Fabulous Fabric Holiday Wreath

Christmas wreaths are big this year - both in terms of size and popularity. There are all shapes and sizes made from all manner of materials for indoors and outdoors throughout many shops and I have become a fan.

Christmas wreaths or garlands have been around for years - hundreds in fact. Whether naturalistic and made from real woodland finds such as fir, holly and pine cones or kitsch and made from feathers, plastic and even baubles, they adorn the doors of the nation every Christmas time.

I thought I would look in to the origins of the Christmas wreath and as with so many of our festive customs their origins can be found in Paganism. The circular shape represents eternal and ongoing life and nature's survival after the barren Winter. Laurel wreaths were used by the Romans to represent strength and power. The use of holly in these gorgeous decorations is linked to the druids who considered Holly to be a sacred plant maintaining it's rich green colour all year round.

This year we have a white driftwood heart on our front door which is lit by fairy lights woven across it but I thought I would have a go at making my own felt and fabric design to hang indoors using fabric and felt in bright reds and greens inspired by those in traditional Christmas door wreaths. I love the results!

For the base of the wreath I used a polystyrene ring that I bought in our local craft shop. I then wrapped some strips of leftover fabric around it securing on the back with drawing pins. It's a good idea to iron a 1cm fabric seam to give a neat finish as you go and to hide the raw edge underneath.

I have used felt poinsettias as my main decoration. These are very easy to make and also look fabulous as brooches or as special decorative touches when wrapping presents. If you would like to make them, take a look at the tutorial in the next post.

As a finishing touch I have added a luscious red satin ribbon to hang it from. My wreath now hangs in pride of place on my workroom door bringing a splash of festive Hope & Gloria colour to the room - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!