When my kids were in school and we lived in a community long enough, there were times when they ended up with the same homeroom teacher. The teacher that two of them had for grade one had the children make these lovely Christmas wreaths.
As the boys were only one year apart, we received a wreath two Christmases in a row. I decided to make some of these myself.
Having a door wreath for October seemed liked a great idea. I used a 4 L ice cream pail lid and cut out the inner circle with a utility knife leaving just the hard rim of the lid. If you have larger pail lid, you would get a larger wreath. You will notice that the two wreaths above are visibly smaller. Lids from margarine containers were used for these wreaths.
Next I chose some orange fabric that I found in the scrap fabric rolls they used to have at Wal-mart. Now they sell fat quarters and one would be probably be enough. The strips should be about six inches long and 1/2 inch wide. If you have crimping scissors you could cut along the edges like with the red, green and blue one above but that would be time consuming. You line up a strip centered on the ring.
The next step is to tie each piece on. You tie a square knot; left over right and under, right over left and under. Rotate the knot so it sits on the outer edge of the ring.
Continue tying on strips until you have strips tied all the way around and can no longer see the white rim. If you like you can then add a bow at the bottom or top or add some adornments. I added some fake fall leaves to this one.
You can use a cheap wreath hanger from the dollar store or tie an extra piece to the top and hang it from a door magnet like I have. You will have to tie it to whatever you use if it will be outside because the wreath is not heavy and can fly off in the wind.
The Christmas after I received my second wreath as a gift I decided to make three wreaths, one for each of the boys. The material I used was either from a favourite piece of clothing they had outgrown or something that they had an interest in at the time. They hung them on their bedroom doors.
My eldest, Jonathan, had this red sweatshirt with a purple dinosaur screened on the front. He loved dinosaurs at the time. It became ratty in the sleeves and had holes in the armpit so I decided to use pieces of it for his wreath.
My middle son, Matthew, had this fascination with tigers; the animal not the baseball team. In 2005 animal print was in, just as it is now 15 years later, so it was easy to find some tiger print material. I added a Christmas bow.
My youngest son, Thomas, was quite a little soldier at this time. He had to have his hair cut really short like dad and enjoyed wearing camouflaged clothing. I added a winter bow to his wreath. You will notice that his wreath was smaller. I used a margarine lid for his and he hung his on his door knob in future years.
I have made wreaths for Halloween and Easter and have ideas for days like Remembrance Day, St. Patrick’s Day and just a summer theme. What kind of wreath would you like to make??
It’s a great idea and so easy to do.