Hello, HollyDolly readers! Jennifer here of If I Must Say So, a life and style blog where I write about my daily food, fashion, and crafty inspirations. I’m here to share
one of my latest projects in which I made little felt balls for a garland. I originally
followed this fabulous DIY from Design Sponge, but modified it a bit based on what
works for me!
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After making dozens of little felt balls in a variety of colors, I decorated them with
thread and strung them to make a cute, colorful garland, which I can use to decorate
my Christmas tree next year or just to add a pop of color in my apartment.
Things you’ll need:
Wool roving (available at any craft store)
Soap (dish or hand soap is fine)
One bowl of super hot water
One bowl of freezing cold water
Thread in a variety of colors (if you choose to decorate your finished felt balls)
Thicker string or thread for the garland
Needle
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Another note before we begin…
It took me about 3-5 minutes to make each felt ball, and I noticed that my hands would
feel pretty dry and prune-like after making three or four of them. Take your time and
plenty of rest throughout the process. I found that the balls turned out better when I
made a few at a time over several days rather than a whole bunch at once.
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1. Tear off a 5-6 inch section of the wool roving. Don’t worry about making a perfect
tear because the ends should be ragged.
2. Put a small drop of soap in your hand and rub a little into the wool roving.
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3. Form your piece of wool into a loose ball and dip it in the bowl of hot water. Do
not dunk the entire ball into the water. You want to get it just wet enough so that
you can sort of gently work the soap and water into the rest of the ball with your
hands.
4. Gently start rolling the wool roving into the shape of a ball. At this point, the ball is
pretty flimsy, much like a cotton ball. Just continue rolling the wool until you have a
decent ball shape and then dunk the entire ball into the cold water.
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5. Keep rolling the ball and then dunk it in the bowl of hot water. Continue rolling
the ball and then dunk it again in the cold water. Keep alternating between rolling
and dunking between the two bowls of water.
6. Every two or three dunks, rinse off your hands and the ball under cool running
water and then continue rolling. The ball will start to feel firm and become smaller.
7. At this point you may start to notice a few dents or cracks in the ball. To hide
the cracks, take a smaller piece of wool roving with a little soap on it and place
it directly over the cracked area. Continue rolling and dunking the ball in water.
Eventually the smaller piece of wool roving will work into the ball.
8. Once you have a firm, crack-free felt ball, leave it out to dry for 1-2 days. A
finished felt ball should feel completely dry and have a little bounce to it when you
throw it on a hard surface.
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9. Take your finished felt balls and string them to make your garland! I ended up
using my finished garland to decorate a bare wall in my office space.
I can’t wait to see how your felt balls turn out! Just take your time and remember
that your felt balls will look better and better with more practice!
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Thank you so much Jennifer!! I’ve always wanted some of these for garland, and now I can’t wait to give this tutorial a shot myself!
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Don’t forget to head on over and check out Jennifers blog - If I Must Say So .
