This Sugar Plum Fairy Birthday Party created by Nicole W is one of the most beautiful parties we’ve seen on our site this holiday season. I love so many details of this party, including the homemade tulle garland Nicole made to decorated her tree. Isn’t it beautiful…

Nicole so kindly put together this tulle garland tutorial for us, just in time for Christmas. Thank you, Nicole! And here’s how she did it…

The tulle garland I made for my Sugar Plum Fairy theme was astoundingly easy to make.  What sewing there is is so pathetically easy, that I hesitate to call it a project that even involves sewing.  Don’t be intimidated, even if you’ve never picked up a needle and thread.

Materials:

• Tulle (also known as bridal illusion, available at any fabric store).  I used the 72″ wide version, but any would work.  I wouldn’t use the spools of 6″ wide tulle you can find at the craft store–the garland would end up being MUCH more expensive than if you bought colorful tulle at the fabric store.
• Needle  (longer is better than shorter, but it’s not critical)
• Thread (you could use regular thread, but I liked the sturdiness that button thread gave me).
• Scissors or a rotary cutter and mat.  Using a rotary cutter made the process blazingly fast, but it’s certainly not necessary.

Instructions:

• Cut the tulle into strips.  Mine were approximately 4″ wide each, but make yours as wide or narrow as you’d like.  I just eyeballed mine.  Precision isn’t really critical for this craft. (See, I told you it wasn’t like real sewing!)  Each strip, when gathered, gave me about 10 inches of ruffled garland, so make a guess about how many strips you’ll need.

• Thread the needle with a length of thread as long as you’d like your garland to be.  Make a knot at one end, being sure to give yourself a few inches of tail to hang out so you can tie it to things, attach it to other garland, etc.  You can always cut it of later if you decide you don’t need it.
• Hold the strip of tulle and simply feed the tulle onto the needle, sort of like you’re accordion folding the tulle on to the needle and thread.  Simply dip the needle up and down through the fabric, creating the most simple running stitch there is.  (Here’s a link to the wikipedia entry for running stitch, if you think that might be helpful.  It’s hard to describe with just words!

• Once the entire strip of tulle is on the thread, push it down to the end of the thread, where it will be stopped by the knot.  Fluff it out until it looks right.  And that pretty twisty double-helixy thing going on in my garlands?  That will happen all by itself.   I told you it was easy!
• Continue adding strips of tulle to your thread until you have a garland length you want.  Tie a knot in the end so that the tulle won’t slip off, and you’re done!

Thank you, Nicole for this easy tutorial!  I’m planning to make one for my tree this year.  If you make one, too, please email me photos so I can post them.

Check out more of Nicole’s other amazing parties on our site, and to learn more about her handmade tiaras, veils, and other wedding accessories, please read her blog, Tradewind Tiaras.

(Do you have a DIY project from one of your parties that you’d like to share?  Please email me at jillian@catchmyparty.com.  I’d love to show it off!)