Tutorial: Making Cords for a Garland Finish

While making the tutorial for the 2021 Ornament of the Month Shape Construction I realised that it would be clearer if I split the cord making part from the ornament making part of the tutorial, so here is a second cording tutorial. For general cording making instructions look here. This tutorial expands on the previous tutorial so knowing the basics is required. There are three options for how to make cording for a garland finish.

First there is the double loop that can be used to join a garland together — I used this for my 2015 garland. It looks like the photo above. You will need about 48"-60” of floss to make each loop. You add each end of the cord three stitches away from each side of the ornament.

Then there is the cord that links to a metal spacer.

Version one — the double cord — also used for the final ends of the garland to hang in the tree.

For the end loop or double cord garland you will need about 60" of floss to make the cord as per the cording tutorial. Once you have your cord thread a needle with some thread and slide it through one of the holes of your spacer.

Carefully slide the needle through the hole of the unknotted side of the cord.

Bring the needle back through the hole in the opposite direction that it came out of.

Pull the thread, and the cord through the hole.

It might be a bit snug, but it should fit. At this point you need to either tie both ends together and neaten up the ends for an end loop, or tie a knot in the end that you just pulled through the hole if you are making a double loop to the ornament.

Version two is the single cord to the spacer. To make a single cord you will first need to cut 24" of floss. Fold it in half and tie a knot as you normally would to make a cord. If you are making a different colour cord per month then carefully make sure you thread the cord through the correct side. In the photo above you can see I'm making the right-hand cord, so I put the loop through that side of the spacer.

I wasn't able to make photos of the next steps, partly because oldest is at work and youngest is doing online school, and partly because I *still* don't have 4 arms — drat! I'll add pictures at a later point if I can organise things, but it may take a couple of months depending on when I can snag extra hands during daylight hours.

With the spacer on the untwisted floss it's time to make the cord as you normally would, twisting the floss till it is the “right” twist depending on your preference.

Then make sure the spacer is in the centre of the twisted floss and bring the ends of the cord together and let things twist into place. For cord this short I generally hold the spacer between my teeth as I bring the ends together to make sure it's in the centre.

Then tie the ends into a knot and your cord-on-a-spacer is done! It's easier to add both ends of the cord to the spacer before adding in the ornament, especially towards the end of the garland, so now is a good time to add the next month's side of the cord.

But what if you want multicolour cords but no spacers?

• Then take 24" of each colour floss that you wish to use. 
• Tie the ends of the first colour floss together.
• Make it into a cord.
  
• Tie the ends of the second colour together.
• Thread the second colour floss through the unknotted side of the first as if it was a spacer (as mentioned above).
• Make the second colour into a cord, making sure that when it comes time to let the cord twist together that the first cord is in the centre.
• You will now have two colours of cord joined together with no knots.
  

I hope this was helpful for you!