Festive Garland

This is a quick and easy pattern for making a two dimensional bauble-style decoration finished off with a dangly tassel. I used brightly coloured oddments of DK weight yarn with a 4mm hook and each bauble measures approx 7cm across, and 14cm in length (including the tassel). 

I designed these decorations to be strung into a garland, but I also made a few which I kept as individual decorations, attaching loop of gold yarn to the top so that they could be hung on the Christmas tree.

My finished garland was designed to fit my wide mantel/fireplace and measures approximately 160cm long.

In the photo above, you can see how I combined the tassel decorations with teeny tiny stars and little metallic bells to create my garland. It's a simple idea but it turned out even better than I could have imagined.

These are the little 10mm tinkly bells I added to my garland - they are completely optional, but oh they are soooooo cute and I absolutely love them. I found them on Amazon and they matched my colours perfectly (find them HERE, they come in two different sizes and these are the larger 10mm ones). You can also easily find plain silver and gold ones too, if you prefer something more traditional.

I used a palette of bright, jolly "Quality Street" colours which are a nostalgic reminder of many childhood Christmases - these are all oddments of Stylecraft Special DK. Of course you can use any colour combinations you like - each decoration needs four colours in total. For reference, here are my own festive colour choices as shown above :

Top row : Plum : Bright Pink : Magenta : Lapis : (Ricorumi Silver lamé)

Middle row : Kelly Green : Grass Green : Spearmint : Turquoise : Empire

Bottom row : Lipstick : Tomato : Spice : Mustard : Gold

As mentioned, you need to choose four colours for each decoration. For maximum impact, try and make the first and second colours (A and B) contrast with each other.

So before we begin, a little summary of the basic stitches. I'm writing using UK crochet terms ::

sl st [slip stitch] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch, then through the loop on your hook.

dc [double crochet] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (note :: this is equivalent to the US sc stitch)

tr [treble] :: yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (two loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops (note :: this is equivalent to the US dc stitch)

NOTE :If you are an experienced crocheter and don't need the step by step photos, you can download  a copy of the pattern by clicking on the following link >>

DOWNLOAD FESTIVE GARLAND PATTERN

BAUBLE DECORATION (make 12)

NOTE : at the beginning and end of each round you will need to leave long tail ends measuring approximately 15cm. So when you begin, make your starting slip knot 15cm in from the end, as shown above. Tail ends from all rounds will be used to form the tassel.

ROUND 1 : use Colour A

To begin, make a slip knot 15cm from the yarn end; chain 4; slip stitch into first chain to form a ring.

Chain 4 (counts as 1 tr, plus chain 1); 

*1 tr; chain 1;

Repeat from * 6 more times;

Slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning chain-4 to close the round; fasten off, leaving a 15cm tail end.

[8 trebles plus 8 chain-1 spaces]

The photo above shows the completed first round - note the long starting and finishing tail ends left dangling. 

ROUND 2 : use Colour B

All stitches in this round will be worked in the chain-1 spaces.

Make a slip knot approx 15cm from the yarn end and insert your hook (with the slip knot on it) into the first chain-1 space. Yarn over and work a slip stitch - this will anchor your new yarn in place, ready to begin.

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc); 1 dc in same space; chain 2;

*2 dc in next space; chain 2;

Repeat from * 6 more times;

Slip stitch into 2nd chain of beginning chain-2 to close the round; fasten off, leaving a 15cm tail end.

[16 dc plus 8 chain-2 spaces]

The photo above shows the completed second round - note the dangly ends left in place. 

ROUND 3 : use Colour A

All stitches in this round will be worked in the chain-2 spaces.

Make a slip knot approx 15cm from the yarn end and insert your hook (with the slip knot on it) into the first chain-2 space. Yarn over and work a slip stitch - this will anchor your new yarn in place, ready to begin.

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc); 1 dc in same space; chain 2;

*2 dc in next space; chain 2;

Repeat from * 6 more times;

Slip stitch into 2nd chain of beginning chain-2 to close the round; fasten off, leaving a 15cm tail end.

[16 dc plus 8 chain-2 spaces]

ROUND 4 : use Colour C

All stitches in this round will be worked in the chain-2 spaces.

Make a slip knot approx 15cm from the yarn end and insert your hook (with the slip knot on it) into the first chain-2 space. Yarn over and work a slip stitch - this will anchor your new yarn in place, ready to begin.

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc); 2 dc in same space; chain 2;

*3 dc in next space; chain 2;

Repeat from * 6 more times;

Slip stitch into 2nd chain of beginning chain-2 to close the round; fasten off, leaving a 15cm tail end.

[24 dc plus 8 chain-2 spaces]

ROUND 5 : use Colour D

All stitches in this round will be worked in the stitches, working in Back Loops Only (BLO)

Insert hook into the BLO of the first stitch and draw through a loop of the new colour.

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc);

Work 1 dc into BLO of the next 18 stitches;

You should now be directly opposite where you started, and in the next stitch we are going to work a little sticking up hanging bit which you get at the top of a bauble (I don't know what to call it, but I hope you know what I mean?!!)...........

....in BLO of the next stitch, work the following :

(slip stitch; chain 2: 1 tr; chain 2; slip stitch) - this forms the sticky-up bit, as shown above.

Work 1 dc into BLO of the next 20 stitches;

Slip stitch into 2nd chain of beginning chain-2 to close the round; fasten off, leaving a 15cm tail end.

[39 dc plus a hanging bit!]

That's all the crochet complete - now it's time to deal with those ends and create the tassel.

MAKING THE TASSEL

After completing 5 rounds of crochet, you'll have ten tail ends to use for the tassel. You'll need to darn these carefully through the stitches on the reverse of the work, bringing them out at the edge of the decoration directly opposite the hanging bit that you created in the final round. 

Begin at the outer edge and work your way inwards ie darn in the ends from round 5 first, then do round 4, then 3, 2 and finally the first round. 

Take your time and try and keep your darning buried within the crochet stitches so that the reverse of the work looks as neat as possible (as shown above).

Try and also spread your tail ends out a little, making them pop out at the outer edge of the crochet across the space of three dc stitches.

The above photo shows all ten ends darned - you can see that they pop out through the bottom three dc stitches of the final crochet round, and they sit directly opposite the hanging bumpy bit. 

Complete as many decorations as you need for your garland (I made 12 for mine), then give them a little steam treatment.

Use a warm iron and gently puff steam onto the crochet, flattening and shaping the circles with your hands while they are still damp. give the tassels a good steam too, so that they become beautifully straight and lie flat ready for you to knot and trim them.

Now to knot the tassel. Keep your decoration with the wrong side facing uppermost and gently twist the tail ends together (as shown above) to create a neat single thick strand.

Carefully tie the strand into a single knot, easing the knot gently upwards until it sits neatly right next to the edge of the crochet. 

Don't pull the knot too tight, but make sure it's secure and that all the strands of yarn are neatly held in place.

Now you need to decide how long you want your tassel to be - I decided to make mine 6cm which is the height of a bank card (well, I actually used my library card, but you get the idea). 

If you use something like this to measure with, it's easier to achieve a neat cut and make your tassels all the same length.

There you go....

....all neatly trimmed and ready for the final little bit of festive treatment.....

....some sparkle of course!

This extra little bit of stitching is completely optional, but I think it adds a lovely finishing touch.

If you are making your decoration for the tree, all you need to do is add a loop of yarn to the top and it's ready to hang.

As mentioned earlier, I made my decorations for a Festive Garland, and I decided to combine them with some little crochet stars....

...I made 12 tassel decorations and 24 teeny tiny stars in total.

The stars are made in just two simple rounds. If you would like some step by step photos to help with the pattern, you can find a tutorial for them in my side bar, or click ((HERE))

TEENY TINY STARS (make 24)

To begin:

Chain 4; slip stitch in 1st chain to form a ring.

ROUND 1 :

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc); 9 dc into the ring; slip stitch in 2nd chain of beginning chain-2 to close round [10 sts]

ROUND 2 :

*In next stitch work (1 dc; chain 2; slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook (picot point);

In next stitch work (1 dc; slip stitch);

Repeat from * four more times to make five star points in total.

Cut yarn leaving a tail end for darning and pull end through to front of work. Thread onto darning needle and insert needle into the base of the first dc, taking the yarn end right through to the back to create a neat finish. Darn needle under stitches of round 1 and pull firmly to close the central hole.

MAKING THE GARLAND

Lay out your baubles and stars on a flat surface in the order in which you want them to be strung together. I placed 1 star at each end, and 2 stars in between each bauble.

Use Silver lamé yarn, or a colour of your choice, and start by chaining 12.

Insert hook into the first chain and make a slip stitch to form a hanging loop.

Chain 8;

To attach a star, insert your hook into the top point of the star from front to back, yarn over and work a slip stitch. This will anchor the star in place.

Chain 8 (or any number of chains to create the spacing you want, you may need to experiment with what looks right)

To attach a bauble, insert your hook from front to back into the top of the sticky-up bump of the bauble and work a slip stitch.

Continue to attach your crochet stars/baubles, working a chain-8 between each slip stitch.

When you have attached the final star, chain 20, then insert hook into the 12th chain from the hook. Work a slip stitch to form the hanging loop, then fasten off and neatly darn in the ends.

ATTACHING THE BELLS

Adding bells is completely optional, but I think it adds a really beautiful finishing touch.

I found the easiest way to do this was to cut short lengths of yarn and knot the bell in place, keeping the bell positioned in the centre of the yarn length, as shown above.

To attach to the garland, simply knot the bell securely and tightly to the crochet chain, positioning each bell in the middle of the chain-8 between each crochet motif. Use sharp scissors to carefully trim away the two yarn ends as close to the knot as you can.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what my finished garland looks like - of course you can make changes if you wish to, for example, you could add more stars, or you could space the stars more widely apart and add little baubles instead of bells. 

My finished garland was designed to fit my wide mantel/fireplace and measures approximately 160cm long.

I can highly recommend using transparent stick-on hooks to hang this sort of decoration - I use Command decorating hooks which stick on very securely but can be removed when you no longer need them. You can find them on Amazon ((here))

If you would like to read my blog post all about this garland, you can find it by clicking the following link >>

★ FESTIVE GARLAND BLOG POST ★

★  FESTIVE GARLAND PDF PATTERN ★ 

I really hope you enjoy making your own garland, it's a lovely jolly stash busting project with lots of festive feel-good. 

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As always, I am more than happy to provide my patterns and picture tutorials for free here on my blog. If you have used this pattern and would like to donate a few pennies it would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your support, and wishing you happy hooky times!

♥

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Comments

[Linda Ansell]

I just adore this garland]
It looks so much fun to crochet
Uses some of my leftover yarns too
Im going to add some sparkly colours too
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your families wherever you are

[Mary W]

My kind of crochet - not darning in the tails! I still have about 18" of tails to darn in my Woodland quilt that I finished on time a couple years ago.LOL I simply must use your advice to darn in as I go and consider it part of the crochet. This is wonderful pattern, instructions, and decoration for the holidays. Merry Christmas!