Doily Garland Tutorial

Ever since our lovely obstetrician Alison placed a pudgy baby girl in my arms I’ve thought about girlifying (totally a word) our very unisex nursery we’d prepared for our baby. Ok, so I probably had a few other things on my mind first as it’s taken me almost 10 months getting around to actually adding some pretty details, but our rough plan is to keep the nursery quite gender neutral for future babies* and do a more girly big girl room for Eleanor in my sewing room/Matt’s office**. Top of my ‘girlify Eleanor’s nursery’ list was a doily garland to string across her window, or perhaps above her cot. I thought I’d show you how I make it in case you wanted one yourself…

Gather your doilies together, you might have beautifully hand-crocheted lovelies or machined fairly stock standard ones like mine (I found mine on eBay, try discount stores or Spotlight too). You can scour op shops and find some simply beautiful creations, no doubt crocheted with much love, every piece is unique, making it all the more special. You’ll need some herringbone or twill ribbon also – this is sort of a heavy weight ribbon available at crafty type stores. You could also use bias binding or a grosgrain ribbon (a satin ribbon will probably pucker slightly).

Cut your doilies in half. If you are using beautiful handmade doilies you might not want to do this so just fold them in half to create semi-circles.

Iron your twill ribbon in half lengthways, making it a nice little home to sandwich your doilies into.

Find the middle point of your length of twill ribbon (mine was about 3 metres long). Pin one of your half doilies into the twill ribbon, encasing it. Pin it at the middle of the doily and each end of the doily. Continue along the length of twill ribbon until all your half-doilies are encased and pinned nicely. My mum, who taught me to sew, always taught me the importance of pinning lots! Lots of pins will save you lots of heartache and angst later, she’d say!

Now simply sew along your length of twill ribbon, keeping to the open edge more than the centre to properly catch the encased doilies and neatly close your twill ribbon. As you pull the pins out you might need to just make sure your doilies stay put inside the twill ribbon case.

How easy was that! Simple straight sewing. Knew you could do it! Perfect for a little girls room, as wedding or party décor, outside hanging from a tree or just to hang above your kitchen sink to pretty up your day. Nanna would be proud.

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* No, I am not pregnant.
** No idea where my sewing room/Matt’s office is meant to go?! Damn you teeny farmhouse!