Posted by
Sarah Jones
Tuesday, October 2, 2012 3:21 PM EDT
Inside or out, wreaths add life to walls and doors and can be made of anything from seashells to flowers, tissue paper to pine branches or, in this case, ribbon. Follow this easy DIY to make your very own ribbon wreath.
Materials
- Styrofoam wreath form: These can be found at your local craft store and come in a variety of sizes. I’ve used a 13" styrofoam form.
- Ribbon. Lots and lots of ribbon. I used 7 different colours in various widths, and here is the breakdown: 1 roll of 3/8" ribbon; 1 roll of 1½" ribbon; 2 rolls of 5/8" ribbon; 2 rolls of 7/8" ribbon; 1 roll of 2½" ribbon. (I recommend having a colour palette in mind before heading out to get ribbon, otherwise you could find yourself overwhelmed in a sea of the stuff!)
- Glue Gun. This project will make good use of your glue gun. My little gun takes mini sticks and I went through approximately 11 sticks.
DIY
STEP 1: Loop the ribbons
To make this project much more enjoyable, take your time preparing the ribbon loops. Cut all of your ribbon into aprox. 4" strips. Fold each ribbon strip in half, then glue the ends. Have a box or bowl handy to keep all your freshly glued ribbon loops — there will be a lot of them.
STEP 2: Glue the ribbons
Start gluing! Your ribbon should have two loose ends below the spot where you’ve glued the ribbon together. Separate those ends, apply hot glue and then adhere to the wreath form. Repeat this step until your wreath is covered. There will come a point when you will need to start filling in the gaps between ribbons; just apply hot glue to the outside of the ribbon ends and stick the ribbon into the gaps. You should have enough ribbon glued already such that your gap fillers will adhere to the other ribbons quite easily. Continue filling all of the gaps until you are happy with how full your wreath is.
STEP 3: Finishing touches
For a finished look, I glued ribbon loops, flat, onto the outer and inner rim of the wreath. I overlapped each one, just a little bit.
EXTRA STEP: Added touches?
I had some of the wide plaid ribbon left over, and because I loved the stuff so much, I made a large bow to go on the front of the wreath. You could add anything you like — a small pumpkin or gourd, decorative straw, berries... Then again, don’t feel that you have to add anything; the wreath is so fun and full of character that it looks just as great without any additions.
I hope you’re as happy with your ribbon wreath as I am with mine! Be prepared to explain how it is made and perhaps give a demo or two, as it will be sure to catch the attention of anyone who sees it.
