Here's a quick and easy project for Halloween decorating. We're going to use craft felt to make an orange and black table runner and decorate it with black felt bats. Click HERE to download the bat template so that you can print it.
In addition to the bat template, you'll need one piece of 8" by 36" orange craft felt, one piece of 8" by 36" black craft felt, a few straight pins, scissors, a rotary cutter and a mat (optional), and craft glue. I machine-stitched the runner together, but if you don't have a sewing machine, you could overlap the seams and glue it. The first step is to cut the orange felt in half so that you have two pieces, each 8" by 18".
Next, cut an 8" by 12" section from the black felt.
Pin each orange section to the longer black felt piece, which will be in the center of the table runner.
Use a half-inch seam to sew the orange felt pieces to the black felt center piece. Backstitch to begin if you're machine sewing. (If you're gluing, overlap the seam half an inch with the black felt on the top.)
Sew the seam and backstitch at the end. Clip threads.
Here's the stitched seam. You could use either black or orange thread. I used black so that it would show up in the picture. Sew the other orange felt piece to the black felt center piece in the same manner.
Pin or tape the bat template to the 8" by 12" black felt. If you fold the felt, you can cut two bats at a time. Hold the felt and template firmly as you cut out the bats. Small, sharp scissors work best.
Cut out eight bats.
Arrange the bats on the orange felt any way you like. I put four on each side and made it symmetrical, but you could have more on one side than the other. Below is the left side of the runner I made.
Here's the right side.
This is the completed runner on my dining room table. The light was so bright in the room (you can see its reflection on the table) that it washed out the color in the photo, but it's orange on the sides as shown above.
Here it is on my coffee table. It's longer than the table so the ends droop down, but it looks cute with the vintage ceramic Halloween decorations set in the middle.
More Halloween Ideas
- Read Halloween Hue-Dunit
- Make a needle felted jack-o-lantern brooch.
- Paint a pumpkin.
- Make a spider from chenille stems.
