February 2, 2015

The Complete Guide To Making Burlap Rose Heart Wreaths

heart shaped burlap wreath

If you have ever wanted to know how to make a
 heart-shaped wreath covered in burlap roses,
 here is your complete guide!

Let's start with with wreath form. If you have ever looked for a
heart-shaped wreath form near Valentine's Day, you KNOW that
they are hard to find. Here is how to make your own for a very
small price in the size that YOU want. 

Make your own wreath forms with "Great Stuff" insulation
foam in a can. Yes, you need to keep kids and animals away
from this stuff until it hardens, but you can do it. 
Follow all the safety precautions listed on the can. 

Draw a heart on the paper of your choice ahead of time so 
the form comes out in the size and shape you want. 
how to make a wreath form

Shake, shake, shake your booty your can of "Great Stuff" . 
Spray one then two lines of the foam along the lines you
have drawn. Make sure lines one and two touch each other
 on the sides Then spray a third line on top of the first two
 to give your heart some dimension. 
make a heart shape wreath
Sorry for the squiggly colored lines...I can spray the foam better than I can draw lines in PicMonkey.
This wreath was done mainly to show how to spray the foam 'cause I don't have a picture of how I made the first ones.

Keep your kids and animals away from your wreath forms
for at least eight hours. After that, they are not fragile (and 
won't stick to your kids and animals). 

Depending on how large you want your wreath forms, you can
get 3-4 forms out of one $4 can of foam...what a bargain!
Once you start spraying the foam, you have to keep going or
the can will seal itself off. Have plenty of newspaper work
 surface ready so you don't have to stop after one wreath form
(unless you only want one wreath form and don't care 
about wasting the rest of the can of foam). 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news BUT "Great Stuff' sort of
has a mind of it's own. Sometimes it puffs up a lot and then
sometimes it only puffs up a little. It has to do with the 
temperature and the humidity when you are spraying. 

2013 Wreath Forms...
wreath forms from spray foam
2013 wreath forms puffed up a lot... a 2015 form did not.

2015 Wreath Form
DIY heart wreath
You can add more spray foam to a wreath form if it doesn't get as puffy as you like. Usually by the time you can see
(about 15 minutes) how puffy your form is going to get, the can has sealed itself off and you need another can. 

I actually made the red burlap rose wreath in February 2014
but I have never done a blog post on it. By the time I used this
extra foam wreath form I made in 2013  (the others were
 used in The Key To My Heart Vignette) it had yellowed...
burlap on a wreath...
It probably would not have yellowed if it had not been left to the elements out in the back yard. 
Red burlap is only $3.99/yard at Hobby Lobby ...even cheaper is you use a coupon.
You can use any color or print of burlap for this project.

You will use burlap to wrap the foam heart form and
to make the easy roses. The above picture shows that I got
two yards of burlap but I did not use all of that. Depending
on the size of your heart form, you could get by with 1.5 yards.

Because the burlap has an fairly open weave, I wanted to paint
the foam to match my burlap so that none of the form would
 show through the weave of the burlap.
painted wreath
You might be able to skip the painting step if your burlap weave is tight and doesn't let the foam show through. 

Regular craft paint would work fine too to color the foam form. 
You can cut off parts of the foam form that you don't like
with a kitchen knife after the foam has cured for 8 hours. 

After the paint dries go ahead and add a hanger. It will be harder
 to add a hanger after you complete the next step, wrapping 
the wreath. I used thin wire wrapped around the top of the 
wreath form. You might want to use a different type hanger
red heart wreath

Cut some strips of burlap to cover the wreath form.
The step allows you to not have to cover the entire surface of
 the wreath with burlap flowers...sort of a "fool the eye" trick.

The strips that were used to cover this wreath were 2" wide.
The longer you can cut the strips, the less you have to add 
new strips (but don't cut all your burlap this size...the burlap
for the roses will need to be wider).

 Use straight sewing pins to hold your first burlap strip in 
place as you start to wrap the wreath form in an overlapping 
style. Also use the pins to add new strips and to make the burlap
 strips conform to the shape of the wreath.
wrap a wreath with burlap
Your width of strips might need to be smaller if your wreath is smaller than this  15" wreath. 

When you come to the hanger part of your wreath, wrap
the strips so they do not cover it up on the back. 

After you have wrapped the whole wreath in overlapping strips

and pinned it in place, add a little glue (one that dries clear is
 best) on the pins to keep them in place. 
cover a wreath with burlap

Now comes the fun part...making the burlap roses!
You can experiment to see how large or small you want your 
roses to be. I wanted to make a few roses as possible so I made
mine kinda large. They were about 4" in diameter.
make a burlap rose

The strips that were cut for this size rose were 4" by 24".
If you want smaller roses, make the width less (and maybe the
length too...you will need to see what appeals to you).
burlap flowers

Whatever size of strip you decide on, the technique of making
the burlap rose is the same. 

Have a sewing needle threaded with a long doubled thread (that
matches your burlap color) knotted and ready.
Fold the width of the burlap strip in half. 
how to make a burlap flower

Turn down the folded corner edge of the strip to meet the 
raw cut edge of the strip. 
make a burlap flower


Start rolling the end point towards the fold for 1.5" to 2".
This will be the center of your rose. 
make a fabric flower

Take a stitch or two near the cut raw edge of the strip to
hold the now-rolled burlap in place. Knot it to hold it.
easy burlap flower

With the same needle and thread, start sewing a running stitch 
about 1/4" from the cut raw edge. Be sure to catch both sides
of the burlap in this stitch.  The stitch does not need to be tight. 
DIY burlap flower

Continue the straight running stitch along the whole edge.
how to make a burlap flower

Start sliding the burlap strip down along the thread to gather it.
gathered fabric flower

Keep gently sliding the burlap strip down the thread until all
of the strip has been gathered into a ruffle. 
sew a burlap flower

From the sewn down roll you made at the first of the strip,
start rolling the gathered strip around it. You may need to 
adjust the gathers as you go.  Keep the raw cut edge of the
rose lined up as you roll. 

Using the same thread that you began with, you can take 
stitches on the raw edge (not the folded edge) of the roll
 to  keep it in place as you continue to 
add more of the gathered burlap onto the roll. 
DIY fabric flower

To conceal the cut edge on the end of the rolled rose, turn it under
  and stitch it down to hide it and keep it from fraying as much.
How to make a rolled burlap flower

Ta-Dah! You did it!
fabric rose how to

My wreath took ten of these roses to cover the top surface 
of the wreath. Because I used the same material to cover the
wreath form as to make the rolled roses, it is not as obvious
that there aren't many roses and they don't cover the sides
(especially when you see if from the street and not up close).
make fabric flowers for a wreath

Attach the rolled burlap roses to the wreath with a hot glue gun.
You may need to hold each rose in place until the hot glue dries
a little since the rose has a kind of uneven and small base. 
glue flowers to wreath

You will probably have lots of burlap strings to cut off to
"tidy up" the finished wreath.

Here is the wreath on my front door in 2014...
valentine wreath on door

Make a heart wreath

It is smaller and simpler than most wreaths that I have for other
holidays on the front door but I like the change occasionally. 
burlap rose wreath

burlap roses

The thin wire (attached to a screw in the top of the door) 
that  actually supports the wreath is (almost)
 hidden by a cuter red grosgrain ribbon. 
hang wreath with wire

We had to replace the front door since it started "bleeding" 
the glue that was partially holding it together. You can see it
a little in the above pictures but it got much worse over the year.
Also it was not very energy efficient and the afternoon sun
 comes hot and heavy on that side of the house. 

 Out with the old...

...in with the new...
Here is the carpenter, Adam, replacing the door and transom and also most of the trim around the door.
Some of the wooden trim had rotted. 

The new door and transom have energy efficient glass and
 the mullions on the glass are thicker and built onto the glass
 and are not just a thin pop-on window grille (that fell off at lot).

The doors actually look a lot the same...I did not dislike
 the old one. It probably had a nicer proportion of glass. 
We just reused the old door hardware.

 I had to "initiate" the  new door with a screw in the top to
 hold wreaths that I want to suspend with fishing line or thin wire...
hang a wreath with a screw
...we don't have to mention this to Tom Kat m'kay?

Here is the new door with it's first wreath,
the Red Burlap Rose Heart Wreath!
Valentine wreath DIY

I am sharing this post over at 
Between Naps On The Porch's Metamorphosis Monday
A Stroll Thru Life's Inspire Me Tuesday
Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesday
DIY by Design's Link Party #205
Mostly Food & Crafts' Friday Frenzy

4 comments

  1. I love the way you made the heart - I need to steal this trick!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi "Miss Kitty",
    These are adorable and I love how you showed how to make them step-by-step. You are so creative...I love your blog!
    Cheryl @ 22 Applegate Lane

    ReplyDelete
  3. Positive site, where did u come up with the information on this posting? I'm pleased I discovered it though, ill be checking back soon to find out what additional posts you include.
    heart touching lines

    ReplyDelete
  4. Consequently she called the Dyonissos God to give him aroma, the Three Graces (Brightness, Happiness and Glamor). Breeze, the spring wind God, had turned away the mists letting the Apollo God to enlighten and making the rose blossom. beauty and the beast rose

    ReplyDelete

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