video breaks down the steps.
I think it can be helpful just to see it in action:
If you lose track of which is the left vs. right note the below:
Once you reach the end, you can tie the knotting strings together and create your end loop.
It is easy with the Ganxxet string to pull a couple strands apart. I used the small string sections to fasten the ghosts to my garland. I love how they hang down.
I used the left over string to fill the belly of my pregnant ghost.
The end.
