Adapted from the 'Union Jack Yarn Heart Garland' on the favecrafts website. I've added the lengths of wool required for each stage (as I hate waste) and I've created the rectangular version, which is simpler for children to complete.
**** Do use up any wool or yarn that you already own, but when you next want to stock up on wool, buy 100% British REAL wool, from actual sheep. Most 'wool' is sadly acrylic or polyester, composed of plastic fibres. Ewe & Ply have an amazing selection of colours and they post out plastic-free too****
1. First cut your shape from firm corrugated cardboard.
The heart is 8 cm wide and 7 cm high.
The rectangle design is 10 cm wide and 7 cm high.
2. Colour in your cardboard shape with a blue pen - so it doesn't matter if bits of cardboard show through.
3. Whichever shape you choose, measure out 10 meters of blue wool. I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (746 Harbour Blue).
For the HEART:
10 m blue wool
1.5 m white wool (diagonal cross)
1 m red wool (diagonal cross)
2.5 m white wool (upright cross)
1 m red wool (upright cross)
20 cm string to hang it up
a) Make little cuts with scissors all around the edge of the heart shape, so the wool can be notched into these and it won't slip off. The notches only need to be about 3 mm long and I made them about 1 cm apart, all the way around.
b) Use paper tape (ours is 24 mm in width) to stick the end of the blue yarn onto the back of your coloured-in heart, my eldest child coloured the paper tape in blue too at this point (which I hadn't thought to do, but I would recommend).
c) Wrap the 10 meters of blue yarn around the heart until it is covered fairly evenly. Try not to pull the yarn too tight or too loose, keep an even tension as you bind it round.
d) Whichever side looks neater keep as the front from now on, the reverse side is where you will tie knots when you change thread colour.
e) Measure out 1.5 m of white yarn. I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (011 Arctic White). Tie it onto the previous (blue) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap it around the heart to make a diagonal white cross, I did 6 loops of white wool one way, then 6 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
f) Measure out 1 m of red yarn (less is needed than for the white, as the stripe needs to be thinner - so the white shows around the edges of the red). I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (556 Crimson Red). Tie it onto the previous (white) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the red wool around the heart to make a diagonal red cross, over the top (but not fully covering) the white cross. I did 3 loops of red wool one way, then 3 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
g) Measure out 2.5 m of white yarn. I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (011 Arctic White). Tie it onto the previous (red) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the white wool around the heart to make an upright white cross. I did 10 loops of white wool one way, then 10 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
h) Measure out 1 m of red yarn (less is needed than for the white, as the stripe needs to be thinner - so the white shows around the edges of the red). I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (556 Crimson Red). Tie it onto the previous (white) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the red wool around the heart to make a diagonal red cross, over the top (but not fully covering) the white cross. I did 4 loops of red wool one way, then 4 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
i) Tie the end of the red wool to another thread on the back of your decoration, so it doesn't unravel. Cut any loose ends down to 0.5 cm in length - MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL ON THE BACK OF YOUR DECORATION - and tuck them under the wrapped wool to make the back look fairly neat.
h) Check the front of your decoration, if any threads need adjusting slightly then do so.
i) Cut 20 cm of wool or decorative bakers twine - I like the Nutscene brand of twine as it is made in Scotland and is packaged and sent-out plastic-free.
j) You can use your decoration during patriotic events (Jubilee, Royal Weddings etc) and the rest of the time it can be a Christmas decoration, so it will bring you joy to hang it on your festive tree for years to come. Eventually you can compost your decoration - if you have used actual wool (most wool is sadly acrylic or polyester, composed of plastic fibres). Do use up any wool or yarn that you already own, but when you next want to stock up on wool, buy 100% British REAL wool, from actual sheep. Ewe & Ply have an amazing selection of colours and they post out plastic-free too.
************************************************************************************************************************
For the RECTANGLE design: ***This requires more red wool and white wool than the heart***
10 m blue wool
3.5 m white wool (diagonal cross)
2 m red wool (diagonal cross)
5 m white wool (upright cross)
3 m red wool (upright cross)
20 cm string to hang it up
A) Use paper tape to stick the end of the blue yarn onto the back of your coloured-in rectangle, my eldest child coloured the paper tape in blue too at this point (which I hadn't thought to do, but I would recommend).
B) Wrap the 10 meters of blue yarn neatly around the rectangle, top to bottom so the wool strands are all vertical. Try not to pull the yarn too tight or too loose, keep an even tension as you bind it round.
C) Whichever side looks neater keep as the front from now on, the reverse side is where you will tie knots when you change thread colour.
D) Measure out 3.5 m of white yarn. I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (011 Arctic White). Tie it onto the previous (blue) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap it around the heart to make a diagonal white cross, I did 7 loops of white wool one way, then 7 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
E) Measure out 2 m of red yarn (less is needed than for the white, as the stripe needs to be thinner - so the white shows around the edges of the red). I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (556 Crimson Red). Tie it onto the previous (white) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the red wool around the heart to make a diagonal red cross, over the top (but not fully covering) the white cross. I did 4 loops of red wool one way, then 4 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
F) Measure out 5 m of white yarn. I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (011 Arctic White). Tie it onto the previous (red) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the white wool around the heart to make an upright white cross. I did 12 loops of white wool one way, then 12 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
G) Measure out 3 m of red yarn (less is needed than for the white, as the stripe needs to be thinner - so the white shows around the edges of the red). I used 100 % British natural wool, from Ewe & Ply (556 Crimson Red). Tie it onto the previous (white) yarn, making sure the knot doesn't show on the 'good' side. Wrap the red wool around the heart to make a diagonal red cross, over the top (but not fully covering) the white cross. I did 7 loops of red wool one way, then 7 loops the other way. Check the cross looks neat on the front, if it needs adjusting then do so.
H) Tie the end of the red wool to another thread on the back of your decoration, so it doesn't unravel. Cut any loose ends down to 0.5 cm in length - MAKE SURE THEY ARE ALL ON THE BACK OF YOUR DECORATION - and tuck them under the wrapped wool to make the back look fairly neat.
I) Check the front of your decoration, if any threads need adjusting slightly then do so.
J) Cut 20 cm of wool or decorative bakers twine - I like the Nutscene brand of twine as it is made in Scotland and is packaged and sent-out plastic-free.
K) You can use your decoration during patriotic events (Jubilee, Royal Weddings etc) and the rest of the time it can be a Christmas decoration, so it will bring you joy to hang it on your festive tree for years to come. Eventually you can compost your decoration - if you have used actual wool (most wool is sadly acrylic or polyester, composed of plastic fibres). Do use up any wool or yarn that you already own, but when you next want to stock up on wool, buy 100% British REAL wool, from actual sheep. Ewe & Ply have an amazing selection of colours and they post out plastic-free too.
Adapted from the 'Union Jack Yarn Heart Garland' on the favecrafts website. I've added the lengths of wool required for each stage (as I hate waste) and I've created the rectangular version, which is simpler for children to complete.