Crafty Corner: Candy Corn Halloween Garland

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. I’m probably biased because my birthday is in October but I think Fall has the best style, especially when we’re talking about autumn decorations. I love all of the rustic touches like pumpkins, leaves, acorns, and wreaths but I also love big ridiculous Halloween decorations too! This Halloween garland kiiiiinda falls under the latter. What can I say – there’s nothing like black and orange to get you in the Halloween spirit!

Project materials:

• Multiple pieces of felt (I used 5 orange, 3 yellow, 3 white, and 3 black)*
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Cutting mat
• Straight cutting ruler
• Rotary cutter
• Pencil
• A piece of cardboard to make the stencil
• Thread (orange or black is best)
• Sewing machine

*Note: Your felt needs will depend on how long you want your garland, how many you want to make, and the pattern of the pieces. I made three long garlands with a little to spare for a fourth. The quantity is based on your own adaptation of the project but if you end up with extra, like I did, just add it to your stash for the next project!

Start by making two stencils out of the cardboard: one circle and one triangle. I just Googled the shapes, sized them, and traced right from the computer. I drew three straight horizontal lines on the triangle shape to make the pattern for the candy corn.

I clipped together three pieces of orange felt and three pieces of black felt (in two batches), traced the circle stencil in marker on the top piece, and cut out the circles with scissors. I had 120 circles in total.

Next I used two pieces of white felt to trace the triangles on, cut straight edges with my straight ruler and rotary cutter, and rounded the edges off with scissors. I ended up with 32 white triangles. I then cut the triangle stencil up to use the pattern for the middle and bottom pieces of the candy corn. I used one piece of orange felt and one piece of yellow felt to cut the candy corn strips. I ended up with 32 orange pieces and 32 yellow pieces.

Here is how the candy corn pieces fit together:

Once all of my candy corn felt pieces were cut out, I laid them on my mat and assembled them to prepare for gluing!

I spread hot glue on the bottom 2/3 of each white piece, then pressed the orange and yellow pieces into place. Having the assembly line set up made hot gluing go quicker and much safer!

I gave my candy corn pieces 5 minutes after the last one was glued to make sure the glue was set and each piece had cooled. Afterward, I cleaned up my workspace and set up my sewing machine with the orange thread. I created another assembly line to make the garland – creating a stack of felt pieces in the order I wanted them in on the garland. This helped me get a sense of layout and length. I chose the following pattern but feel free to make up your own (another reason why your felt needs may differ from mine!) – black circle, orange circle, black circle, candy corn, black circle, orange circle, black circle.

Time to sew! I simply fed each circle, back to back, through the sewing machine. I then sewed the candy corn right across the bottom of the white tip. Try not to sew through the dried hot glue, it will gum up your needle and possibly cause it to break! I repeated until I had sewed all of the pieces together. I made sure to leave a bit of excess thread at the beginning and end of each strand to help me hang them up.

I ended up with three black/orange/candy corn garlands. I had some extra orange pieces and candy corns so I made one last little garland with just those.

I doubled up the garland on our big bay window. I love the way it looks! It’s especially cute over our tiny pumpkins.

I also brought one strand to work to hand up in my cube. I’ve gotten so many compliments!

I’m a big garland fan and this one is no exception! They are just so festive and fun. I can’t wait to make more!