Patriotic Wreath Tutorial

I doubt that it was necessary to do a complete tutorial for this wreath, since it wasn’t my idea and there’s already a tutorial for one here, but I got a lot of comments on both facebook and instagram when I posted the finished product so I thought what the heck.  My mom was coming down to visit and asked me to make another one for her, so I decided to document it.  I did mine a hair different than the original tutorial calls for, so maybe this is easier?  Either way, here you go.  :)

First things first, gather your supplies (all mine were from Hobby Lobby, and there’s a 40% off coupon this week – score!):

* Straw wreath

* 8 pieces each – Red, Blue, White felt

* Box of straight pins

* Piece of white foam

* Extras:  Glue gun, scissors, floral/craft wire

Once you have everything, sit down with your felt and cut each piece into 12 mini-squares.  The felt pieces measure 9x12, so cut them 3x3.

I cut 3 pieces of felt at a time… otherwise this takes a while.

After your squares are cut, start pinning!

Take one square of white, and fold it corner to corner, like so.

Then fold it across, corner to corner again.

Take a straight pin and tack the centered point down in the middle of your wreath.  You’ll want to start on the top/front of the wreath and work around it.

Put four folded squares together like this, then pull the edges in toward each other and fluff them up.  It’ll look like a pretty felt flower.  :)

Once you have your center pieces situated, pin more squares around to fill the wreath from top to bottom.  Make sure you make a “v” with the design, though.  The top needs to be wider than the bottom, inner section.

When your white section is about three inches across, begin your next section of red.  I used the four pieces point-to-point method again, working around it to fill in.

When it’s the same width and fullness of the white, move on.

Then keep moving on… Rinse… Repeat.

Like the original tutorial, I liked the look of the white bordering the blue so I made sure to have five white sections/four red.

When the white/red stripes are finished, start with your blue.  There should be about 1/3 of the wreath left for this, and you can go about it a little haphazardly if you want to.  This section doesn’t have to be nearly as meticulous as the others since it’s all blending together anyway.

When everything looks to be covered, go back around and make sure you don’t see bare spots from any angle.  Aside from the part that will touch your door, you want no signs of straw!

Next, make your stars.  The original tutorial used card stock and I chose foam… so do whatever you want here.  I free-handed my stars the first time, but then saw a cheap wooden version (for $.50) when I went to get the supplies for mom’s wreath.  I used it as a template the second go-round and her stars turned out much larger, so again, do whatever you want!

When your stars are all cut out, fire up the trusty old glue gun (mine looks really gross in these pics… please forgive).  Cut your wire into long strips (long enough to wrap around the wreath) and attach one to each star.

Once it’s set, take another star and glue it over the wire, making a “star & wire sandwich.”

Next, lay your stars on your wreath and decide where you like them best.  Take the wire and weave them below the felt pieces, completely camouflaging the wire and only leaving the stars to sit atop the felt.

Reach around the back and marry your wires, tying them in a knot.  Trim the ends.

Place the rest of your stars and you’re done! 

Here was mom’s finished product:

And this is mine on our front door:

I love these wreaths more than I should, really.  They really pop against the front door and they’re so “luxurious” looking in person.  I’m considering leaving it up through Labor Day.

If you love it as much as I do but you’re of the “I’d rather pay someone to make it” variety, email me.  I’ll be glad to sell you one… :)