I've been meaning to post these for a while. I got a wreath from my dad for Christmas, and ever since then, I've been wanting to make a wreath for my front door. I saw this idea on Pinterest that uses burlap or something to make a ruffle wreath. I thought I would use old Ikea curtains, they are sturdy enough to hold up the ruffles, but soft enough to fold nicely. My idea was that I could switch out the decorations with the seasons.
The first one I made with grey curtains. I picked out a cute little bird to pin on that one for spring.
But that one didn't work because it was the exact same color as my front door, so it just didn't accent it quite as nicely as I had hoped. So I gave it away to a well-deserving family member. I think she is enjoying it, even though right now it is still stuck somewhere in a closet, I know it will get hung eventually.
So I set out to make a different wreath for myself. Good thing I have a lot of unused curtains. This one I made with my old brown Ikea curtains, and got this mad pretty flower at some craft store.
Yes, I live in apartment #2.
The wreath itself was super easy to make - you could really use any type of fabric. The tutorial linked at the top says to use a glue-gun, but I don't own one so I just used straight pins. I did 4 rows of fabric ruffles, starting on the outside, then the inside, and then the two in the middle. It didn't even take a whole curtain panel. For the wreath "frame" I used the straw forms you can get at regular craft stores. I like using the pins with the straw forms because you can just jam the pins in there and keep going, not worrying about whether the stupid glue is dry yet.
Here are some things that I have learned about wreathing:
- Your wreath, unless it is made of pine boughs, should be a contrasting color from your door.
- Silk flowers come in millions of shapes and sizes and are very hard to pick between. Don't get them all, your wreath will just look sloppy.
- A 12" straw form is plenty big for a regular apartment-sized door.
- You can change the flowers out as you please, fake birds also look quite nice.
- The fake birds will not chirp back at you. They may make you feel like Cinderella or Mary Poppins when you clip them to your finger, but they will not eat food out of your hand or tell you what they want for breakfast.
- There are a million different ways to decorate and make a wreath, but just remember, you won't want to throw them away if you make a different one, so you better have lots of friends with empty doors that will accept your cast-offs if you start a wreath-making hobby.
Happy Wreathing!
