I love ruffles on just about anything (as long as it isn’t overdone). Earlier this year, I decided I needed a new winter wreath for my front door. I saw this ruffle wreath over at Kelly Hicks Design. I adore it and decided I needed to have one of my very own. So I set out to make it.
Kelly’s wreath is a no-sew project. You just fold the fabric into ruffles and pin it onto the wreath. Well I tried and tried, but I could not get it to work. I felt like I needed another extra hand- or two. I got pretty frustrated, but I was determined to have this wreath. So I decided to bag it and came up with my own method. It involves sewing, but it was so much easier for me! I’ll let you choose which method works better for you. Either way, you’re going to end up with a gorgeous Ruffled Fabric Wreath!
Right off the bat you are going to notice that the wreath above is not the same color as the wreath in the tutorial. Here’s why. I made my white wreath, and it was gorgeous. Unfortunately, it did not look great on my front door. Because it happens to be white. It blended in and you could barely notice it. So I’m saving it for when we get our new black door.
In the meantime, I wanted a wreath to hang on the mirror in my entry. And I had some extra fabric that was the perfect color for the space. So I made another ruffled wreath, this time in blue. I love them both!
Ruffled Fabric Wreath Tutorial
Supplies:
-Wreath form (I used a grapevine, and a styrofoam wreath form. Both worked just great!)
-About a yard of fabric
-Scissors
-Sewing machine and thread
-Hot glue (check out my handy glue gun tip)
-Ribbon to hang wreath (or yarn/twine/whatever)
Instructions:
Start with a wreath form. I used a grapevine type wreath that I picked up at the dollar store.
Next use long strips of fabric to wrap up your wreath. Use hot glue to secure the fabric in place.
To make your ruffles, rip a bunch of strips of fabric approximately 1 1/2″ wide by 12″ long. Using the longest stitch on your machine, stitch down one side of each strip.
To gather the fabric and make your ruffles, pull one of the pieces of thread. Push the fabric down along the thread until you can’t pull the thread any tighter.
Now just start hot gluing the ruffles into place on your wreath, one in front of the other.
Continue till you have ruffles going all the way around your wreath form. When you have them all on, clip off all the trailing threads.
Isn’t that gorgeous? Man I love ruffles!
Now wrap a ribbon around it, hang it up, stand back, and admire your work!
The white one will look so much better when I can hang it on my new black door! Hopefully soon. 🙂
Is that just quilters cotton? I’d love to make this but want to make sure that I get the same ‘frayed’ look to the ruffles. Or is that because you ripped the fabric?
Yes, I just used cotton and ripped the fabric. I love the look of the frayed edge!