We love quick and easy holiday projects (because we are usually finishing them up last minute :D) and this week we are sharing one with you!
What's even better, you could easily make this project out of your scrap bin and use up all the leftover batting from previous quilt projects. So grab some red, white, and blue fabric and join us to make a scrappy star garland perfect for all the summer holidays.
Scrappy Fabric Star Garland
For this project we used 2 inch strips, but you really could use whatever you have on hand. If you have a leftover jelly roll, use that! If you have skinnier strips of fabric, cut them at whatever width fits. You could easily do 1 1/2" or even 1". Use what you have. You can either trim all your strips to the same width like we have, or do assorted widths for even more scrappy goodness.
How to Make the Star Garland
After all of the fabric strips are cut, we need to sew them into a big panel. We are doing it this way to make it easier to quilt later. If you don't have as big of scraps, you could certainly make smaller panels as well.
Take your fabric strips and sew them together lengthwise using 1/4" seam. Don't stress if they perfectly line up on the ends, if they are way off, feel free to trim the excess and use it for a smaller panel.
Press all of your seams. After the panel is sewn together, take your fabric to the ironing board and press it really well. We simply pressed all the seams in the same direction.
How Big Should I Make My Panel?
This is really dependent on how long you want your garland. We made our final panel about 26" x width of the fabric. You could get about 6 stars from this size. Remember, you'll need a front and back. We folded our panel in half to create the front and back, but if you are making smaller panels, you'll want to sew 2 of them close to the same size.
Layering the Panel
Before we cut out the stars, we need to layer our panels and quilt them. If you are using strips that are the width of the fabric, simply fold it in half with a piece of batting in between. Otherwise, find two panels that are the same size and cut a piece of batting to fit between them. Repeat for as many panels as you have. If you prefer, baste the quilt sandwich at this point. You can either use pins or basting spray. With the smaller panels, it may not be necessary.
Quilting the Panel
Now that we have our quilt sandwich made we are ready to quilt it! We chose to do all over wavy lines. You could easily do straight lines, meander, loops, spirals, anything you like and are comfortable with! When choosing thread, I recommend picking a light color that will blend. Cream, white, light gray, and light blue are all good starting points depending on your fabric.
Make sure that you quilt the entire panel so that you can use as much as possible when cutting out your stars.
Cutting out the Stars
If you want, download our template and print it to use for your stars. If you have a stencil or other star shape you like, use it! You'll only need to print one as we'll just be using it to trace around.
Cut out the star and using a fabric safe marker, trace around it as many times as you can to use up your panel. Make sure to twist and fit the stars together to minimize waste. You'll want to leave about 1/2" in between the lines when you are tracing.
Now, go to your sewing machine and sew directly on the lines you drew. We shortened our stitch length just a bit since this will be a raw edge project. Don't forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of each star.
After you have sewn on the line, it's time to cut out your stars. Cut them out about 1/4" outside of the sewn line.
Making the Star Garland
Now that all the stars are cut out, you can lay them out and determine the spacing you like. When you have decided how much length you need, cut a piece of string to that length. We used cotton crochet thread. You can also use twine, fabric strips, or ribbon.
Mark the center and sew the middle star first. This will make it easier to keep things even as you go. We laid the string along the back of one point, then sewed up over it, to the point, and back down along our previous stitch line. This secures the star nicely without adding extra stitch lines in the star.
Keeping the stars evenly spaced, add the remaining stars to your string in the same manner.
Hang up and enjoy! This project would also be great in Christmas Colors or even in yellows for a fun year round decoration in a nursery or kids room!
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
Happy Quilting!
Kimie and Missy
