Easy and Colorful DIY Wedding Decorations

My good friend, someone who is like a younger sister to me, is getting married this summer. This weekend her family and friends threw a wedding shower for the couple.

I was recruited to create some fabric garland decorations for the shower. The bride’s sister sent me some images of streamer garlands and a cute bow tie garland (because the groom loves his bow ties).

I was blessed with great fabric luck — the remnant bin at Joann’s Fabric contained ALL of their wedding colors. 🙂

Bow Tie Garland

I used this tutorial from Kelsie Millet for making the individual bowties. After reading the tutorial, the steps were so easy to remember I did not need to look at them again. This is a great project while you are watching tv.

The only change I made was rather than using hot glue, I secured the bow center with matching thread. I appreciate that this can be a no-sew craft but I think that thread will ultimately be more secure (especially since the garland has to travel and get packed and unpacked a couple times).

While I was in the car, I was stitching the bow ties together with a couple whip stitches. I used a not-quite-waxy, but stiffer beading thread to sew them together. It didn’t unravel as much.

There were a couple extra bow ties that did not fit into my color pattern. These could be a nice groomsman gift or table top decoration.

Fabric Streamer Garland

Pinterest and Etsy are full of these kinds of streamer garlands. Some are made with ribbons and lace (that don’t fray), some are cut with pinking sheers to reduce fraying, and others embrace the “shabby chic” look and let the edges fray. I started to use my pinking sheers and found that it was just taking too long to cut. I had 5 yards to cut and it was much more time efficient to use my rotary cutter. So there is a bit of fraying, which frustrates the perfectionist in me. Oh well. 🙂

Using semi-bulky garden string I knotted each streamer (about 30 inches each) around the string. There is a great amount of flexibility in these garlands – you decide if you want long or short fabric strips. This can be a garland or a long photo backdrop. You can also make the fabric denser. Just look at the variations on Pinterest and Etsy.