how to make christmas garland with yarn

Christmas garlands are so fun to decorate with! They are so versatile, because you can use them on the tree, mantel or even draped on furniture or a tabletop. I absolutely love unique and colorful Christmas decor, and I made a strand of ADORABLE garland that I am obsessed with! Honestly, I’m ready to make another one! Want to know the best part? It is made with YARN!!! The color combinations are endless! I actually purchased all of the yarn I used at the DOLLAR TREE! I think y’all are going to love it!

For this project, I used the following supplies:

• Assorted yarn in seven different colors – I purchased all of mine at the Dollar Tree.
• Apple Barrel paints in coordinating colors to the yarn – I used the colors Red Apple, Fruit Punch, Cameo Pink, English Navy, Cloudless, Green Turquoise and Kings Gold.
• Assorted styrofoam balls in three different sizes – I used 21 balls total, 7 of each size. I purchased all from Dollar Tree.
• Cotton string
• Large needle – I purchased a multi-pack from PopShelf and used the three inch needle.
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Foam paintbrush

The first thing I did was divide the styrofoam balls by size and paint one of each size with a different color. For example, I painted one small, one medium and one large ball red. Then, I moved on to the next color. 

TIP: If you don’t want your hands to get messy, you can always use the needle as a “holder” for the styrofoam ball while you paint it. I preferred just to hold it and get messy, because it went faster! Ha ha!

I know this seems unnecessary since we will be covering them with yarn, but you don’t want to skip this step!

After the painting was complete, I let them dry for several hours before moving on to the next step! As you can see, I didn’t fully cover them…there is a little white peeking through, and that is totally fine!

Once the paint was completely dry, I started to wrap the yarn around the styrofoam balls. Because of the styrofoam texture, this was a pretty simple process. The yarn sticks pretty well to the cheap, rough surface styrofoam. If you have nice, smooth styrofoam, you may need a little glue to get started.

I just started wrapping the yarn around the balls until the surface was covered. I pretty much just rotated around the ball.

If the top and bottom start to build up just a bit from the yarn, just press down lightly on both ends with your finger and thumb to flatten it a little.

After each one was wrapped, I left a small tail of yarn before cutting the yarn away. 

Here are all of them wrapped! I’m already in love with this color scheme!

To finish off each one, I put a small dot of hot glue directly on the yarn and secured the end.

Next, I determined the color and size pattern I wanted to use and laid them out.

Then, I ran my cotton string through the eye of the large needle and tied a knot.

After threading my needle, it was time to assemble the garland! I simply pushed my needle through the center of each styrofoam ball and pulled it out from the other end. Because my needle was only slightly larger than the styrofoam ball, it’s handy to have a small pair of pliers or tweezers to help pull the tip of the needle through. 

I continued this process until all of them were on the cotton string. 

Then, starting at the end closest to the needle, I began separating them, leaving about a three inch gap between each yarn sphere. 

When I was done creating the gaps, I left about 7-8″ at the beginning and end of the garland. Then, I tied little loops at each end for hanging the garland.

In the end, my garland was about seven feet long!

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! I think the color combination looks very high end, and this only cost me around $10!!! It’s amazing how a little bit of yarn can turn into something so fabulous! 

I hope you will try this fun project and show me what colors YOU use!

Last Updated on July 14, 2023