Sewn Paper Doily Garland Tutorial

A little bit back I did this post on dying paper doilies. Now, I’m bringing you a project utilizing those dyed doilies. I have found that making sewn paper garlands are addicting to make! They’re simple, the possibilities are endless with paper and thread combinations, and they look so great strung up around your house. Here is my simple how-to on making a sewn paper doily garland:

You’ll want to begin by cutting out 1 inch circles from your larger doilies. My paper punch wasn’t being very kind to the doilies so I hand-cut them. You could even cut triangles to make flags or hearts.

Once your shapes are cut you’ll need to gather the rest of your materials which are: coordinating thread, scissors, and wax paper. Thread your bobbin and sewing machine. Sometimes it’s fun to make your bobbin thread one color and your machine thread another for interesting contrast.

Next, tear your wax paper into strips. I tore mine about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide and left them as long as I reasonably could without them getting in my way.

Now, lay a strip of your wax paper down and line up a couple of your doily cut outs. You’re going to be sewing through the wax paper and the doily. This helps keep your thread in between the doily circles neat and tidy and helps you feed your doily pieces through the machine. Sew a few inches on your wax paper without a doily so you have string to hang your garland with.

Slowly begin sewing through the middle of your doily circles. When you’re almost through one add the next doily in line. My stitch length and width are both set to 2, you want a closer and tighter stitch to hold the delicate paper together.

When you near the end of your wax strip, place another strip underneath the strip you’re currently sewing on. You want to join all the pieces together to keep your garland strings tidy.

Continue sewing until you’ve used all of your paper or you feel like your garland is long enough. Once you’ve reached the end, sew a few inches onto your wax paper without a doily the way you started your garland.

Turn your garland over and begin gently pulling the wax paper away. You don’t need to use much force or pull hard since the paper will easily come away. Remove both halves of the wax paper.

Knot off the ends of your thread and hang!

Sewing through paper isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and now I can’t stop making these! What are some of your sewn paper projects? I would love to see them!