I have had wreath envy lately. A friend and neighbor of mine has had the cutest wreaths throughout the year, and so I finally asked her if she made them. She said she did, then she showed me her big, BRILLIANT secret. She has VELCRO on the wreath and changes out the flowers! I asked her if she would mind if I shared her genius on my blog, and she was gracious enough to allow me to.
What you'll need:
- 1 wreath form
- sewing pins
- 1 skein of yarn (something that will go with each season/holiday you plan to do)
- Flower making supplies: Felt / fabric; needle and thread; beads/buttons; fabric/hot glue
- Velcro--preferably something close to the color of your yarn
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
1. Tie a knot in one end of the yarn. Put a sewing pin through the knot and into the wreath form.
2. Wrap and wrap and wrap. Here's what I learned that sped this process up: (1) Wrap several loops around the form without trying to keep them close together, then stop every 10 or so loops and push them together; (2) As the skein starts getting more small, it will get looser. I would pull out several feet of yarn then wrap it around the center of the skein in tight loops. Then I held the wreath form between my knees and used both hands to wrap the yarn more quickly around and around.
3. Once you have covered the form, cut the yarn off and tie another knot in the end. Use another pin to secure it.
4. Hot-glue Velcro to the wreath where you will be placing flowers.
Now to make some flowers.I will share one tutorial for felt roses.
Here are some links to other flower tutorials:
I decided to share this rose tutorial for one reason: I avoid using hot-glue whenever possible, and the method of flower making I will show uses a needle and thread. Why go to the trouble, you ask? Isn't a hot-glue gun easier? I say NO. It is hot and messy. And using a glue gun to put something together that could be done with a needle and thread is asking for it to fall apart over time. A needle and thread is quick, clean, and secure. No glue clumps to pick at or hide.
1. Begin with a square-ish piece of felt. Round or scallop the edges.
2. Cut a swirl from the outside in. The larger you make the width of your cut, the deeper the rose will be. If you want a rose that is more wide and flat, make a skinnier swirl. This was a deep, small one.
3. Beginning at the center of the swirl, start a tight roll and work outward. **For the roses that I did a wavy/scalloped skinnier width cut, I started on the outside and worked inward with my rolling. Both ways work and achieve slightly different looks.
4. Continue rolling. Felt is great for these because it kind of sticks to itself as you go, so holding the rose in place as you work is easy.
5. Once it is all rolled up, turn it upside down. Using a needle and thread with a knot in the end, push through all layers of the base of the rose. On larger roses, I pushed through half of the layers to the middle first, then worked my way around.
6. Continue sewing back and forth through the bottom of the rose, working your way around the whole circle.
7. Tie off the bottom once it is as drawn in and secure as you want it.
8. Hot-glue (yes, it has it's purpose because it is a PAIN to sew through Velcro by hand) small squares of Velcro to the bottom of the flowers you make.
9. Arrange and re-arrange over and over again on your wreath!
I did a blanket stitch around some felt to make the leaves for this Spring/Summer wreath.
My neighbor let me borrow her Fall flowers to show this (I haven't made my own yet). Aren't they pretty? I was lucky they matched my yarn!
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