Dear Anthropologie,

I am very sorry but I have cheated on you.

I love you very much. If I had endless funds, I would spend all my money at your store. Just browsing through your store makes me happy. Buying something is pure bliss.
But last year I noticed this lovely Christmas Garland, and as most things, I wanted it. But not for $128.

So, this year, when I saw it again – I cheated on you.

Please accept my apology. Thank you for your inspiration, but I have attempted to make my own.

Please don’t ever leave me. Especially your sale section.

Always yours,

Michelle

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Here is the step by step. Let’s keep in mind that I don’t sew. So if anyone has the desire to make this, you can.

I picked up two very ugly oversized holiday sweaters at the local Goodwill that I hoped would look good once cut up… I was going for something funky. Let’s just call it being “green” and cheap. Six bucks cheap.

After searching online for some sort of help via tutorial, I followed Made by Rae’s blog tutorial on felt letter making.

My letters were Rockwell font size 400 in Word. I actually cut each letter out and then placed it on top of the sweater to trace out a slightly larger size. Because of the fabric, I was worried my letters would turn out a lot smaller once sewed and stuffed.

Then using the thickest needle in the variety pack and a very thin multicolored wool, I stitched the two layers of each letter together, leaving a hole to stuff them. I am not sure where I read this tip, but a chopstick proved to be quite useful when pushing the stuffing into each letter.

After the first letter, I thought I wasn’t going to make it. I had arthritis by the letter H in Chrismukkah. (I did Merry afterwards). And no, we don’t own a sewing machine. (I don’t sew). But once the letters started taking shape, and I realized my fabrication was actually not going to turn into a 2nd grader’s after school project, I got some gusto and finished 6 letters in one night. The rest dragged on for another 2 weeks.

To create the garland, I went back to Michael’s and picked up the thickest wool they had in a nice apple green. Then using the same thin wool, I sewed a loop around the thick wool on the top corners of each letter. That way, the letters have the ability to move in case they are not evenly centered.

And because the Anthro version had the cute pom poms hanging from some of the letters, I needed that too. Using this tutorial at Ruffled, I added three pom poms to my diy.

After finishing , I can kind of understand why Anthro charges one hundred twenty-eight dollars for their garland. It’s a freakin’ lot of work.

Okay, so Anthro’s version might be a little cuter. But we are a 2 holiday household here, and I needed something a little more…personalized.