Awhile back, Hubs mentioned that he no longer wanted this sweater. I won’t bore you with how long ago we bought this sweater (23 years ago) or how long it’s been since he wore it (23 years). Clearly, the clothes police needs to be called on us. I couldn’t bring myself to part with it, knowing I could make something cute out of it.
When I saw this wreath over on Remodelaholic, I had the inspiration I needed.
I purchased a basic straw wreath from JoAnn’s. I’d like to say I used a coupon for this purchase, but as it turns out, I made 4 trips to JoAnn’s while my coupons all stayed home. The wreath was cheap enough that I didn’t sweat it. The 14” straw wreath is $3.49.
For the wreath, I figured the sleeves would be long enough to cover it and I was right, but just barely. I had to do some stretching to get them to meet up.
The straw wreaths come covered in plastic and I didn’t bother to remove it. The hot glue stuck really well to it and the sweater grabbed onto the glue well, too. You’ll need to get a feel for where to position the sleeve on the wreath. Start by pinning the sleeves onto the wreath to give you an idea of where to glue them.
Glue down one edge of the sleeve. I glued the inside edge in place first. Once it’s dry, overlap the excess material and trim it about 1/2” larger from the join. Fold the excess material under and glue it down.
I used to have a frosted glass window in my front door, which meant I couldn’t see the back of my wreaths from inside the house. Now I have regular glass, so I like my wreaths to look pretty from the back, too.
I knew I would be covering the sections where the sleeves join, but I’m OCD particular enough that I still want to know they meet up nice and purdy. I made sure to line up the ribbing on the end of the sleeve and I folded over the raw edge on the other end.
I made flowers using some left over wool fabric I had on hand. Because I’ve waltzed around the craft dance floor a time or two, I was able to make some of these by looking at the pictures. However, others I followed some online tutorials for the flowers.
I found tutorials that closely match how I made my flowers:
- Felt Flower Tutorial by Infarrantly Creative – These are the straight cut flowers. The big flower is from a really wide piece of fabric and the smaller flower is from a smaller piece.
- Felt Flower Tutorial by Infarrantly Creative – These are the angled cut flowers. Again, wider fabric gives you bigger flowers.
- Flower Tutorial by Someday Craft – I didn’t really do the amoeba shape she suggested. Mine were more or less just plain circles. Again, a button glued into the center finishes them off.
- Twisted Flower Tutorial by Rosy Corner Creations – I just glued a button in the middle after I was done.
- Classic Felt Flower Tutorial by Mrs. Priss – I only did one layer of petals and I glued each petal onto the back of the button, rather than gluing them into a circle first. I found they fit on the button better if I did it that way.
- Fringed Flowers by papernstitch – I didn’t fold the base of my fabric. I just cut the strips and left about 1/2” uncut. I also didn’t sew mine. I just glued the end to the rolled base and then glued the flower onto the wreath.
- Leaves – No tutorial. Cut a leaf shape. Make a coordinating leaf just slightly smaller than the first. Sew a running stitch down the middle in matching or coordinating embroidery floss (I used 3 strands of floss).
- Buttons – Find matching/coordinating buttons for flower centers in varying sizes. If you don’t have a button stash, I encourage you to start one. Buttons are a necessary staple of crafting, but have you shopped for buttons lately? It’s ridiculous how much they charge for them! A lot of my buttons came from my kids clothes. If the outfit/dress/shirt was too worn to pass on, I cut off the buttons and saved them. Many of the silver buttons I used in this wreath came from a dress my daughter wore when she was about 10 years old. Also, buying clothes from the thrift store specifically for their buttons is often times a lot cheaper than buying new ones from the fabric store (and end button rant now. I’ve said my piece. I can rest easy).
Dry fit the flowers to get an idea of placement. I just started making a few flowers, set them on the wreath, made a couple more, set them on the wreath, made a few leaves, set them…you get the idea. I just kept at it until I had a look that appealed to me.
Once you have an idea of where you want things, glue everything on. The wool of the flowers and the cotton from the sweater all held the glue very well.
Without further ado, here is the finished wreath.
The bow is a long strip of the grey wool tied into a bow.
The flowers are so fun.
Cost Breakdown:
- 14” Straw Wreath – $3.49
- Sweater, felt, hot glue, buttons – Free (stash on hand)
Total Project Cost – $3.49
Total Project Time – About 2 hours
And that’s how you make a $3.49 wreath.
Suesan
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