A little happy tutorial ~ Christmas Wreath

Oh what fun I've had making our Christmas window displays for the shop! I shared some little 'in progress' pics on Facebook and Instagram, but as promised, here's a little happy round up of what I did if you would like to make one.......

First off I grabbed a selection of some of my favourite green fabrics and woolfelt® from the shop.  I then drew a simple holly leaf shape (mine measured about 2 1/2" long by 1 1/2" wide) which I then created a template of using cardboard from a cereal box.

Having added Bondaweb to the back of my fabrics I then traced lots (and lots) of Holly leaves (I've made two 12" wreaths).  Now I'm sure you're thinking ok so how many holly leaves Sarah....... I would like to say that I had meticulously planned this project and knew exactly how many holly leaves I would need....ahem........ NO.......but to give you a guesstimate for my 12" embroidery hoop and it took aprox 100 leaves to cover the front side (I was going for a full on covered wreath)...I then layered up more on the back, but more of that later.  Obviously a smaller hoop needs less leaves or you could decide to only cover a portion of the hoop....oh the possibilities! 

Once I had drawn out my leaves, I then cut them out using a sharp pair of little scissors.  This bit took ages.... actually the entire length of the first Harry Potter film.  Andy and I are currently re watching them all again...well actually I've slept through some...tonight its the grand finale Deathly Hallows Part 2...my favourite, so I will try to stay awake!

Anyway I digress....once I had cut out all my leaves, I then removed the Bondaweb, I'm sure you know this neat little trick, but if you scratch the bondaweb with a needle or pin, you can then peel it away really easily.

 I thought the papers looked like little icicles!

I then ironed my leaves on to different shades of felt, leaving an approx 1/2" gap in between.

Then with my sharp little scissors I cut the leaves out again, aprox 1/4" larger than the original fabric leaf.  However, having had the most awful cramp in my hand in the night after the original cutting out session.... I did this in stages rather than one massive cutting session....be warned!

I wanted to add some veining to my leaves and did, in a moment of complete madness consider doing this by hand, but then having seen sense I machine chain pieced the leaves.....

I can not tell you how sweet these looked, .....guess what next Autumns window display will be!

Rather sadly, I then cut the threads in between each leaf and finally I was very nearly ready for a bit of sticking and gluing...I mean who doesn't love a bit of glue gun action!

As I mention at the beginning, I use a 12" embroidery hoop, which I had laying around at home.  I needed two wreaths, so I simply separated the inner and outer hoop and used both pieces individually.  I covered these in fabric strips in exactly the same way as I did in this little happy tutorial.  At this stage, I also securely tied a length of ribbon to hang my hoop........

 ...and then the fun began, ably assisted by Poppy (my daughter who is equally as keen on sticking and gluing!) I glued the leaves on in little clusters.  I tried to build up the layers with some leaves overlapping others and some in the foreground.

 Once I had covered the entire front of the hoop, I then moved to the back.  My hoops are hanging in the shop window, both sides are visible, so I needed the back of the hoop to look pretty as the front.  If you're planning on hanging yours on a door, you maybe do not need to be quite so thorough!  I'll leave that one with you for you to decide.

As a final flourish, I added small red polka dot buttons to represent the berries and some gorgeous candy cane stripe ribbon, which I made in to a large bow.  I did this in sections, the bow, the centre and the tails, in a similar way to how I made these felt bows, but I glued rather than handstitched......

 .....and that was it..... Ta Dah.....one homemade Christmas Fabric and Felt wreath!

 Have you spotted the rather festive quilt..... more of that next time!

I hope you enjoyed my little happy tutorial, if you decide to make your own version, please do email me a picture I would love to see.  Alternatively, if you share a picture on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, please do use the hashtag, #alittlehappytutorial so that I can take a peek!

Have a super weekend.