DIY Yarn and Felt Wreath

If you saw an earlier post on the blog this month, you already know that I love a good wreath project. I find wreaths to be a great way to add a cheerful and inviting touch to the front porch. As DIY projects go, wreaths can be a really inexpensive way (like this $5 sunburst wreath) to add dimension and detail to a space that changes out seasonally. There are so many materials and colours to choose from that appeal to a diverse array of styles and tastes from modern to traditional and simple to something quite ornate. This season, one of my favourite projects to do was this DIY yarn and felt wreath.

In fact, I’ve been getting back into ‘yarn arts’ – is that a term? – of late and really enjoying the process. My mother was amazingly gifted in the ‘softer’ arts such as sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery and most house crafts, passing them onto me as a child, despite my feeble protestations! I recall not fully appreciating it at the time – a dim memory comes to mind of declaring that I would sooner purchase a new pair of pants than bother taking them in or hemming (sigh – childhood)  – but I now love these ‘soft’ arts projects and find it incredibly satisfying to create something from scratch. Go figure! And now that macramé and weaving have come back in vogue, I’ve got a few new yarn wall hanging and weaving projects swirling in my brain that I hope to share with you soon. But I digress!

For this DIY yarn and felt wreath project you will need the following materials:

For the base,

• styrofoam ring
• yarn of choice – I ultimately chose grey as my base

To create the flowers and the smaller florets that decorate the wreath, you will need,

• a variety of felt pieces in the colours of your choice
• scissors
• glue gun
• bowl (not pictured)

First, you will be creating your yarn wrapped base. Take the end of your chosen yarn colour and glue it onto the back side of your styrofoam ring. This is so it will not show on the front of your finished product.

Next, begin wrapping the yarn around the styrofoam. This will take some time and patience – but nothing that watching an episode of the now-cancelled  (argh) “The Mindy Project” cannot help resolve :).  Because there is slightly more area to cover on the outside edge of the ring than there is on the inside edge, be sure to keep the inner portions of the yarn wrapped a bit closer togethere than the outer portions (pictured below). This way, each strand of yarn will always be pointing in the direction of the centre of the wreath, creating a ‘fanning out’ effect. You will find yourself making adjustments along the way – that’s to be expected – to ensure a relatively equal distribution of yarn all the way around.

Once you have wrapped the entire base, you are ready to start making the flowers and smaller florets that will decorate the wreath. For this DIY, the flowers are of different sizes and colours with the largest ones taking up the centre portions of the wreath.

Start by making your ‘statement’ flower, the one that will be the largest and anchor all the rest. I created 2 statement flowers, one to anchor the grouping on the left and one to anchor the right.

To create the statement flower on the left, take a white piece of felt and a large round bowl (8 inches across), outline a circle, then cut along the tracing.

Continue cutting, creating a spiral design, free hand, leaving approximately an inch or more of width along the way. Don’t fuss over the exact measurement, as this is to be a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted piece.

Because the statement flower has two parts to it – an outer white portion representing the ‘petals’ and an inner yellow colour – you will also need to cut the yellow piece before you proceed. For this, cut a one-inch-wide rectangular felt piece about the length of the spiral as shown:

To make the statement flower, first take the yellow piece and roll it up tightly. Add a bit of glue to the end and press down the last bit so that it does not unravel.

Next, begin rolling the yellow piece into the white spiral piece. To ensure that the yellow winds up in the centre of the flower, start on the outside and work your way in. Make sure to add a bit of glue to bind the yellow roll to the white spiral before you begin rolling one into the other.

As you roll the yellow portion into the white spiral, make sure to keep the roll tight and secure. Along the way, one side will begin to feel a bit looser than the other. That is the ‘blossoming’ effect that you are going for, so don’t fight it. Simply continue rolling the pieces together as tightly as you can without ruining the blossoming effect that you are creating. You should end up with a narrower portion at the bottom and a wider, ‘blossoming’ portion at the top.

Next, flip the flower over and glue the bottom piece (which was originally the central part of your white spiral cut-out) down to secure it to your flower, thus covering the bottom of the yellow felt roll.

Next, glue the exterior white petal to the flower to secure it.

Use this method to create as many flowers (2 or more colours) and florets (1 colour) as you wish. The florets will be easier to make since they require cutting only one spiral and then rolling it up, beginning from the outside and working your way in, as shown below.

Once you have created the desired number of flowers and florets, play with their placement until you have the desired affect. I decided on a design that had two groupings, slightly askew, with the largest flowers in the middle of each grouping. I also had varying heights, with the largest flower having the greatest height and the smallest with the shortest height. This way, the flower in the middle stands out just a bit more than the rest. (To vary the heights, all you have to do is vary the widths of the spirals when they are first cut – the wider the spiral, the taller the flower).

Once you are happy with your design, begin gluing each flower and floret, one at a time, starting from the centre and working your way out. And voila! A DIY yarn and felt wreath is born!

I simply loved this warm, modern take on the traditional yarn wreath. This DIY took time and patience, but the final result was incredibly satisfying. There is just something about yarn arts of all kinds that really warm up a space. What do you think? Is this something you’ve done before or might try now? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you 🙂