Today, I am going to show you how to make a burlap wreath! Buying a pre-made burlap wreath was WAY out of my price range and I figured I’d see what I could come up with for less than $20! Once I figured out the looping technique, it was a piece of cake to get the wreath completed, fluffed up and hung on the door for the world to admire. To make mine more versatile, I attached my ribbon to a piece of floral wire and tucked it into the wreath. Now, when I want to change my wreath’s “look” for a holiday or season, I can just carefully pull out the wire and ribbon and insert a new one.
Supplies
1 wire wreath form (I used a 12″ one)
2-3 rolls burlap ribbon, 3″ wide
Scissors
1 yard of decorative ribbon, optional
6-8″ floral wire, optional
Directions
Unroll several feet of burlap. On the raw edge, fold the end of the ribbon in half. To anchor the burlap, weave the folded edge through 2-3 wire sections from the back of the wire frame to secure.
Make a loop with the burlap and tuck it into the first slat to begin making your wreath. Pull the loop up through the slat to your desired loop size. For mine, I tucked three fingers into the loop and adjusted the burlap accordingly. This ensures the loops are relatively the same size throughout your entire wreath.
Carefully, create the next loop, using the technique above. This loop will be tucked into the next slat down on the wreath form. Continue working up and down the slats until the wreath is as full as you want it to be. Once you have several loops made, flip the wreath over and fluff or arrange the loops to be fuller as shown below. If you wreath is sparse, carefully slide the loops to one side to make more room for another row of loops. If it is too full, consider removing a row. Continue making loops around the wreath, fluffing and arranging as you go. Occasionally, stop and look at your wreath from the front to make sure it is symmetrical and the loops look pleasing.
Optional: To create a removable ribbon, place the ribbon printed side down on the table. In the center of the ribbon, place the floral wire. Tie a bow around the floral wire and bend the floral wire together at the back of the bow, twisting wire together if desired. Tuck wire into the wreath and arrange bow.
Helpful hints:
- The bigger your loops are, the fuller your wreath will be, and the more burlap you will use.
- Burlap sheds, so be prepared when creating your wreath.
- Consider how big the space is between your storm door and inside door when deciding on how large to make your loops.
- After completing one section of loops, determine if you like the fullness and size. If so, use the same number of loops in each wreath slat section to make it easier.
- Do not use burlap with wired edges.
- For a 12″ wreath, I used three-fingers’ width of burlap for each loop, four loops to a slat section. It took a little more than two rolls of burlap (10 yards each).
- If you cannot find 3″ burlap, use what you can find. If you use 5″ wide burlap, adjust your loops and wreath size accordingly. Using 5″ burlap will allow you to use less yardage, using 2″ burlap will require you to use more yardage.
- Where do you buy the supplies? I purchased my burlap from Walmart rather inexpensively – less than $5 for a 10 yard roll. My wreath form I purchased at Hobby Lobby for less than $5. They do sell these at Walmart, but they did not have the size I wanted. Ribbon can be purchased at either Walmart or Hobby Lobby.
Julia is the divorced mom of twins, a blogger, a sometimes crafter, crazy snailmailer, and a corporate bean counter. In her "spare" time, she scrapbooks, travels, makes cards, blogs, designs jewelry, searches for missing cleats and pom poms, enjoys good dark chocolate, and sneaks naps.