Ragtime Christmas Wreath - Christmas Tutorial no.10

Right, from the get go I am going to tell you this is not what I had planned for this weekend but I went on a trip to Hobbycraft looking for a flower loom but could not find one.  However, I did find a polystyrene wreath which I had been after for a while because I wanted to make a slightly different sort of rag wreath this year.  I think that this might be a great hit with the children over half term if you do the fabric cutting in advance and it looks equally good on your front door or hung inside to match your colour scheme.  The other great thing is that this wreath can be used for a number of years and by carefully storing the fabrics you can recycle it throughout the year - which means you will be green without an ounce of greenery!

(Ros confesses - I never have a colour scheme for Christmas, in fact I totally suspend taste so that everything in my Christmas decs box can be used... be honest how else would I find a spot for my salt dough Christmas sheep?)

You will need the following:

A polystyrene wreath or a florist's Oasis wreath

Selection of Christmas fat quarters or other fabric scraps - remember you will be cutting them in squares of 2.5" x 2.5" for smaller wreaths and 3" x 3" for larger wreaths

A chopstick or screwdriver (preferably Phillips)

A metre of Christmas Ribbon

Glue gun (optional)

Iron and Ironing board (go on you know we are using fabric)

Rotary cutter with a pinking wheel or a pair of pinking shears

Cutting mat and ruler

Select your fabrics and iron them - I know it may seem silly to do this when you are going to chop the fabric up but it will give your wreath a much finer and professional finish.

Use your rotary cutter cut out 2.5" or 3" strips, then lay the strips on top of each other and cut across them to make square which are  2.5" x 2.5" for smaller wreaths and 3" x 3" for larger wreaths.  My wreath is about 13.5" in diameter and I used three strips of nine different fat quarters (usually 22" long) cut in 2.5 x 2.5" square and I was struggling at the end to find a space for all the squares.

Now the next bit is down to your artistic eye and design bent... you may want to stripe it, mix it, make it in all one colour.

Take first square and place the piece of fabric with the right side against the point of your chopstick or Phillips and push it into your wreath - yes, it really is that easy.  

Now if you are worried that the fabric will not stay put, dip the tip into a little blob of warm glue... if you use another glue make sure it does not contain a solvent because it will dissolve your wreath!

Continue to build up the squares until none of the wreath shows.  

Take your ribbon and cut out at least a metre.

Double it up, place the ribbon behind the wreath, bring the loop under the wreath and pull the ends of the ribbon through the loop.

Now go and hang it on your front door... and wait for the carol singers to arrive on the doorstep... to admire it!

And now it is time to go over to Wendy's Handmade Monday and see what everyone else has been up to during the past week.  Wendy is coming up to her 100,000th hit... let's see if we can push her through to the other side!

If you want the other traditional strip rag wreath, take a look here.