DIY Painter's Cloth Wreath

Okay, I feel like I'm way behind the times by not making a decorative wreath sooner than this as I've seen them on Pinterest forever.  But I recently came across this tutorial and I loved the look. She used felt for her wreath, but I had tons of painter's cloth hanging around from the lovely ruffled curtains I made, so that was the medium of choice.

The mirror was screaming for a little help, so I listened.  And the dog doesn't seem to mind either.

 

If you'd like to make one of your own, first you need the supplies:

1.  styrofoam circle (and man these can be expensive, so use your coupon at AC Moore or Michael's).  I choose an 18" circle, but you can go smaller or bigger.

2.  scissors

3.  drop cloth (I used a good part of one package that can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot)

4.  straight pins

5.  pencil

6.  template to make your circle

7.  ribbon for hanging

8.  hot glue

I chose to use a 4" lid from the top of a jar of nuts (and there were a lot of nuts consumed in the month of December).  Before you trace tons of circles, you want to make sure that you'll be happy with the size.  So I would make a few with the template you have, stick them on (see directions below), and then decide if you want it bigger, smaller, or keep it.

After deciding on the size of your circle template, you want to make A LOT of circles.  I don't remember how many I made, but just trace and cut.  Trace and cut.  And then trace and cut some more.  I did this over a few nights in front of the TV.  I did try multiple methods to make the tracing faster, like putting chalk on the lip of the top and pressing down to have the chalk show through, or trace one circle and stack a few cloth squares underneath and cut all at once, but I decided the best way for me was to trace and cut each one individually.

Just some of the many circles.

 Now, to make the "flowers" on the wreath, my lovely 4-year old hand model has demonstrated for you below: 

First you fold your circle in half.

Time to re-paint her nails, you think?!?

Then you fold it in half again.

Then you simply attach the "flower" to the wreath with a straight pin.  You want to fold over the bottom tip a little bit and put the pin straight through.

The top picture shows the fold.  The bottom picture shows the pin going through the fold.

 I found it easier to start on the sides of the wreath. . . . .

 . . . . and then build my way to the middle.  There is a lot of play with the painter's cloth flowers, so you don't have to fit them in tight.  You'll figure out what you like when you get going.

Now, the whole wreath is kept together with straight pins.  I decided this was going to be fine with me as it will be hanging in a spot that does not get a lot of action.  But, if you so desire a sturdier wreath, you may want to take the time to hot glue each piece down.  You can still use the pins, or you don't have to.  If you choose to not use the pins, just make sure you hot glue the fold over together (makes the flowers stand up a bit), and then glue the flower to the wreath.

To add the ribbon, you simply figure out how long you want it to hang, more than double that length, then hot glue the bottom ends together and then onto the wreath. 

After hanging my wreath onto the mirror, I found out that you could see the naked styrofoam in the mirror reflection.  So I took some scraps and hot glued them to the back.  Bye bye boring white styrofoam.  

See the white styrofoam through the mirror?  Had to go.

I like how the wreath ties in the ruffled painter's cloth curtains in the kitchen (kind of hidden by my Christmas card display). 

I really love how this turned out.  It was pretty simple to do, and once you have the circles cut, it came together fast.

Enjoy,

Debbie

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