How To Make A Burlap Wreath

It’s a new season, and that calls for a new wreath! Our front porch is a mess, half winter decor, half naked, I just can’t wait to get out there and freshen it up for spring! One of the easiest projects I do for each season, is to update my wreath. No matter whatever is happening on the porch, a good looking wreath helps make me feel better.

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I’ve been using wreaths inside the house in the kitchen, bedroom, living room, in the dining room, and one huge one on the back of our front door, and I typically go with the grapevine wreaths because I can easily swap flowers or greenery in no time at all. But… I’m kindof tired of those on my front door, y’know? I had been wanting to try my hand at a burlap wreath, but I had no idea how to make a burlap wreath. After looking around y’all, there are a thousand tutorials on how to make a burlap wreath, using burlap, ribbon, fabric, and beautiful additions. I’ve probably used a mishmash of all these, so let’s get started and I’ll tell you how I made ours!

How To Make A Burlap Wreath

Supplies
Burlap Ribbon (I used 2 of these 6″ x 10 yard spools)
Metal Wreath Form (I went with this FloraCraft one)
florist wire (I actually used pipe cleaners, because that’s what I had on hand)
scissors
clothes pin or a binder clip (to hold loops if you need an extra hand)
decorative ribbon (to hang the wreath, or add a bow if you like)
flowers & greenery (if you want to fancy it up a bit)

Let’s Get Started…
I’ve never used a metal wreath form before, but it’s become my new favorite in the one time I’ve used one! You can use burlap ribbon, lace, strips of fabric, whatever you like, to make these wreaths. Let’s take a tour of this thing – the metal form has 4 metal rings (inner, 2 in the middle,and an outer), the supports holding the rings together, and 3 ‘slots’ – these slots between the rings, are where you’re going to essentially shove your burlap through to make loops.

Attach your burlap ribbon to the outer ring. I folded my ribbon in half, then half again, poked the pipe cleaner through, and twist-tied it on there. Yes it’s purple, and yes it’s totally hidden. Don’t freak out because the fluffiness in the end will hide all the sins! If it makes you feel better, go with plain old florist wire. I told myself I used purple because y’all would be able to see it better than wire, but in reality, I used it because I couldn’t find wire, and the pipe cleaners were in Lilly’s craft crate right next to me.

Push the ribbon through the slots. Begin on the outer slot, making a 3″ loop with the ribbon. Then do another 3″ loop in the center slot, and a 3″ loop in the inside slot. Clip these loops with your binder clip or clothes pin. Once you get through the first few loops, they stay pretty snug, but the first few kept slipping until I got the hang of it. If you don’t want to do a 3″ loop, you can do whatever loop you want to. The larger the loop, the fluffier the wreath; the smaller the loop, the stiffer the wreath.

Secure the loops. I read about many different ways to do this part, but the easiest for me was to leave the loops clipped, squish the loops up (against the support wire), and to twist the ribbon on the underside a half twist. Here’s a good look at the very underneath of the squished loops with a twist.

Between the twist and squish, the loops swirl together and stay put really nicely! You could use a piece of wire twisted on the rings to hold the loops, but that’s just too much work. This is 2 sets of squished loops.

Continue your looping, squishing, twisting. I fit about 3-4 rows of loop/squish/twist between each support wire. If you have a wider ribbon, you’ll fit less, and if you use a thinner ribbon, you’ll be able to fit more in between.

If you have a longer spool that will do the entire wreath (20+ yards), skip to down to “end the wreath.”

End the spool. When you reach the end of the spool of ribbon, you have to secure the end somehow. I saw folks knot it, glue it, and wire it. I went with the wire (pipe cleaner) secure option. I folded it in half, and in half again, pushed the pipe cleaner through the end, and twisted it to the inner ring, or the support ring, whichever is easier. If possible, try and end the first spool at the support ring, so the loops won’t flop around.

Start the spool. You’ll most likely be halfway around the wreath form by this point, so you’ll be able to start the next spool in the exact was you started the first one – fold it in half, then half again, and push the wire/pipe cleaner through, secure it to the outer ring or the support ring.

Continue making your loop/squish/twist pattern, until you’ve come to the end of your wreath.

If you’ve made the whole wreath with one spool, you’ll pick up here to end the wreath.

End the wreath. When you’ve come to the end, you should be right at the first support wire where you started, so you can go ahead and make your last set of loops, squish them (they’ll probably be squished already), and twist the end. Now, you can cut the ribbon and fold it in half on the end, then half one more time. Push the wire or pipe cleaner through, and twist-tie it to the support wire or the inner ring. I was able to hide the pipe cleaners with the fluff of the wreath, so don’t worry if you can see the ending… you’ll fluff and adjust it as needed.

You’re in the home stretch now… this was the hardest part of learning how to make a burlap wreath, guys!! And it wasn’t even that hard, right?

Fluff it up, and adjust your loops to perfection, and you can also begin to decide where you want to add the flowers, greenery, bows, and/or ribbon accents.

HOW TO MAKE A BURLAP WREATH: Adding Flowers

I went with some peonies, hydrangeas, and some leafy wispy green things, and the decorative ribbon to hang the wreath on our screen door. Since we have a screen door, I always use ribbon to hang it over the door, and secure it down with 2 screws on the inside of the door. It’s not necessary if you’ve got a screw, nail, hook, or wreath hanger though.

The same flowers can get boring after a while, so I didn’t want to use hot glue to attach these to the wreath because I like to switch, without having to make a whole new wreath (and store them all – not happening here). I cut the stems and left them longer than I would if I were sticking them on a grapevine wreath.

I started with the hydrangeas, by just cutting them, and wiggling an opening in the burlap twists on the underside. Shove the stem through, and bend the stem to hold it down until you’re ready to actually secure it. Do this for the rest of your flowers or greens.

The best part, is you can adjust the loops of burlap, the leaves and the greens to mix together and play with it until it’s just right.

Once you’ve got your spray to it’s current state of perfect, flip the wreath over, and weave the flower/greens stems around the rings of the wreath. Tuck them under, wrap them around each other, and if you need to, use some wire to hold it down. No glue necessary, so when you’re feeling the itch to swap, you can just undo and redo the arrangement whenever you want.

Now go hang that gorgeous wreath, and give yourself a high-five for learning how to make a burlap wreath!

Now that I know how to make a burlap wreath, and how simple they are to make, I’ll be making another for the kitchen with maybe some lace and burlap, and just simple greenery. Ooooh, pretty!

Now that you’ve gotten the dirt on how to make a burlap wreath, I’d love for you to pin and share this post! If you’ve made one of these, you’ve must show it off with a post on my Facebook page, or tag my on Instagram (@farmhousemade)!