A Thrifter in Disguise: St. Patrick's Day Decor: Shamrock Sash

Irish Eyes are Sure to Smile on this Easy 10-Minute Craft

Simple St. Patty's Day Cheer for Your Table

So, big surprise here: I'm sick of winter, and I'm totally ready for spring (but come on, who isn't?), and in my endeavor to help this long-awaited season come along, I've been looking for some new ways to bring a little "spring cheer" into the house.

Here's where the idea came from: I ran into Pier One the other day (looking for something specific that I never found), but on my way out, I noticed one of their chairs adorned with a cute cotton-tail sash, and it caught my attention (pic below). I liked it, but not enough to buy it--there was something a little off about the design, but the concept stuck with me.

Source: Pier One

I can't explain exactly what wasn't working for me, but I envisioned something a little less fancy. And with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I decided to incorporate it into my theme.

So I grabbed some felt, burlap ribbon, and my glue gun, and the St. Patty's Day Chair Sash was born. It literally took me about 10 minutes to make each of them (I made two in total), and the materials cost about $6--so $3 for each chair.

St. Patrick's Day Chair Decor: Shamrock Sash

Materials (to make one sash):

2 Sheets of Felt in Different Colors: I used STIFFENED for the bottom layer and regular (it also happened to be adhesive but that isn't necessary) for the top.
Burlap Ribbon: I can't remember exactly where I got this green roll; I had it in my stash... but most of the big craft stores have a good selection.
Glue Gun
Good Scissors
Shamrock Template (make your own or you can print mine here).

Process

Using your template, cut a shamrock shape out of your TOP layer color (the darker color for me). I pinned the template to the felt so it didn't slide around so much.

Next, pin first shamrock to second. Then, cut around it, leaving about 1/4-1/2" border so the bottom layer is visible behind the top. This is where the "good" scissors come in handy. I had to use my fabric scissors to get a nice, clean cut through both layers. How much space you leave as a border is up to you--depends on the look you're going for. I recommend erring on the more generous side--you can always cut more off later if you want.

Make a Cheap St. Patrick's Day Decoration

Line up the shamrocks and attach top shamrock to bottom. My top layer happened to be adhesive, which made it easy to stick on (but harder to cut through). If you aren't using adhesive felt, attach using fabric glue or your glue gun.

Measure out how much ribbon you will need for your chair, leaving about 1.5" overlap at the ends. Pin in place. The sizing can be tricky--you need to be sure to leave enough "wiggle-room" so that you can slide it over the top of the chair, but not so much that it will slide to the bottom! You may need to play around a little.

Hot glue the ends together. Be careful! The ribbon has lots of holes in it, so it's easy to get burned with the glue! I used my lo-temp glue gun, so that helped, but it was still hot!

Hot glue the shamrock to the ribbon, making sure the ribbon seams aren't visible from the front!

And that's all! So easy and so cute. Sure to remind you that SPRING is on its way ;)

Now that I see how easy it was, I may try to make my own version of the cottontail chair sash, too... Easter is also approaching!

But for now, I'll be happy with this, keeping me (somewhat) content until I feel "the sun shine warm against my face." ;)

Tutorial for St. Patrick's Day Chair Decor

Need an idea for a St. Patrick's Day snack? Check out the Healthy and Fun GREEN Fruit Cups featured in this post!

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