Please ignore the heinous raw color of our front door. We’ll be painting it a lovely colonial blue once Mother Nature stops snowing her feelings all over the Lehigh Valley.
Me: Woe betide the person who shares another Pinterest project that’ll make me spend more money on hobbies I don’t have time for
Also me: Oh look, wreaths!
Yes, that’s right. After more mindless scrolling of Pinterest and referencing YouTube videos, I made my first ribbon wreath.
Is it the most amazing or beautiful wreath anyone’s ever made? Absolutely not. But I have to admit I had a lot of fun making it to specifically match our soon-to-be-revamped front porch decor. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately spent like $50 on new supplies to make what I can only assume will be a decorative migraine of an Easter wreath - it’s going to be nuts.
More importantly, this wreath became a huge source of debate on my Facebook - to add or not add a bow? Opinions varied wildly, but ultimately I was convinced I needed to add something, which is where the pink flowers came in. I thought incorporating an organic flare would contrast nicely with the burlap and super stark plaid, but I didn’t want flowers that looked fake and tacky. That’s how I ended up with these tiny pink sprigs that I love love love. There should be more, but there were only four left in Michael’s and I was accosted by a woman who said she needed them to finish her project (because I was just buying them for shits and giggles, obviously) and I didn’t feel like throwing down in a craft store, so I handed her my fourth bundle. It still looks good, but I wish I had enough to go around the whole wreath.
Products/Resources Used
As usual, the most of the items linked below go to Amazon via an affiliate link because sue me for trying:
Cable Zip Ties <— Not a huge fan of these; see below under “Unsolicited Advice” for more information
Black Buffalo Plaid Ribbon (set of 6) <— I used five rolls of this, so the entire pack was very necessary
4” Wide Black Satin Ribbon <— I just tied these to the frame and use a ribbon cut on the ends to balance all the floof
2” Wide Burlap and Lace Ribbon <— I wove these through after doing the entire wreath in the buffalo plaid so, in theory, it can be removed and replaced with another ribbon for various holidays
Flower sprigs from Michael’s (less than $1 for a pack of three on sale)
Wreath Making Tutorial <— I used a thinner ribbon, which is why mine is more loopy
Unsolicited Advice
When I eventually make my Easter wreath, I’m going to change up some of my methods.
For example, I used zip ties because that’s what was recommended in one of the YouTube videos I watched; however, the ties I got from Amazon were felt on one side and loops on the other. It kept grabbing and ripping my ribbon (as well as my highly coveted Marketo Champion Under Armour sweats) and it really f’d up my cuticles. I found a few other videos where the designer used pipe cleaners instead, so I bought stock in those and will see how that pans out.
I’m also going to try a different technique where I roll the fabric in long sections instead of 7” at a time with the 2.5” ribbon. I’ll be using wide tulle for the Easter wreath that should allow me to experiment with that, as well as ribbon placement. It’s going to be my greatest failure and I’m excited about it.
Are you team bow?
Let me know if you think there still needs to be a bow on this bad boy or if it’s fine as is. I usually subscribe to a “more is more” mentality, but in this case, I really think it’ll be too over the top - and that says a lot coming from me.