Braided Candy Canes

A Christmas Sweets tree would be unworthy of the name without some prominent candy canes, so I’ve come up with a couple of different options. Today’s uses strips of fabric to make a nice substantial ornament, but it’s easy and cheap enough that it would make a great package decoration too.

Start by cutting three strips of fabric 1 1/2″ wide. I did two white strips and one red strip and cut them across the full width of the fabric. Once I cut off the selvage ends, this was long enough to make two candy canes at the same time. Bunch the ends together and use a fabric glue to hold them in place.

While you’ve got the fabric glue handy, cover the end of a piece of wire with it and tuck that in between the layers of fabric.

Now just braid the strips together like you were doing your Barbie’s hair. The only trick is that to cover the wire from both sides you’ll need to bring one of the strips under the wire as you’re braiding. You’ll see as you go, it will make sense.

When you get the whole thing braided until you can’t braid any more, cut the wire off. Bunch the remaining fabric together, trimming as needed, and secure in place with fabric glue.

I found it easier to make these two at a time than to create more work for myself, so once I got the whole 45″ strip braided, I folded it in half and used a wire cutter to cut it. Then secure the newly cut ends with fabric glue.

Bend one end to make a crook and your candy cane is all done. I really liked the frayed edges because I thought it added a rustic look to the ornament that I hadn’t used elsewhere, but if you’re allergic to the messy edges you could cut your strips a little wider and hem them, or just use a non-fraying fabric like felt or fleece.