I have a dirty little secret. I am a closet craft hoarder. Before you envision a disgusting home overflowing with junk, I do literally mean closet craft hoarder. I have a small closet overflowing with junk. That's it. Don't judge me. I save scrap leftovers from projects. I save fabric swatches. I take apart older crafts and save the pieces. But the thing is... I use this stuff! I use it for gift wrapping, wreaths, parties, and more.
Enough about my guilty pleasure though.... I was recently talking to a friend about fall decorations, telling her I didn't have a wreath, but that I could probably make one just with stuff in my closet.
I did some digging and laid out everything I could find that I thought could possibly go together in a fall wreath. I even had a 16" straw wreath form... And 5 different types of burlap. I chose 3.
I found several different fabrics, ribbons, cords, flowers, lace trims, and buttons.
I don't really know at this point what pieces I will use or how I will use them, but I will figure it out as I go along.
I did have the most of the medium brown burlap, so I decided that would be my base. I think the fabric is usually 48" wide, but I cut into it for a previous project, so it was probably around 42". I cut three 6ish" strips.
I hot glued one side of the first strip to the back of the wreath form and started wrapping, overlapping about every 4 inches.
Each strip had to end on the back of the wreath form, so I would cut it and glue the next strip on top of it and continue wrapping.
Until the whole form was covered. Notice the part where the ends meet. I will strategically cover it later. Plan ahead!
I trimmed the stray strings.
And now have the base to start designing on. I played with a few fabric combinations and ultimately decided to do some bunting and burlap rosettes. I started with the bunting fabrics and made a triangle template. Originally I was thinking of using this ribbon, but it didn't bend the way I needed it to, so later I replaced it with a gold cord.
I kept having an issue with the fabrics. I needed them to be sturdier. In case of rain, it couldn't be cardboard or any other paper product. I looked around the house for something that might help and found (don't laugh) the lid to my newly emptied spinach container sitting on the counter. I traced the template on it and cut 5 triangles from the lid.
I hot glued the fabrics on the triangles, overlapping around the back.
See!
The burlap did require a lining, so I used some random cream and brown scraps that I had to make them more opaque. But here are my 5 pieces attached to the gold cord.
Onto the rosettes! I cut two 2" strips. The brown was longer because I didn't want 2 rosettes of the same size.
On a scrap that I saved from the burlap that I wrapped the wreath with, I twisted the strip and started hot gluing it down in a spiral. Twist, turn, glue, repeat.
Until I had this!
I just trimmed the stray pieces and backing until I had 2 rosettes.
Then I added centers and leaves. All of which came from a gold glittery floral piece. I took apart the flowers, using petals as leaves and reusing the centers. The backside of the flower petals were orange so I used some face up and some face down. I glued everything onto the rosettes and attached to the wreath.
And here is the final product!
So, I did pay for these materials at one point, but I'd prefer to say I whipped this wreath together for $0 and more importantly - 0 trips to the craft store! I love it!
