DIY Marigold Garland for Dia de Muertos: Step-by-Step Guide
Learn how to create a durable and special marigold garland for Día de Muertos using felt, ribbon, pom-poms, and creativity.
Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a vibrant Mexican tradition where families honor their deceased loved ones with colorful altars. We always try to include a special flower in our ofrenda, and the most popular ones are marigold flowers, known as cempasúchil in Mexico.
One unique element that we can add to the altar or ofrenda is creating a marigold garland for it. And as much as we love using natural cempasúchilt flowers, crafting a garland that can be enjoyed year after year is equally appealing.
In this step-by-step guide, we'll show you how to create your marigold garland using simple materials like felt, ribbon, pom-poms, and a touch of creativity.
Follow along to add a meaningful and festive touch to your Día de Muertos celebrations.
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MATERIALS:
Felt sheets (orange and green)
Green ribbon
Large or medium size pom-poms similar to these
Safety pins or embroidery floss
Pipe cleaners (optional)
Regular chalk or tailor’s chalk
How to DIY Marigold Garland for Dia de Muertos:
Create the Marigold Petals
Cut two 5 x 5 inch square out of orange sheets of felt.
Use regular chalk or tailor’s chalk and draw a circle. The circle don’t need to be perfect but you can use something like a plate or a container lid as a guide for a perfectly round circle.
Cut the circle using fabric scissors.
Make a few cuts around your circle to create the marigold flower petals (Picture below). Leave a space in the middle to be able to assemble your marigold flowers in the next step.
Tip: You could draw a circle in the middle of the other circle to know where to cut, but this is totally optional.
2. Assemble the Marigold Flowers
Take one circular orange felt piece and apply tacky glue to the center of the circle.
Fold the circle in half and press firmly, fold it again one or two more times, adding glue in each time until you create a cone shape.
Repeat again with another circular orange felt piece until both form a cone-shaped. You need two cone shapes or two circular orange felt pieces to create one marigold flower.
3. Create the Marigold Leaves
Cut one 5 x 5 inch squares out of green sheets of felt.
Use regular chalk or tailor’s chalk and draw a circle. The circle don’t need to be perfect but you can use something like a plate or a container lid as a guide for perfectly round circle.
Cut the circle using fabric scissors.
Fold each felt circle piece in half and draw leaves with chalk. They will end up looking liken a green flower. (image below)
Tip: Cutting along the folded circle will ensure symmetrical shapes in your leaves and it will take half of the time to cut.
Tip: Cutting along the folded circle will ensure symmetrical shapes in your leaves and it will take half of the time to cut.
Cut the petals (picture below)
4. Attach the Marigold Flower with Leaves
Take two of the orange felt cone shapes you created above and glue them together. This will make one marigold flower.
Apply tacky glue or fabric tac glue to the center of the green felt leaves and glue them to the bottom of the orange marigold flower, pressing gently to make sure they stay in place.
Allow a couple of minutes to dry.
Attach the marigold flower with the leaves and create as many as you need for your garland!
5. Create more and more marigold flowers with the steps above!
6. Create the garland
When you have a couple of flowers use safety pins to attach them to a green ribbon. You could also sew the flowers to the ribbon using embroidery flossing and they will last longer for sure.
7. Decorating and Final Touches
Wrap pipe cleaners around the ribbon between each flower to add volume.
You can also attach pompoms to the ends of the pipe cleaners to add color and texture.
Arrange and adjust the flowers along the ribbon until you achieve the desired look.
Hang your garland in your favorite place and celebrate your creativity!
Tip: Experiment with different colors and shapes to personalize your garland even more. Maybe you can use this idea to make flowers in a different color and use them all year around.
These felt garlands offer a durable and beautiful option to decorate your home during Dia de Muertos celebrations.
They can be draped around your altar or ofrenda, hung along walls, draped across tables, or strung across doorways, adding a festive and colorful touch to your space. The versatility of felt ensures that the garlands can be reused year after year, making them a practical decoration choice we love.
