The birds are chirping, frogs are croaking, and the first green stems have started poking out of the ground. I want to plant things, build things, take care of things. The spring crafting (and nesting) bug has hit me again. I used to work in a mom and pop style gift shop, and made wreaths as part of my job, but I never had one in my house. So I decided it was high time to do something about it!
I have never had the wall space for them, nor the decorating savvy to incorporate them into our decor. Then one night last week I was cruising around Pinterest and this
wreath (originally from Etsy) caught my eye. It was similar to what I wanted, but the wrong colors. I have a ton of fabric on hand so to the stash I went to find the colors to make this project. I don't know other techniques of doing this, I just kind of made it up as I went along and thought I would share.
This project also could be described as a dollar store type craft. Dollar Tree actually. I got all my supplies except the fabric at the dollar tree. Excluding the stuff I had on hand already, this wreath cost $3 to make!
Supplies Needed:
Fabric
Wreath form or wire
Embellishments (optional)
Hot glue and glue gun
Floral tape if (using wire)
Rotary cutter and mat, or measuring tape and scissors
Ribbon
To make this wreath:
Start by making yourself comfortable...you are going to be at this for a while. If you have a cutting board and rotary cutter, use them. Cutting out large stacks and multiples will be a breeze. Scissors and a measuring tape can also be used. Cut fabric approximately 7 inches by 1 1/2 inches. An even 1 inch is also okay, but at 2 inches the fabric becomes very hard to tie.
Next, form your wire or lay out your wreath form. I used gold floral wire I found at the Dollar Tree. It was six feet, and I just doubled it over, for sturdiness, and used the loop formed from the bend to twist the ends around. Shape the wire into a circle. Don't worry if it isn't perfect.
Next, I wrapped green floral tape around the whole form to reinforce the wire. I got this item from the Dollar Tree as well. A word of warning: It may not be sticky when you bring it home. i just rolled with it, and just a dab of hot glue here and there and it worked just fine.
After you have wrapped your form, attach your ribbon hanger. 1 strand didn't look right on my form, so I used 6, in varying widths. My plan had been to braid it, but the finished braid looked kind of odd so I put them on straight. I attached them by gathering the strands together and using hot glue to secure around the wire.
Lay fabric out in the order you want to tie it to your wire. Alternately, you can be a rebel like me and just slap it on any old way. My dog jumped in my pretty piles so 6 became 1. He's so cute I couldn't be mad!
Now, start tying the fabric onto the form. I made a basic knot, but you could also tie the pieces like you would on a tutu, though it may change the measurements of your fabric strips.
Tip: I used two strands of the same color fabric at a time to make my ties, for more volume. If a fabric wasn't double sided (almost white on the back) I faced them toward each other before I made a knot and when done, the right side was facing up.
Work all the way around your wreath, sliding knots closer together as you go for maximum fullness. Include the spots connecting the ribbon to the wreath.
Once you have tied all your strips, you can decorate it if you wish. I put a few spring flowers near the bottom. To attach the flowers, I snipped the excess green piece off of the flower back and used hot glue to attach directly in the middle of the fabric tie the decoration would be in front of.
I love it! I will definitely be trying this technique again, though next time, I think I will use a wire form which has 2 areas for tying, making the wreath super full. For my side door though, this was perfect.
If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will try my best to answer them.
