DIY Driftwood Sailing Boat Decoration

by Anna Souter

30 Minutes

Easy

Whenever I go to the beach, I'm always collecting shells, sea glass and bits of driftwood. They usually end up sitting in a drawer gathering dust; shells look so much prettier when they're still wet, don't they? But this weekend I decided to try making a driftwood sailing boat.

diy driftwood sailing boat decoration, crafts, home decor

For the full tutorial, go to http://annalouiseathome.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/craft-driftwood-sailing-boat.html

What you'll need:

2 pieces of driftwood - one for the hull and one for the mast

1 piece of material big enough for a sail

Little fabric triangles or bells for the rigging

String/ribbon

2 pins, drawing pins, tacks or staples

Step 1. Super glue your "mast" into your driftwood boat. Prop it up in the right position and leave it to dry.

Step 2. Press a drawing pin or a tack into each end of the boat (you might need to tap them in with a hammer). These are to keep your rigging in place.

Step 3. Prepare your sail. Measure out approximately how big your sail needs to be and cut your material to size.

Step 4. Hoist the sail! How you do this will probably depend on what sort of fabric you're using. My fabric, apart from being hilariously retro, was very liable to rip. I tied a piece of string around the bottom of the mast before using a needle to thread it through the bottom left corner of the sail. I sewed it along the bottom of the sail and tied the other end of the string onto the pin at the end of the boat. I then tied the top corner of the sail directly to the top of the mast, carefully pulling it taut.

Step 5. Make your rigging. Tie a piece of string or ribbon from the top of the mast to the pin or staple on the opposite side to the sail. For my first boat, I decided to make little flags by cutting little triangles of contrasting fabric and attaching them to the string with a simple stitch. This time I made use of the little bells that come on the collars of Lindt bunnies.

These make such pretty decorations and gifts. The big boat currently lives on top of our bathroom mirror and the little one is going to sit on the window frame. They're very light, so it's easy to blue tack them in place. Have fun making your own!