In This Article
Step right up and get your free Punch Needle guidance on crafting a delightful DIY Garland that will look just darling in your home or gifted to a quirky loved one.
Garland comes in many shapes and sizes, and when figuring out where in the crafting world to start, it’s handy to have an easy-to-follow DIY Garland guide to punch along with!
We love sharing fun and creative Punch Needle patterns and Punch Needle projects, so let’s get this DIY Garland show moving and grooving!
DIY Garland Ideas
As you can see above, for our DIY Garland, we went with a quirky and cutesy pizza theme to be hung in the kitchen window. Who doesn’t love pizza?!
Although a slice of fuzzy pizza is what you’ll be seeing in the DIY Garland steps, you can substitute pizza for something else. We’ve listed some ideas for you to mull over and help ignite that grand idea factory of yours.
- Rainbow Stripes
- Abstract Color Patterns
- Christmas Trees (So flippin’ cute for Christmas!)
- Cake Slices
- Pie Slices
- Watermelon Slices
- Cheese Slices
- Traffic Signs
- Candy Corn (Adorable Halloween decoration!)
- Carrots
- Traffic Cones (Cute for a children’s room)
- Flag of Choice!
There are so many creative directions you can turn to for your cute DIY Garland; and get ready to pick, here come the directions!
Supplies for DIY Garland
Every project needs its supplies, and we’ve got it all laid out here for you!
Here’s a simple list of the supplies you’ll be needing for your DIY Garland.
- Punch Needle
- Wire Threader
- Embroidery Hoop
- Crafting Scissors
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Fabric Marker/Sharpie
- Hot Glue Gun (Hot Glue Sticks)
- Yarn
- Monk’s Cloth
- Sturdy String
- Cardboard
Steps for DIY Garland
Now that you have your supplies handy and ready to go let’s move on to the steps for this fun Punch Needle project!
If you need some assistance or a refresher on Punch Needle basics (such as knowing how to Thread a Punch Needle), check out our awesome guides of 1 Punch Needle Tips & Tricks for Everyone and 4 Steps: How to Thread a Punch Needle & Vital Q&As!
There are 5 steps for this DIY Garland, and we will say that some steps take a bit more time than others, but it’s all worth it in the end!
Step One: Create an Outline
First things first, you’ll want to create your Garland shape so you’re easily able to trace it again and again. You want all your shapes to look the same (or, if that’s not your style, you can skip this step!), so it’s vital to have a sturdy piece of cardboard cut out that you can use to trace.
We’ve used an empty box of popcorn for our triangle tracer; what a great way to repurpose something before it’s recycled!
Use your desired Embroidery Hoop to determine how big of a piece of cardboard you’ll need to create your tracer. The size is completely up to you! For this DIY Garland you’re seeing, we wanted to create large cartoon-like pizza slices for a bit of fun.
Once you have your cardboard piece cut out, use your ruler and pencil to draw your triangle or desired shape!
Before moving on to the next step, be sure your shape fits in your Embroidery Hoop. You don’t want the shape to be too close to the edges!
Step Two: Prepare Monk’s Cloth Onto Embroidery Hoop
Step two in our DIY Garland adventure is to prepare your Monk’s Cloth, an incredibly important step! You can start by unassembling your Embroidery Hoop and setting it on your Monk’s Cloth like in the photos below.
Place the inside piece of the Embroidery Hoop underneath the Monk’s Cloth and cut out a square piece that has a few extra inches on each side.
As a Punch Needle tip, it’s a good idea to use Painter’s Tape and stape any sides of your Monk’s Cloth that aren’t seamed. This will help prevent fraying as you’re working and not leave you with a bunch of stray threads all over your workspace. It’s worth the extra minute of preparation!
Next up is using your fabric marker, or sharpie, to trace your DIY Garland shape onto the backside of your Monk’s Cloth. You want to work from the back of your Embroidery Hoop for this DIY Garland because you want the fuzzy side to be the complete side of your project.
Here’s a super fun step– adding your pizza toppings! Feel free to get creative and wacky; we made a variety of pizza slices for our DIY Garland, and it sure was a blast!
Step Three: Ready your Yarn & Start Punching!
Depending on how you want your DIY Garland to look will determine what yarn you have laid out. If you’re moving in a different creative direction for your DIY Garland, you can take this step’s directions with what will apply to you!
Pizza Crust for DIY Garland Punch Needle
Unlike when we eat delicious pizza, for our DIY Garland, we’re starting with the crust! Go ahead and thread your Punch Needle with a shape of dark brown.
To give the pizza crust some depth, we’ve added some shading! Punching a single line, or two if you so desire, will give a creative effect and depth to your DIY Garland pizza style.
Now finish the pizza crust off with a lighter tone of brown!
While you’re punching from the backside, be sure to check on the front to see how much you’ve punched. The results will look a bit different compared to the back and front; you’ll see this in the photos below!
You can see that not every space is filled in with yarn on the backside, but on the front side, it’s all filled in! This is because of the thickness of the yarn loops on the front side; they fill up a bit more space rather than when you’re completing a project with the flat stitches as the finished project.
On the top row, there are some pieces of dark yarn and light yarn that got a bit tangled together; you can use the tip of your Punch Needle to help move these pieces back where they belong. Easy-peasy!
Pizza Toppings for DIY Garland Punch Needle
Let’s get this pizza complete with some fuzzy pepperoni and cheese! Go ahead and thread your Punch Needle with your desired yarn color for your toppings.
We suggest starting with the small details first and working your way out to the bigger ones.
Once you finish one topping, you can snip your yarn from the front side, pull the needle gently through, and carry on to the next!
When you’ve finished with one Punch Needle detail, you can snip the yarn tails off as you go to keep a clean workspace.
Say cheese! Next up, you can thread your Punch Needle with yellow or any other color you desire.
Our suggestion is first to outline the triangle and go around your details. You’ll notice in the photo below that we don’t outline directly next to the other color of yarn. This is because, from the front side, the perspective is different than the back. To avoid your yarn intertwining, it’s good to check out your front and back sides as you work.
When your outline is finished, you can fill in the rest with your yarn! Taking this section by section makes it easier, and remember to check in on the front side to make sure you’re not coming to close to the other colors of yarn.
What’s neat about doing a Punch Needle project that the finished side is the fluffy side is that you typically don’t have to fill in every single space on the Monk’s Cloth from the flat stitch side due to the yarn’s big loops on the front side.
Take a look at the different perspectives of the backside compared to the front side!
Step Four: Cut Off Extra Monk’s Cloth & Hot Glue the Back with Felt
Your DIY Garland shape is ready to go; now it’s time to take it off of the Embroidery Hoop and move on to our final steps.
After you’ve taken your DIY Garland shape off of the Embroidery Hoop, you can carefully remove the tape from the sides of the Monk’s Cloth. Some strands will come off as you remove it, and that’s perfectly fine!
Time to cut off that extra Monk’s Cloth. Make sure you leave a couple of inches around your DIY Garland shape; you don’t want to cut too close. Depending on how much Monk’s Cloth you have, you can reuse it for other projects. Such as the adorable and small Dog Punch Needle How To in 4 Steps! You can also reuse Monk’s Cloth scraps as stuffing if you do other crafty projects.
Using your crafting scissors, cut slits into the Monk’s Cloth. These slits can go all the way up to the yarn, but be careful not to snip the yarn.
Get that Hot Glue Gun fired up; it’s time to glue these little sections of Monk’s Cloth down onto the flat stitch side!
Keep your Hot Glue Gun plugged in because next, you’ll be adding some backing to your DIY Garland shape. We’re using Felt Squares for our DIY Garland, which can easily be picked up at your local crafting store or even the Dollar Tree!
Choose your piece of Felt and swiftly outline the back of your DIY Garland shape with hot glue and be sure to get the middle as well. Then, flip it over onto your Felt and firmly press down to ensure they’ve stuck together.
Time to do some snipping again! Unlike when you cut the extra Monk’s Cloth off, when you’re cutting off the Felt, you can try to get as close to your DIY Garland shape as possible.
Step Five: Attach DIY Garland Decor to String & Hang Up!
We’re in the home stretch of finishing up your own DIY Garland! Choose a spot where you’d like to hang it up and measure how much string you’ll need. Remember to use a sturdy string and to leave extra room on your string for tying your DIY Garland up.
On a large surface, measure and layout the order you want your triangles/shapes to be hung. You can use a ruler for assistance, or eyeball it!
After the order is determined, you can start hot gluing your string onto the backs of your DIY Garland shapes. Make sure you add enough hot glue so that it is secure, and leave plenty of drying time before you hang it up.
Once your hot glue has had plenty of time to dry, you can take your DIY Garland over to its new home and hang it on up!
You’re well on your way to crafting some beautiful Punch Needle kits; nothing can stop you now! We hope you’ve enjoyed working on this easy-to-follow DIY Garland and that each time you look at it, it brings you joy. Punch Needle can be for anyone who wants to try; we believe in you!
Want to try your crafty hand on another level of Punch Needle? Try Embroidery Punch Needle!