Braided Yarn Heart Garland

Brrrr… it’s a cold one out there today! They are calling for wind chills as low as -40! I hope everyone is staying warm! I am back again as promised with the tutorial for my braided yarn heart garland. Isn’t it the cutest?

This garland started out as me just experimenting with some yarn. I am glad I did, because I really like how the garland turned out. Another plus is that you don’t need a lot of supplies so it is very inexpensive to make. I already had everything on hand so it was free for me! 🙂

Also, this really could be used for anytime, not just Valentine’s Day. You could change the color of the yarn to coordinate with your house. I think it would be adorable in a nursery or little kid’s room. It is even a great project to make with the kiddos!

Supplies to make a Braided Yarn Heart Garland

• Yarn (colors of your choice)
• Cardboard Box
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue sticks
• Scissors

How to make a Braided Yarn Heart Garland

Trace a heart template on cardboard five times and cut the hearts out. I used a heart that I already had as a template. If you don’t have a heart around, you can easily look for clip art images online and print one out. 

Next you will need to braid some yarn. I braided six strands of yarn. To measure out the yarn, I wrapped the yarn around my forearm (starting at my hand and going down around my elbow) three times. This gave me enough length for the whole heart, front and back. Then just cut five more pieces the same length.

Tie a small piece of yarn around the end and tape the end down to the table. This will make it easier to braid.

Continually move the tape down as you braid the length. It is especially fun to try to braid yarn when you have a cat constantly trying to steal the yarn! Ha! After doing my heart weaving project and this, I have discovered that one of our cats is obsessed with yarn! The other one could care less. I was in a constant tug of war with yarn doing these projects. LOL.

Tie off the end with another small piece of yarn. You should now have a pretty decent sized length of braided yarn.

Now starting at the point of the heart, hot glue the braid down to the cardboard following the outline of the heart. I left a little of the yarn hanging off around the edge of the heart. Once you get back to the beginning, just follow along the yarn.

Keep gluing and filling in the heart.

When there is just a little bit left to fill in, tie off the braid where it looks it needs to end.

Cut off the braid right above where you tied it off and then glue this end down. Don’t forget to tie a small piece of yarn around the remaining braid so it doesn’t come unbraided.

You will be left with a little tassel tail at the point of the heart. Just cut this off above the tied off portion and glue the end down along the side edge of the cardboard. Another option is to leave it and the heart looks like a balloon. 😉 

Repeat these steps on the back of the heart. On this side, I started in the opposite direction so the tails would not end in the same spot. You will now have what looks like a heart sandwich. Take a piece of yarn and glue it along the side of the cardboard to cover the exposed cardboard. Again cut off the tail and glue it down.

How to Hang a Heart Garland

Thread a needle with yarn that you want to use to hang the garland from. I just used cream colored yarn for this. Run the thread under a couple pieces of the yarn at the top of the curves on the heart. 

Now just hang up your heart garland and enjoy! I use command hooks on the sides of my mantel to easily hang garlands. 

This was a nice quick and easy project. All of the hearts except one were made in one evening. I had to wait to take some decent pictures in the daylight for at least one heart. 😉 I hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine’s Day!