Christmas Rag Wreath

Colonial Christmas Wreath courtesy of Wormwood_3 on Flickr

Christmas wreaths can be dated back to Roman times and traditionally are seen in Catholic churches during Advent, lighting candles to countdown the Sunday's to Christmas.  I have alwyas loved the wreaths that you see on peoples front doors, all bright and festive with pine cones and fir leaves, but have never been able to have one on my front door as it opens onto the road and I just know it wouldn't last 2 minutes! 

You may recall a few weeks ago I learnt how to rag rug in my night course.  The following week we all shared our work and one lady had created the most gorgeous rag wreath for Christmas.  I absolutley loved it and knew that I wanted to make one to hang in my house as a decoration so I asked her how she had made hers.

To make mine I have used the inside section of an embroidery hoop for my base ( which I bought this for £3.10 from Abakhan)  but you can use any circular base, even an old wire coat hanger bent into shape. 

I then cut my chosen fabric into strips the same length and width using pinking shears to create a pretty, unfrayed edge.  I had to test out a few strips to get the correct length first.  I used 3 different colours which match my Christmas tree and decorations.  The teal fabric is from a set of curtains I bought in a charity shop which have been in my fabric stash for ages, the purple is left over fabric from another project and the pink is from the skirt of my wedding dress! (I got married at Christmas so this is a really nice way to reuse it)

Next I tied the strips of fabric round the hoop, pushing them up next to each other tightly to get that really full effect.  I made sure all the knots where on the same side (the back) to get a really neat finish to the front.  This took me about an hour to do and I randomly grabbed strips rather than having a set pattern to it.

I chose to make a dangle for in the middle of my wreath although you don't really have to!  My dangle is a felt star with a shisha mirror in the middle and then beads stitched on to add a little bit of festive sparkle. 




My finished wreath

 I really enjoyed making the wreath and it is a quick, easy and really effective decoration for Christmas.  I can't wait to put my Christmas decorations up so that I can admire it!