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How To Make a Tied Wreath

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how to make a tied wreath

How To Make a Tied Wreath

Last week I decided it was time to make my front door a present in the form of a tied wreath.

A few years ago I made a new wreath for my door every couple of months.

What with everything else that was going on, I’d stopped doing this and my poor door was wearing a wreath that I made 3 years ago!

Making some more bunting to hang off the front of my house, it occurred to me that the bits left over could be cut up to make the pieces for another tied wreath, and I could get two things done at once (almost!).

Here’s the bunting. I made it in the same way that I made this last year. The lacy looking bits are cut from an old net curtain. My funny old house looks so much more cheerful!

instructions for making a tied wreath

And here are the instructions for making the wreath.

Instructions For Making a Tied Wreath

You Will Need

Wire (I used garden wire, but a wire coat hanger would work too)
Strong tape
Scraps of fabric

Instructions

Bend the wire round into a circle about 25 cm in diameter. If the wire you are using is quite thin, wrap in round several times to make it stronger.

Secure the ends with the tape.

making a tied wreath

Cut your fabric scraps into pieces approximately 2 cm by 10 cm (3/4 inch by 4 inches).

Choose one of the prints and tie pieces to the wire, spacing them out evenly.
Just tying them once is enough. I wasn’t fussed about having mine with the different prints all in a certain order, but I did want them spread out a bit.

how to make a tied wreath

Then choose another and tie those on in the gaps.

tied wreath
how to make a tied wreath
making a rag wreath

Repeat until you have some of everything tied on.

If you still have some spaces, fill them in with any remaining pieces.

hand tied wreath

The wreath will look best if the fabric scraps are close together, so budge them up a bit so that you can fill up all the spaces.

Now I have a wreath that matches my bunting!

how to make a tied wreath
how to make a tied wreath

You might also like these wreath tutorials:

Autumn Tied Wreath

Spring Wreath

Dried Fruit Wreath

Felt Flower Wreath

I also have a Pinterest board devoted to wreaths which you can find here!

tied wreath

DIY Bunting Card

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DIY Bunting Card

DIY Bunting Card

Having concentrated mostly on sewing for the last few years, I’ve decided with one thing and another to change direction a little bit and include more of other crafts.

This is actually what I did when I started Tea and a Sewing Machine. It was called something else then, can’t remember what, and it was awful! The website was impossible to navigate, the design was eye-poppingly bad and the photos were blurry.

I promise we’ll not go back to that! But somewhere along the way, sewing took over and the other crafts were more or less abandoned.

So I’m bringing them back. I’m already feeling a lot more inspired than I have over the last few months, so we’ll try this for a bit and see how it goes.

If you’re mostly here for the sewing, don’t worry! There will still be sewing, just some other bits and pieces too.

So here’s the first non sewing project that I’ve written about in a while!

DIY Bunting Card

I was inspired to make a bunting card when I saw one that Julie from Sum of Their Stories had made.

She’d made a lovely card for the May challenge for The Year of Bunting.

When I saw it, after thinking how pretty it was, I remembered how I used to make cards and how much fun it was.

So I had a rummage, found some pretty paper, and had a go myself!

How To Make a DIY Bunting Card

You Will Need

https://www.sumoftheirstories.com/blog/make-a-floral-bunting-birthday-card

A5 card or a card blank
Scraps of pretty paper or washi tape
A larger piece of pretty paper (to cover the front of the card)
A paper doily (I got mine from Poundland)
Bakers’ twine
Buttons and beads (optional)
Paper flowers (optional)
Glue (PVA and a glue stick)
A ruler and a pencil

Instructions

If you’re not using a card blank, take your piece of card and fold it half.

Trim your paper so that it’s the same size as the front of the card.

Lay the doily over the top of the paper and move it about until you like where it is. Holding the card and the doily together, turn it over and draw round the paper. Cut out the doily.

diy bunting card

Stick the paper to the card, and the doily to the paper.

diy bunting card

Making the Bunting

To make the bunting, cut diamonds from the paper scraps. The easiest way to do this is to cut a rectangle and fold it half. Find the halfway point along the open edge and mark with a pencil. Join this point to the corners of the folded edge. Cut along the lines.

diy bunting card

Cut a piece of bakers’ twine. Cover the wrong side of one of the bunting diamonds with glue. Fold it over the bakers’ twine and stick both halves together.

If you’re making your bunting from washi tape, you can make it in the same kind of way. Cut a piece of washi tape and fold it over the bakers’ twine. Cut the corners off the rectangle to make it into a triangle.

My strings of bunting each had five flags on them, but yours can have as many as you like! A handy thing to remember is that for some weird reason, odd numbers of things look better.

Decide where to put your bunting on the card, and trim the ends of the bakers’ twine.

Stick the ends of the bakers’ twine to the card with PVA glue. You might like to use a little bit of glue stick glue to stick some of the flags down too.

diy bunting card

If you’re using buttons or beads, stick them between the flags with PVA glue.

diy bunting card

I added some paper flowers to the bottom right corner. You could use a button if you don’t have any flowers.

Another option would be to write something like Julie did on hers. If you want to get into hand lettering, I can recommend this book (affiliate link).

Easy DIY Felt Flower Wreath

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Easy DIY Felt Flower Wreath

Since my Christmas wreath came down, my poor front door has been left without a wreath.

I’ve got plans to cheer it up by painting it a pretty shade of green, but the weather’s been either too cold or too wet!

Until spring turns up (hopefully soon, so bored of winter now!), my door needs something.

Inspired by so many beautiful felt flowers on Pinterest, I decided to have a go at making some, which I could then use to make a felt flower wreath.

Making the felt flowers was surprisingly easy! The best kind of crafts are the sort when you can get good results easily, and these felt flowers definitely fall into that category.

I bought some buttons to put in the centre of the flowers, but in the end I decided they were pretty enough for a felt flower wreath without them!easy diy felt flower wreath

How to Make Felt Flowers

I have included some affiliate links.

You Will Need

Felt (I used these felt sheets from Minerva Crafts), a glue gun, items to make the circle templates, a willow or grapevine wreath.

Making the Templates

I made three templates by drawing round a bowl, the lid of a tin and a mug. This gave me templates that were 16 cm across, 12 cm and 9 cm.

In the end I decided that the largest flowers were a little bit too big, so I didn’t use them. I might glue them to hair clips and wear them in my hair instead!

Making the Flowers

1. Cut circles from felt.easy diy felt flower wreath

For the wreath I used 3 of the middle sized flowers and 9 smaller flowers.

2. Cut a spiral into the circle. As the centre of the circle will form the outside of the flower, the spiral will need to get wider towards the middle.easy diy felt flower wreath

3. Starting at the outside, carefully roll the spiral up. To start with, the bit you cut will be the bottom of the flower.easy diy felt flower wreath

4. Keep rolling! When you’ve rolled up the whole spiral, you might like to put a pin through the flower to hold it.easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath

5. Using the glue gun, put a blob of glue on the bottom of the flower. Stick the end of the spiral over the base of the flower.easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath

You could probably sew them if you prefer, or use PVA glue or fabric glue, but I’d recommend using the glue gun. I’d actually not used one before, but it was very easy, the things stuck very well and the glue dried nice and quickly.easy diy felt flower wreath

6. To make the leaves, cut a strip of green felt, then cut it into rectangles. easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath Cut a curved bit away from corner to corner, then do the same on the other side. easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath Don’t worry about getting them all the same size. You can use smaller leaves with the smaller flowers, and anyway in nature leaves are usually different, even on the same plant!

7. Stick 2 leaves to the base of each flower.easy diy felt flower wreath

Attaching the Flowers to the Wreath

I apologise for the lack of photos for the steps here, I got so carried away I kept forgetting to take pictures!

1. Take the 3 middle sized flowers and glue them to the wreath. I put the top and bottom flowers closer to the inside edge of the wreath with the leaves pointing inwards, in the middle flower closer to the outside edge with the leaves pointing outwards.

2. Take 3 of the smaller flowers and arrange them around one of the larger flowers.easy diy felt flower wreath

Then do the same with the other 2 larger flowers and the rest of the smaller ones. Don’t worry if there’s some wreath showing. You might want to cover it completely, but I think that being able to see wreath in between breaks it up a bit, like silences in music.easy diy felt flower wreath

3. Thread a piece of ribbon through the felt flower wreath and hang it up!easy diy felt flower wreath easy diy felt flower wreath

If you enjoy making door wreaths, you might like to have a look at my wreaths page!

 

How To Make a Burlap Christmas Wreath

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How To Make a Burlap Christmas Wreath

One of my favourite pre Christmas jobs is to make a wreath for the front door.

In the past, I’ve used a foam ring and made one with greenery and berries. But over the last few years, I’ve tried making different kinds of wreaths instead.

Making a green wreath was going to be harder this year as my source of Leyland Cypress has been cut down and replaced with a fence. It’s less work for the people who run the plant nursery behind us, but it’s less useful at Christmas!

The oasis flower foam people recently sent me a couple of rolls of burlap ribbon along with a vase and a lantern. I’ve used the lantern, and I wanted to make something with the ribbon.

I also made some felt poinsettias earlier in the week, and as somebody on Facebook suggested, they would look very nice on a wreath!

So I decided to make a burlap Christmas wreath.

Initially I decided to have a go at making a bubble wreath, but I discovered that my wreath form wasn’t the same as the ones used in the tutorials I’d found on YouTube. It’s also not as easy as you’d think, and you need masses of ribbon! I had 3 rolls, each with 3 metres on, and it wasn’t enough.

So I undid it and tried something else! This is what I came up with.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

The ribbon is plaited around the wreath form. The messy bit where the ends are is covered with the bow. The felt flowers are the same ones I made earlier in the week (the tutorial for them is here).

So here are the instructions for making a plaited burlap Christmas wreath!

I have included some affiliate links.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

Plaited Burlap Christmas Wreath Tutorial

You Will Need

A wreath form (I got these from Amazon), wide ribbon in 3 different designs (3 3 metre rolls will be plenty), felt flowers (the tutorial for the poinsettias is here), a pipecleaner or an elastic band, a needle and thread.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

The burlap ribbon I used came from Oasis Home and Hobby. The tartan stuff came from the weird little shop over the road from my house.

Making the Wreath

1. Using the pipe cleaner or an elastic band, secure the ends of the ribbon to the wreath form.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

2. Start to plait the ribbon around the wreath form. To do this, take the ribbon from the back around the edge, then through the gap in the centre. how to make a burlap christmas wreathhow to make a burlap christmas wreathhow to make a burlap christmas wreath

Keep going! Try to keep the plaited sections about the same size.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

When you get to the joins, just take care to cover them up. You can always pull the ribbon a little bit to hide them.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

3. When you get back to wear you started, tie the ends by wrapping them round the wreath once and pulling the ends through.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

4. To make the bow, make a loop with a piece of ribbon and sew the ends together. You might like to gather it a little bit.how to make a burlap christmas wreath

5. Hold the bow to the wreath over the ends, then take a piece of contrast ribbon and wrap it around the wreath and the bow. Sew a few stitches at the back to hold it in place.

6. Cut another piece of ribbon and fold it in half to make the tails of the bow. Sew it to the back of the wreath.

7. Take your felt flowers and arrange them at the bottom of the wreath on one side. Sew them to the wreath by sewing a couple of stitches into the back of the flower and passing the needle through the wreath. Sew a couple of stitches into the ribbon and tie off the ends. how to make a burlap christmas wreath

8. Hang the wreath on your door and expect to feel Christmassy every time you come home!how to make a burlap christmas wreathhow to make a burlap christmas wreath

If you like making wreaths, you might like to take a look at these wreath tutorials here.

 

How to Make a Needle Felted Pumpkin

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How to Make a Needle Felted Pumpkin

There’s something about autumn that makes me want to leave the sewing machine alone a little bit and reach for some woolly crafts.

I discovered wet felting a few years ago, and if you’re looking for a new craft to try, I’d recommend it!. The wool rovings are lovely to work with and it’s quite easy to get pleasing results, even if you generally don’t consider yourself to be artistic.

Needle felting has been on my list of things to try. I’ve never used wet felting it to make something solid, only pictures, and to be honest, I didn’t fancy clearing up all the mess and the water afterwards!

With wet felting, it’s the warm water, soap and rubbing that makes the fibres felt together.

With needle felting, the needle has barbs on it that catch the fibres, so the felting occurs that way.

It took me an hour or so to make a pumpkin, although the process could be speeded up with one of those pen things that allows you to use more than one needle.

Here’s how to make a needle felted pumpkin!how to make a needle felted pumpkin

Instructions For Making a Needle Felted Pumpkin

I’ve included some affiliate links.

You Will Need

Wool roving in autumn colours (including green), felting needle, foam mat. If you don’t have a foam mat, you could use a washing up sponge instead.

Making the Pumpkins

1. Pull off some of the roving. This is easier to do if your hands are further apart. Pull the fibres apart until it’s fluffy.

2. Roll the roving into a ball.how to make a needle felted pumpkin

3. Start jabbing the ball with the needle. Make sure you stab it all over so that it felts evenly. Just mind your fingers because stabbing yourself hurts!

As the fibres start to felt, you can shape it by poking the needle in diagonally. After a few minutes it will start to firm up. Keep going until you have a ball. It should be quite firm on the outside with no wispy bits, but still squishy.how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

4. To make the pumpkin shape, stab in a line from the north pole of your ball down to the south. Go over this a few times. Repeat on the opposite side. Keep going like this until your ball is divided up into little segments like a satsuma (or a pumpkin!).how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

5. To make the stalk, pull off some green roving and fluff it it up like you did for the pumpkin. Roll it into a sausage and start poking it with the needle.how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

6. Keep rolling it over and poking it with the needle. Leave one end fluffy and free. When it’s firm, fold the top over and felt it to the rest of the stalk.how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

7. Take the fluffy end and spread the fibres out. Position the stalk on the top of the pumpkin and using the needle, felt the stalk to the pumpkin.how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

Tips

To mix colours, pull the fibres apart. Put them together and keep pulling until the colours are mixed.

You can add other fibres to the outside of the pumpkin once it starts to hold its shape. Just remember that the gold stuff and the silk fibres won’t felt, so you’ll have to put a tiny bit of roving over the top, then felt it.

Remember that the felting process makes stuff smaller!

Have fun! It doesn’t matter if the pumpkins aren’t a perfect shape, because the real ones aren’t either.how to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkinhow to make a needle felted pumpkin

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