Don’t you love this velvet heart and wood bead garland? The polished natural beads contrast so nicely with the burgundy velvet hearts! Although you can paint the beads, I like them just the way they are in the light natural wood tone. This is a very easy garland to make.
The Wood Bead Garland Inspiration
Julie at My Wee Abode made some lovely velvet hearts using paper mache hearts as a base. She added these to a bead garland. Her velvet-covered paper mache hearts reminded me of some decorative velvet heart key tassels I made a long time ago using the same technique used for making fabric-covered Victorian bandboxes.
This simple technique includes cardboard, polyester fiberfill, an iron, and fusible web.
Supplies
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- 16 mm Wooden beads (.63 – inches)
- Burgundy velvet
- Moire or satin fabric for the back
- cardboard
- Wonder Under fusible web
- polyester fiberfill
- X-Acto knife
- Cutting mat
- 1/8 -inch burgundy ribbon
- 3/8 -inch burgundy ribbon
- Tacky glue
- Iron and Ironing Board
The template for this heart is 2-3/8 – inches long by 2-1/4 -inches wide. You can make your heart pattern as big or as small as you like. I think this size is delicate and proportionate to the 16 mm beads.
The cardboard I used is 1/8 – inch thick. Regular cardstock is probably not stiff enough for this project. You can use corrugated cardboard instead. The finished heart will just be thicker on the sides.
You can use velvet or velour for the front side and a pretty fabric for the back or velvet on the back and front. Using the transfer web makes this process a lot ‘neater’. Imagine trying to make these with glue. No doubt, it would be a messy process.
Directions For Making Velvet Hearts
Create your heart template. Cut it out of cardstock or cardboard. Use the cut heart template to draw multiple hearts on the piece of cardboard.
Cut out the hearts with an X-Acto knife or scissors. If you’ve never used an X-Acto knife to cut cardboard, you should know that typically, you can’t completely cut through the cardboard with one pass of the knife. You need to pass over the same section multiple times until you completely cut through. Don’t force the knife. Let the blade do the work. Then, move on to another section until you have the entire cardboard heart cut.
You’ll need two cardboard hearts for each velvet heart. One will be used for the back and one for the front.
Trace The Heart Onto The Wonder Under Fusible Webbing
Once you have the cardboard hearts cut, lay one of the hearts on the paper side of the Wonder Under fusible web. One side is paper. The other side is a thin layer of fusible webbing.
Trace around the heart. You can draw another line about 1/2 – inch from the edge of the traced heart. Then, cut the heart out along the outer line. Or, you can just eyeball it and cut about a half-inch from the drawn heart shape. For each velvet heart, you will need two of these, one for the front and one for the back.
Applying The Transfer Web To The Fabric
Then, lay your velvet, nap side down on the ironing board. Heat your iron to the highest setting for the fabric you have. If you have a synthetic fabric, use that setting. The directions on the fusible webbing say not to use steam to iron the webbing. Lay the heart that you drew on the transfer web and cut out, the web side down, on top of the backside of the velvet.
Set the iron over the heart transfer web. Press lightly. Don’t move the iron around, like you usually do. Press straight down and then, pull straight up. You don’t want to press so hard that you crush and destroy the nap.
You want the transfer web paper to adhere to the backside of the velvet. Cut out the heart on the outer line you drew.
Make Cuts Around The Outside Of The Heart Shape
Beginning at the indentation at the top of the heart, cut slits from the outer edge toward the center heart every quarter inch or so. Cut to within an eighth of an inch of the center heart line. Don’t cut all the way to the line! These slits will allow the fabric to stretch up over the cardboard and lay flat.
After cutting slits around the heart, lift the edge of the paper backing. It should begin to peel away from the glue webbing and the back of the velvet. If it doesn’t, reheat it with the iron, allow it to cool, and then, try to peel it away again.
Now, center the cardboard heart on top of the webbing on the heart. First, pull a couple of the velvet tabs up over the cardboard at the bottom of the heart, and using the tip of the hot iron, press the tabs. The glue should melt and adhere the fabric to the cardboard.
Then, center the two tabs at the top of the heart where the indentation is. Pull one up and press the tab with the iron tip. Repeat with the tab next to it. Now, press the other tabs on the other side. This locks the fabric in position.
Pull up and press the remaining tabs between the top and bottom on each side.
Repeat for the backside of the heart. Then, turn the heart over and press the back. It is not necessary to press the front of the heart with the padding.
Adding A Ribbon Loop
Next, you need to make a loop of ribbon to loop over the bead garland. For this, I use a burgundy 1/8 – inch satin ribbon. So that the loops will slide easily over the beads, make sure that the loops are long enough. These loops are an inch long, 2 – inches in total folded, which show above the heart. The additional length needs to be glued securely to the moiré heart. I use Tacky Glue for this.
The Tacky Glue sets up quickly. Just hold it securely with your fingers for a couple of minutes. Then, dab glue all around the outer edge of the heart. I added extra glue on the ribbon tails, too.
Next, sandwich the back to the velvet front. I just pressed and held the sandwiched heart together for several minutes.
Repeat for all the hearts, and then, make the wood bead garland.
The Wood Bead Garland
There are 200 wooden beads in the package I ordered from Amazon. This garland is 6 – feet long. I used about 3/4 of the beads. You can make yours whatever length you want.
The 1/8 – inch ribbon used for this garland, slides through the 16 mm beads easily. If you are using a wider ribbon, you might need to use a blunt needle with a large eye.
In no time, you can string 150 beads on the satin ribbon. You will want to leave a little slack in the ribbon so you have room to tie the hearts onto the ribbon between some of the beads and for draping.
Finishing The Ends Of The Wood Bead Garland
To finish the ends of the bead garland, I used a couple of silver beads. After threading the beads onto the ribbon, a double knot secures the bead. Leave a ribbon tail on each end.
Another option is to add a tassel to the end instead of a bead.
Slide The Hearts Onto The Wood Bead Garland
Decide where you want the hearts, and slide the loops onto the bead garland. Once you have them where you want them, tie a 3/8-inch wide ribbon around the loop, into an overhand knot, just above the heart. Then, tie a pretty bow. The tied bow will keep the loops from sliding over the beads and hold the hearts in place.
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