Thursday Tutorial....

Yeah, I know, it should be a Tuesday tute, but Tuesday was my daughter's birthday so I drove to Cheyenne to spend it with her.  Along with a long weekend, a two day trip to visit Heidi, my week is all jumbled up.  But I did want to show you how to make these really cute Rag Garlands.  This is one of those projects that are easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, but everyone will think you spent all so much time on it.

I sell a ton of these at craft shows and the main comment I get, "This looks like so much work!"  I just say that it keeps my hands out of the cheetos when I am watching television in the evenings.  Thats partially true.....I do these while watching tv.  lol  

These are the only ingredients:  a string of lights and some fabric strips.  Here are those easy peasy steps:
            1.  Open the lights
            2.  Tie on the fabric.

Voila!  That's all there is to it!  So, here are some pointers.

I choose fabrics that are in the same family.  Like the oranges and black for Halloween, reds, greens and whites for Christmas, pastels for Easter, and reds and pinks for Valentines day.  I like cottons because they aren't too stretchy but I also like throwing some shiny fabrics in for good measure.  I cut each strip with a rotary cutter about 1" wide and about 7" long.  On this garland, I tied on one checked fabric, one of the orange print, one check, one print, one black print, repeat.  I only make one tie, for example, you really don't need two knots.  I also put them on as tightly as I can so the garland turns out nice and full.  There really is no wrong way!  Have fun with it.

I use a strand of 20 lights.  I find that this is the perfect size (about 5 feet in length) to sell and display at shows.  The longer ones take too long, and are too hard to show.  But if you are doing this for yourself, use the size you want....just cut more strips.

Tip:  When I display these at shows, I hang them up near the entrance to my booth.  They draw so much attention and I always sell out.

Another tip, when doing shows:  If you can afford it, pay the extra for electricity if your promoter offers it.  It usually is only $15-25 and brings so many people into your booth.  In a sea of craft booths, one that is lighted draws the attention of folks who might walk on by.  Someone told me once, if you want to sell it, light it.  This is really true most of the time.

Another hint, since you know I hate to waste things, I cut up my scraps into strips if the fabric I am using for another project fits my criteria.  I put all my reds together, greens, pastels, etc in gallon zip bags.  When the bags get full, its time to make a garland.

I buy my lights at the dollar stores in season or at craft stores, or you can get them at Amazon. (See link below)  Have fun with this!


So if you are a long time reader, or even if you are just stopping by, you may notice that I have some new ads on the sidebar and at the bottom of the blog.  I have been blogging for six years, without advertising or monetizing this blog.  I try to offer tips and tutes for free and love sharing any ideas with you.  But it does take a lot of time, thus money.  I have included only vendors that I am familiar with, have purchased from, or may be of help to you.  I am not going to bombard you with pop up ads, however, if you are going to purchase from any of these vendors, why not click through here?  I get a small commission and you get the normal great purchases.  If you don't need or want to click on the ads, that's great too.  I will keep giving you the same info as always, but I will let you know if these vendors have any sales as well.

Phew!  Glad to get that out of the way.....now on to making more STUFF!