This tutorial was inspired by those paper chains you’d make as a child with glue and paper, and if you were lucky, a bit of glitter. I used to love making them as a child and so thought I’d try to create them out of a medium I now love working with; fabric. This is great for fabric destashing as you can use any fabric you like in small amounts! The requirements given below will make a 22″ long chain decoration… which isn’t as big as you think! I only needed it to cover a small section over the fire, but I would suggest making at least double.
- Fabric strips 4 x 10″
- Fuse-a-web
- Thread
- Sewing Machine
- Iron and Ironing Board
Cut your fuse-a-web to 3 x 9″ strips.
Place a piece of fuse-a-web in the centre of each fabric strip and apply with a warm iron to the wrong side of the fabric.
Fold over one short end of fabric and the two longer edges and press (WITHOUT REMOVING THE BACKING PAPER).
Now remove the backing paper and refold those edges over.
Fold the entire strip over on its longest side and press.
Begin stitching 1/2 an inch in from the folded short side. Sew close to the edge. This is a good chain piecing project. Chain sew all your pieces down one side. Remove them from the machine and clip them apart.
Chain stitch the oposite long edge in the same manner. Then clip apart.
Form a loop in the fabric and slide the raw edges into the folded short end.
Top stitch them together.
Pop your second link through the first and repeat the same steps to secure the edges.
Keep adding links until you’re happy with the finished length of your chain and there you go!
