I’m so excited to share with you this free project for the Simple Seasonal Swag! When I first got my Lucet Fork I took it out of the box, gazed lovingly at it, and read through the instructions. Then I sat down with it and a ball of yarn and got to work on yards and yards of cord. When I was done making my cord I looked at it and thought hmm, what can I make with this? While I didn’t have any immediate inspiration, after I walked away and let my brain think on it, I had several exciting ideas! One of them was the simple seasonal swag!
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What you’ll need
Yarn
For this project I used Brava Worsted and Bulky Weight yarn. In Brave Bulky I used the colorway Dublin. In Brave Worsted I used the colorways Tidepool, Currant and Silver. These yarns are great for a wide variety of projects as well as practicing stitches. It is sturdy enough to show great stitch definition, but soft and flexible enough to glide easily through the hook and on the Lucet Fork. I’ve saved a skein just for practicing stitches and it has held up super well to lots of frogging! I’ve also used it in several pattern designs and it has held up super well to wearing. It also comes in a great variety of colors!
Lucet Fork
For this project I used my Furls Lucet Fork. I love the way it feels in my hand. They’ve really paid attention to detail. The handle fits nicely in my hand and has a place to rest my thumb making it easy and comfortable to hold. It’s a little heavier than a wooden Streamline hook, but is still very lightweight and easy to use for longer periods of time. The tines of the fork curve in slightly helping to keep the yarn in place while you wrap it and make tensioning the yarn easier.
If you’re looking for a more affordable Lucet Fork to try or you know a child who would like to try their hand at making cord, I found this one on Amazon.
Pom Pom Maker
I must confess that I purchased my pom pom makers after many hours of trying to make the perfect pom poms around pieces of cardboard. While it’s totally possible to make a great pom pom using things you have around the house, I have found these pom pom makers to be an inexpensive and helpful addition to my craft tools. Especially if you love adding yarn pom poms to your projects, they’re definitely worth the investment! They’ve saved me so much time and help to waste less yarn. For this project I used a 2 1/2 inch pom pom maker and a 1 5/8 inch pom pom maker.
Locking Stitch Markers
For the Simple Seasonal Swag I used 6 locking stitch markers. Locking stitch markers are the stitch markers that look like little safety pins. While I love a fancy stitch marker when I’m knitting or crocheting, I found these simple stitch markers from Clover to be perfect for this project. I find locking stitch markers to be a handy tool to have around. Especially for this project, they simplify the whole process making it come together quickly and easily.
Sharp scissors
You can hack away at your yarn with a pair of kids craft scissors, but why make it hard on yourself? I find a nice, small, sharp pair of craft scissors to be ideal for making pom poms. Not only do they make cutting the pom poms off of the pom pom maker easier, they also allow more accurate and uniform shaping of each pom pom. I keep a couple little pair for myself just for yarn projects so they stay nice and sharp.
Painter’s tape
This may seem like a strange supply, but I found blue painter’s tape to be an easy way to accurately find where I wanted to hang my swag on my mantle. In the end, I also used the painter’s tape to stick it to my mantle!
Tape Measure
We are going to be doing lots of measuring in this project so a yardstick or tape measure is a must. I find I like working with a retractable tape measure like this one.
Mix and match
The Simple Seasonal Swag is totally customizable! You can mix and match varying lengths of cord, and size of pom poms! Change up what decorations you add to the peaks for different seasons and celebrations. You could even change the lengths of the cords and hang it over an entryway or doorway, or maybe even over a window! Listed below are yardage estimates to help you better customize your Simple Seasonal Swag!
Lucet Cord
Long cord (99″) 28 yards
Medium cord (90″) 25 yards
Short cord (81″) 22 yards
Pom Poms
Large pom pom (2 1/2″) 19 yards in bulky yarn, 24 yards in worsted yarn
Small pom pom (1 5/8″) 10 yards in worsted yarn
Please keep in mind that the yardage needed to make the pom poms can vary greatly depending on how fluffy you make your pom poms.
Making Your Swag
Cord
For my swag I made 3 lengths of cord using my Lucet Fork. If you don’t have a Lucet Fork or prefer the look of a crochet or knitted icord, those could be substituted. Please keep in mind that a substitution of a different type of icord may change the drape and look of the final swag.
If you’re not familiar with how to use a Lucet Fork, a full tutorial is available here.
When measuring your cord for length, I recommend laying it out flat on a large table or the floor. I found that measuring it on a soft surface like the couch was pretty inaccurate. Even less successful, was trying to measure it in my lap! Learn from my mistakes – ha ha!
Make the long cord approximately 99″ long.
Make the medium cord approximately 90″ long.
Make the short cord approximately 81″ long.
***My mantle is 78″ long. If your mantle is significantly shorter or longer, you may want to adjust the length of your cord.
Pom Poms
I wanted my entire swag to be made out of yarn so I chose to embellish the center points of my swag with pom poms! Pom poms are such a fun way to add a whimsical flair to any project. When I first started making pom poms mine looked totally awful!! There are definitely several tips and tricks to make your pom poms look photo worthy! If you’d like to learn about making the perfect pom pom, check out my full tutorial here.
I made a total of 4 large, and 6 small pom poms for my swag but you could use any number of pom poms to decorate your swag. You could even venture outside of yarn for some wonderful swag decorations. You could use dried or fake flowers or greenery, sparkly or wooden ornaments or decorations. You could even place your stocking hangers at the peaks of the swag.
Assembly
I am a very methodical person and I found the steps below for assembling my swag super handy and made each section symmetrical. If you’re more of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of person, you could absolutely just eyeball this step! Again, I recommend doing your measuring on the floor or a large table. Working on a hard surface makes the measuring more accurate and easier. I just kicked my kids and my dog out of the bedroom and closed the door while I did this step!
***My mantle is 78″ long. If your mantle is significantly shorter or longer, you may want to adjust the length of your cord.
- Starting from one end of the short cord, measure 27″ and place a locking stitch marker. Then starting from the stitch markers, measure 27″. Measure the final section, which should also be 27″.
Don’t stress about these measurements too much. This is meant to be a fun and simple project, if you find your last section isn’t exactly the right length, you can either fudge the other sections a little bit. Or if you find the last section to be too long, starting from the finishing end, you can unravel your cord a little bit.
- Starting from one end of the medium cord, measure 30″ and place a locking stitch marker. Then starting from the stitch markers, measure 30″. Measure the final section, which should also be 30″.
- Starting from one end of the long cord, measure 33″ and place a locking stitch marker. Then starting from the stitch markers, measure 33″. Measure the final section, which should also be 33″.
- Tie one end of all three cords together.
- Line up the first three stitch markers, cut a 10″ length of matching yarn and tie the 3 cords together.
- Line up the second three stitch markers, cut a 10″ length of matching yarn and tie the 3 cords together.
- Tie the final ends of all three cords together.
- Tie the tails of the pom poms together in your desired configuration.
Hanging
If your mantle is 78″ long like mine, starting from one end, Measure 26″ and place a piece of painter’s tape to mark the spot. Next starting from the opposite end of the mantle, measure 26″ and place another piece of painter’s tape. I found that measuring from both ends gave me a more symmetrical placement.
While you could get fancy with hooks and other things to affix your swag to your mantle, I just used painter’s tape and the yarn I tied the three chords together with to tape my swag to my mantle. Once you have your swag hung, step back and take a look, it may take a little adjusting. In my personal opinion, making the swag look right is more important than it being exactly mathematically accurate. Once you have your cord taped up, add your embellishments, in my case pom poms, and you’re done!
Want to share this project with a friend or save it for next year? Pin it below!
Projects & Patterns
More fun projects and patterns coming soon!
