Add a soft, whimsical touch to your Halloween decorations with this vintage floral bat garland. It’s an easy DIY sewing project that leans more sweet than spooky. Use the free pattern to make one for your home! Hang it on your mantel, wall, or window to celebrate the season in a softer style.
Could Halloween decorations be… pretty? I think maybe they could.
That’s what I was thinking when I made this vintage floral bat garland. It’s got the bats and the stars that are all Halloween, but done up in a palette of lavender and pink and accented with a sweet floral fabric.
I’ve got a free sewing pattern for you below.
The bats definitely give Halloween, but the soft color palette and floral fabric give it kind of a grandmacore vibe. Especially with the pearls strung between the bats!
I like to think of it as mystical with a touch of whimsy, not spooky or scary.
The bats (and stars) on this garland are easily sewn from felt and fabric. A little stuffing gives the body some depth, and some simple stitching adds detail to the wings.
I finished out my garland with pearl beads and lavender pom poms. They were on the same aisle in the craft store as the felt. Once I laid my eyes on them, I knew they had to be part of my sweet Victorian pastel bat garland.
And speaking of felt… You don’t need to use expensive wool felt for this project, but a higher quality felt will make it look better. I used Kunin Premium felt sheets that were available at my craft store. They didn’t cost that much more than the regular felt, but the difference in quality was worth it. The sheets were slightly thicker than the cheap felt, twhich gave a nicer finish to my garland.
Of course, if you wanted a more traditional Halloween garland, these guys would be awful cute sewn up in a traditional black and orange color palette. Black felt and a gray fabric print would make a pretty awesome bat.
Be sure to also check out my check out my EEK! Banner. It’s got vintage styling and a fun spider theme.
Finished measurements of the bats are approximately 3 ½” tall x 9” wide. Stars are approximately 2” x 2”.
Supplies (to make a banner with 6 bats and 7 stars)
9” x 12” felt sheets:
–5 in main color (lavender) for the bat and star backing
–1 in accent color (pink) for the star fronts
Floral quilting cotton – ½ yard
Fusible webbing – ½ yard
Poly-fil stuffing
Thin cord or yarn
Hand sewing needle (Eye needs to be large enough for the cord, but still able to pass through the beads, pom poms, and felt.)
Freezer paper
Erasable fabric marking pen
Pearl beads (with holes large enough for cord)
Pom poms
Free pattern – Vintage Floral Bat Garland
Prep
Use the Bat pattern to trace 6 bats to the back of the fusible webbing. Follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse it to the back of the floral quilting cotton. Cut the Bats from the fabric.
Use the Star pattern to trace 7 stars to the back of the freezer paper. Cut out and fuse to the accent (pink) felt. Cut the Stars out from the accent felt.
Sew the Bats
You will need to make 6 bats for a garland like the one I made. The instructions and illustrations below show how to make 1 bat, but you’ll need to make 6 bats in total to make a garland like the one I made.
Follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse the fabric Bat to the main (lavender) felt.
Cut the felt around the Bat leaving about ½” allowance around all sides. You’ll be trimming it down later so this does not have to be a detailed or super accurate cut. Just rough cut it away from the felt sheet so that it’s easy to handle.
Use an erasable fabric marking pen to draw the stitch lines shown on the pattern piece. (These are the dashed lines on the pattern piece.)
Place this rough cut Bat down on to another piece of main color (lavender) felt. Pin in place.
Now sew around all sides of the fabric Bat shape, close to the edge, just as your would when top stitching down an applique but leave the bottom open between the circles marked on the pattern.
Remove the Bat from the sewing machine and put a little Poly-fil stuffing into the bag using that hole you left open. Don’t stuff the whole Bat, just the bit in the middle that is body. It won’t take very much stuffing at all.
Now place the Bat back under the sewing machine. Sew the sides of the body and close the bottom hole in one long u-shaped seam, as below.
Sew the lines marked on the wings.
Trim around the fabric Bat shape, cutting through both layers of felt and leaving a 1/8” border.
You’ve made a felt Bat for your garland! Repeat this process until you have all the Bats you need to make your garland. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily sew the rest of your bats assembly-line style to save time.
Sew the Stars
Place the accent felt Stars on top of the main color felt (lavender). Sew around all sides with 1/8” seam allowance.
Cut Stars out from the main color felt leaving a 1/8” border.
Assemble the Garland
Now that you’ve sewn all your Bats and Stars, you can thread them up with pearls and pom poms to make an adorable vintage floral bat garland!
Use a needle and thin cord or yarn to string your garland. Arrange your Bats, Stars, pears, and pom poms in an order that you like.
To thread the Bats and the Stars on to the cord, just take some long running stitches across the back of the pieces.
Try to have the first stitch start at the tip of the bat wing or a star point, and then have the last stitch come out of the felt at the opposite wing tip or star point.
Here’s a photo of the back of one of my bats that shows how I threaded them.
When you have all your pieces threaded on to your yarn, tie knots at both ends of the yarn to keep the pieces from accidentally sliding off.
Your vintage floral bat garland is finished!!
If you loved this beautiful vintage floral bat garland then you will love these other Halloween-y sewing projects from Anne:
Easy Felt Witch Hat – Free Sewing Pattern
Halloween Trick or Treat Bag – Free Sewing Pattern
Applique Pumpkin Tea Towel Tutorial
EEK! DIY Halloween Garland – Free Sewing Pattern
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[…] I made a handful of them. I added in some pink felt hearts and pearl beads (left over from my Vintage Floral Bat Garland) and I had the cutest Valentine Bow Banner. And I’ve got a free pattern for you […]