Spiral Twirlers

Every garden deserves some whimsy and adding twirlers to various places means you can watch them twirl gently in the breeze.

I hope all of you are enjoying a lovely summer. Even though I’ve been taking a break from posting on a regular basis I’ve been making things for the garden and today I want to share a spiral twirler that I recently made. I had one several years ago but the plastic canvas gets brittle outside in the weather so it needed remaking. The pattern was designed by Carol Nartowicz and was published in an edition of Quick & Easy Plastic Canvas that is not published anymore and after a lot of searching online I managed to find the pattern online if you want to make one.

You need half sheet each of a main and a contrasting colour of 7 count plastic canvas. The photo makes the twirler look bigger than it actually is. Finished size is only about 15 cm. x 10 cm. (6 inches x 4 inches) in size.

making a spiral twirler at craftygardener.ca

Using 7 count plastic canvas cut one from each colour, 27 x 40 holes. The fiddly part is cutting out the alternating spokes.

You also need 2 long pieces 2 x 77 holes, in either colour.

To do the assembly you need a needle and yarn or you can use plastic lacing in place of the yarn. Place one colour on top of the other colour and start attaching the long strip to the ends. I did a double stitch in the first one just to be sure it was secured.

The spokes are joined on every 4th hole on the long strip but you make a stitch in every hole. Spokes will spread out and twist to form the spiral as you join on the end piece. Photo 5 shows one side all stitched and the spiral has just magically appeared.

This is a photo of the original one that I made using different colours of plastic canvas. The new one hangs in the honeysuckle shrub and twirls gently in the breeze.