Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Over the past few Halloweens, my son has been a Bat, a Bat-man (which was different from Batman for some reason) and now, it looks like we’re going for a vampire that turns into a bat this year. At least so far. So bats get a lot of play around here. And why not, their are pretty cool creatures. So in the spirit of his bat love and because I love nothing more than coming up with fun, and simple, things to add to my ever growing list of Halloween decorations, I made this felt bat garland for his room this year. Hung from the top of the door down, they can cheer up your space without getting in the way of opening or closing doors. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can also stitch these (or glue them) by hand to a piece of ribbon for a similar effect.

Here’s what you need:

2 sheets of black felt
Bat template
Fabric scissors
Thread
Sewing Machine

1. Cut out 6 identical bats from the felt using the template.

2. Thread your machine and bobbin with thread. Put the top of one bat’s head against the presser foot and pull the threads to the back. Start sewing, stitching down the length of his body and allowing for two or three stitches to go beyond the end of the fabric before inserting the next bat. This will create a thread chain that will allow the bats to shift and “fly” a little.

3. Continue until you have sewn all of the bats into the chain. Backstitch at the bottom of the last bat and trim the threads closely. Leave the top threads long, tying them off in a knot.

4. Using a flat thumb tack or tape, attach the top threads to the top of the door so that the bats hang down the center  where they can swing and move each time people enter and exit.