Fall Wreath Tutorial

Here is the long overdue fall wreath tutorial I showed you a sneak peak of a while back.

I started with a wreath I bought at the thrift store (I have spared you a look at the tacky decorations that were on it when I got it.)

For the leaves I fused two pieces of fabric together with Heat N Bond in the middle. I took all these fabric pieces to the elementary school and used their die cuts to cut out the leaves. You could do this same thing at a lot of craft stores (which have die cuts available to use) or you could free hand them all. I wanted some of the leaves to curl when placed on the wreath so I brushed a coat of Modge Podge on the front side of some of them and laid them in between some glasses to dry so that the edges would curl. Here is a picture of some with and without the glue.

I then glued the leaves all over my wreath base. Gotta love the smell of your hot glue gun at work.

Next to make the pumpkins. These are super easy and you don't even have to worry about perfection because they look more rustic when you don't. To make a pumpkin cut out a rectangle piece of fabric, any size will do. I think these were about 8x9 or so. I wanted small pumpkins so I kept my rectangle small. If you want taller pumpkins start with a rectangle that is tall and skinny.

Sew the sides seams together with the right sides of the fabric together. I think mine were about 1/4 inch seams. Again, it doesn't matter.

Will look like this when done.

Using a needle and thread do a running stitch around the bottom edge of the rectangle while you still have the wrong sides out.

Gather this up tight.

You could just do a few hand stitches to anchor it or put the whole thing under the presser foot of your sewing machine and sew over it like this.

Now turn this piece right side out. This is a look at the bottom of the pumpkin now.

Stuff this but not too full. I didn't want my pumpkins really firm.

Once again, using a needle and thread do a running stitch all around the top of the fabric and pull it tight. This time do a few stitches back and forth from one side to the other to hold it together.

Like this.

Now push your needle down through the center and out the bottom of the pumpkin like this and pull tight. Then go the opposite direction and once more down through the bottom. At the bottom tie off your thread. This will create an indent in the center of your pumpkin.

Like this.

For the stem I went down our back alley to find someone with a dead tree and cut off one of the branches. I then cut off small pieces for the stems.
Hot glue the stem in the center of the indent.

Lastly you need vine curly cues. For these I cut a piece of wire (the length really depends on how much curly cue you want).

I covered the wire using floral tape and the one skill I remember from my college floral arranging class.

To cover the wire wrap the floral tape around the top of the wire and start pulling the tape downward while twisting the wire. Stretching the tape makes it sticky and it will stick to itself. You want to wrap tightly. Pull and tear when you reach the bottom.

Wrap your wire around a pencil like this to make it curly.

Hot glue these in place around the stem. You could make leaves too if you want. I didn't want to for these.

I then glued these to my wreath too. Not too many, you don't want it to look tacky.

Hang with a ribbon, and there you have it. I couldn't wait any longer to put it up. I have a ton of these fabric pumpkins in various sizes for my house decorations and I think I will be getting those out next week. Can't wait until October.

Happy Fall!! Happy wreathing.