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How to Make a Dried Citrus Wreath

December 10, 2016 · 11 Comments

How to Make a Dried Citrus Wreath

One of my favourite pre Christmas jobs is to make a wreath for the front door. Usually I’ll make one from greenery and berries, but this year I wanted to try something different.

This dried citrus wreath has slices of dried orange, lemon and lime, with bay leaves and ribbon in between.

It’s fairly easy to put together and the bits and pieces are all easy to find. A trip to the supermarket should cover it if you don’t have what you need already!

The bit that takes the time with this wreath is preparing the fruit slices, sorting out the bay leaves and cutting the ribbon. Once you’ve done that, it all comes together quite quickly.how to make a dried citrus wreath

Instructions for Making a Dried Citrus Wreath

I’ve included some affiliate links.

You will need

Thick garden wire or a wire coat hanger, about 85 cm
Wire cutters
or old scissors
Strong tape, like gorilla tape or electrical tape
About 60 dried fruit slices (8-10 in total of oranges, lemons and limes should be enough). Instructions for drying the fruit can be found here.
Ribbon (about 5 m cut into 15 cm lengths)
Bay leaves (the cheapest ones I found were Polish ones in Tesco)
Wide ribbon for the bow
Florists’ wire (optional)
String, raffia or bakers’ twine for hanginghow to make a dried citrus wreath

Assembling the Bits and Pieces

1. Cut the wire to size. If you’re using a wire coat hanger, just cut off the twisty bits and the hook. To do this, I cut through the plastic casing with the scissors, then bent it back and forth until it snapped.

If you’re using garden wire, you’ll need a length of about 85 cm.

You can make the wreath bigger or smaller by changing the length of the wire.

2. Cut up the ribbon. It will need to be in lengths of about 15 cm, into 4 roughly equal piles.

3. Sort out the dried fruit slices. You’ll need 8 piles with 7 in each pile. If there’s a lot of variation in size, choose larger slices to go in the middle of each group and smaller ones for either side. Check whether each slice has a hole in the middle. If not, poke a hole through with a knitting needle, darning needle or skewer.

4. Sort out the bay leaves. You’ll need 4 lots of about 15. Each bay leaf will need a hole through the middle.

5. Make the bow. Tie a bow in a length of wide ribbon. You could thread a piece of florists’ wire through the back, but if you don’t have any, strong thread will do.how to make a dried citrus wreath

Making the Wreath

1. Take one of the piles of fruit and start threading the slices onto the wire. Push them on so that they are about half way round.how to make a dried citrus wreath

2. Thread on one of the piles of bay leaves in the same way. I found the bay leaves to be quite brittle, so gently is the way to go!how to make a dried citrus wreath

3. Next thread on 2 more lots of dried fruit. You’ll be tying ribbons in between these once all the fruit and bay leaves are on the wire.how to make a dried citrus wreath

4. Thread on another pile of bay leaves, then another pile of fruit. You should have 4 lots of fruit slices, with bay leaves between the first and second group and the third and fourth group. This is one half of the wreath.how to make a dried citrus wreath

5. Take the other end of the wire and repeat steps 1 – 4.

6. Using the tape, stick the ends of the wire together. They’ll need to overlap by 5 – 10 cm. Wrap the tape around the overlapping part a few times to hold them securely.how to make a dried citrus wreath

7. Make a loop from the string or bakers’ twine and tie it to the top of the wreath.how to make a dried citrus wreath

8. Tie on the ribbons. These need to go in between the groups of citrus slices that are not separated by bay leaves, including the top part.how to make a dried citrus wreathhow to make a dried citrus wreath

9. Attach the bow to the top of the wreath. If you are using florists’ wire, wrap the wire around the wire of the wreath. Otherwise just tie it on.how to make a dried citrus wreathhow to make a dried citrus wreath

Now your dried citrus wreath is ready to hang on your door!how to make a dried citrus wreathhow to make a dried citrus wreath

If you have any dried fruit slices left over, you might like to take a look at these tutorials:

 Dried Fruit Decorationshow to make a dried citrus wreath

Some More Dried Fruit Decorationsdried citrus wreath

Dried Fruit Garlandhow to make a dried citrus fruit wreath

how to make a dried citrus wreath

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Filed In: Blog, Christmas, Wreaths / Tagged: christmas decor, dried fruit, how to

Nordic Star Cushion Tutorial

December 3, 2016 · 3 Comments

Nordic Star Cushion Tutorial

Decorating for Christmas is a lot of fun, but there’s no need to stop at Christmas trees and fairy lights!

Changing your cushions is an easy way to add a little bit of the current season to your home, and Christmas is no exception. You don’t even need to buy new cushion pads. Just slip the new covers onto your existing cushions!

This Nordic star cushion tutorial shows how to make a simple, envelope back cushion with a Scandinavian style star appliqued to the front. The star is made from 8 diamond shapes, and you can download the template for this here.

nordic star cushion coverI used fleece fabric in red and white as I love the warm snuggliness of fleece. It’s easy to sew and doesn’t fray. The hems can just be folded over and the appliqued pieces don’t need to backing with interfacing.

You could make the cushion in red and white, as I did, or you could use other colour combinations like grey and white or blue and white.

The cushion cover should fit a standard sized cushion pad. A 1 cm seam allowance is included in the measurements.

How to Make a Nordic Star Cushion

Cutting Out

From red fleece, cut 1 square 42 cm x 42 cm and 2 rectangles 42 cm x 30 cm.
From white fleece, cut 8 diamonds (you can download the template here).

Sewing Up

1. Take one of the red rectangles and hem along one of the long edges. Repeat for the other rectangle. Put them to one side.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

2. Take the red square and position the white diamonds onto it as in the pictures below. Pin them in place.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushionnordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushionnordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushionnordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

Don’t be tempted to skip this step! You’ll not get them all in, then you’ll have to spend lots of quality time with the unpicker. I’ve been there!

3. Using a long, straight stitch, applique the diamonds to the cushion front.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

4. Take one of the rectangles and place it top of the cushion front with the right sides together. The top edges need to be aligned and the hemmed edge should run across the middle of the cushion.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

5. Take the other rectangle and place it on top of the other pieces. This time the bottom edges should be aligned.

nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

Pin the pieces together, then sew around the outside of the cushion cover. I turned it over before sewing, just to be sure that I wouldn’t sew over the points of the star.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

6. Trim the seams and turn the cushion out. Pop a cushion pad inside.nordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushionnordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushionnordic star cushion tutorial diy christmas cushion

Now you might like to make a reindeer cushion or two to go with your new nordic star cushion!diy reindeer christmas cushion tutorial

If you liked this Nordic star cushion tutorial, you might also like these tutorials:

Christmas Present Cushionchristmas present cushion nordic star cushion tutorial

Nordic Star Decorationsnordic star cushion tutorial

Felt Bird Decorationsnordic star cushion tutorial

nordic star cushion tutorial

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Filed In: Blog, Christmas / Tagged: christmas decor, cushion, how to, scandinavian

Easy Christmas Table Decoration

November 10, 2016 · 4 Comments

Easy Christmas Table Decoration

This is my response to the 7th challenge of 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenge.

The challenge was to make a Christmas decoration using stuff found outside. The greenery I used was from my neighbour’s hedge, the berries were from the hedgerows and the pine cones came from the woods. The little dish I had already and the candle and the florists’ foam came from a funny little shop over the road from my house.

It’s very easy to make and the smell of the greenery plus the berries and the candle will put you instantly into a Christmassy mood!easy christmas table decoration

How to Make an Easy Christmas Table Decoration

You Will Need

A candle, oasis florists’ foam, florists’ wire, a small dish or container, some greenery, twigs with berries on, pine cones, anything else you would like to use. If you can’t find any berries, you could tie red ribbon round florists’ wire to add a splash of red.easy christmas table decoration

How to Make It

1. Using a sharp knife, cut your piece of oasis so that it fits inside your container. Pop it in the sink to soak. You’ll know it’s ready when it sinks to the bottom. It’ll probably take a couple of hours.

2. Gather your greenery and berries. Cut the greenery into pieces 10 – 15 cm long. They might need to be bigger if you are using a larger container.

3. Put your oasis into the container and press the candle into the centre.easy christmas table decorationeasy christmas table decoration

4. Starting at the outside, push the pieces of greenery into the oasis. They will need to be quite close together so that there are no obvious gabs. When you have been right the way round, start filling in the centre.easy christmas table decorationeasy christmas table decorationeasy christmas table decorationeasy christmas table decoration

5.Take a pine cone and a piece of florists’ wire. Wrap the wire around the bottom of the pine cone and twist the ends together.easy christmas table decoration

6. Push the wire into the oasis, near the candle, so that the pine cone sits on the top of the oasis.easy christmas table decoration

7. Take some of the berry twigs and push those in next to the pine cones.easy christmas table decoration

Your easy Christmas table decoration is now ready! Providing you water it every so often, the greenery and the berries should stay fresh over the Christmas period.easy christmas table decoration

Tips

Oasis needs a little while to soak, so you could leave it overnight, or pop it in the sink for a couple of hours while you do something else.

You don’t have to use a little dish, or even something that shape. Just use what you have! The lid from a coffee jar or from a jar of gravy granules would work just as well.

You can use any kind of evergreen, just see what you can find!

If you don’t have berries or pine cones, just use something else! You could use dried fruit slices (instructions how to dry out citrus fruit are here), or ribbon bows on florists’ wire.

When adding the pine cones and twigs or ribbons, odd numbers usually work best.

If you like the idea of using natural materials to decorate for Christmas, you might also like to take a look at these posts:

Christmas Wreath Tutorial

collage-xmas-wreath

How to Make Dried Fruit Decorationscollage-dried-fruit-decorations

How to Dry Citrus Fruit For Christmas Decorationshow-to-dry

Fruit Garlanddried-fruit-garland

Pine Cone Garlandcollage-pine-cone-garland

Dried Fruit Wreathdried-fruit-wreath

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Filed In: Blog, Christmas / Tagged: 12 days of christmas diy challenge, christmas decor, natural, table decoration

I'm Anna and I live in rural Norfolk in the UK. My mum taught me how to use a sewing machine when I was 10 and I haven't looked back! I love making all sorts of things and I hope you find inspiration here.

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