Burlap wreaths have been all the rage for a while now, and they probably will continue to be because: 1) they’re cute; 2) they’re versatile and can easily be decorated and adapted for different holidays/seasons; and 3) they’re super simple to make….Scout’s honor!

Here I’ll show you how to make a burlap wreath….and you’ll have a custom, inexpensive, and cute project in under 30 minutes!  (Ok, I feel like I just did a little Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals intro there…)

 

How to Make a Burlap Wreath: The Supplies

Supplies

• Floral wire wreath form
• Burlap ribbon
• Floral wire
• Scissors

For this wreath, I bought all supplies at Michaels when they were on sale, so my total was around only $10 (score!).  I used a 12-inch floral wire wreath form and just under two rolls of cream-colored burlap ribbon that were each 4″ x 21′.  This burlap ribbon was also wired, but I’ve made wreaths before with non-wired burlap, so having the wired kind isn’t necessary (although I think I do prefer it).  I also used a pair of scissors to cut the second roll of burlap once my wreath was complete.

 

My Terminology

I have no idea what the official terms are for a floral wire wreath form (or even if there are any official terms), but here is what I am going to refer to in this tutorial.  They’re pretty self-explanatory, but visuals never hurt:

 

How to Make a Burlap Wreath: The Tutorial

Step #1: Attach Burlap to Wreath Form

After taking the packaging off my burlap ribbon, I grabbed the end and folded it in on itself until I had a little bit bunched up.

[Please, try not to be too jealous of my *impeccable* manicure….]

 

Next, I grabbed my wreath form so the side I wanted to be the front was facing me.  My form wasn’t totally flat (I guess that’s called a BOXED wreath form)….it had a little curve to it, so I made it so the curved, raised portion was the front.  You can sort of see the curve in the terminology photo above.

I then cut off a small piece of floral wire (about 1.5-2″), bent it in half, and slid it around a divider bar on the outer loop of the wreath form.  I grabbed the end of the burlap ribbon that I had just bunched up and placed it on the BACK side of the wreath form behind the top divider bar and poked the two ends of my wire through.  To secure it in place, I just gave the wire ends a nice twist so they were snuggly wrapped around each other.

[You don’t *have* to attach the burlap this way.  I made another wreath by just tying the end of the burlap ribbon to the wreath form and it worked just as well, but I do have to say I prefer using the floral wire….it’s much easier on the fingers!  You can also probably use pipe cleaners, Christmas ornament hooks, or even paper clips.]

 

Step #2: Start Making Poofs

Now comes the magic part: making the poofs!  The beautiful thing about this method that I’m about to describe is that there is zero cutting of the burlap.  That’s right….no cutting dozens of strips or squares, no needing a thousand little straight pins and hundreds of ensuing pricks and bleeding fingers.  Zero prep necessary and just pulling and poofing to complete…you’ll see!

To make the first poof, I just stuck my index finger and thumb through the outer loop of the wreath form, grabbed the burlap, and pulled it through to the front until I had it the size I wanted.

As I was pulling it through, I made sure the edges on both sides of the burlap were tucked inside (you can see in the pics below how the white stitching is folded and pulled in).  This helps to give the poofs their shape and the whole wreath a consistent look….we just want to see BURLAP, after all, and not anything else.

 

I repeated this process to make the next poof in the middle loop: reached through, grabbed the burlap, tucked the edges in, then pulled it through until it was the same size as the first poof.

 

To make the third poof, I did the same steps, this time in the inner loop of the wreath form.  Below you can see both front and side views after this step was completed.

 

This is basically the whole process that I used to complete the wreath….so easy, right?!  You just pull the burlap through the loops of the wreath form from back to front, going Outer –> Middle –> Inner –> TWIST/WRAP –> Inner –> Middle –> Outer and so on with the loops.

 

Step #3: Continue Making Poofs

My first set of poofs was complete….wahoo!  Now I needed to start a second set.  To do this, I worked towards the left and wrapped the burlap around the divider bar and then through the inner loop.

I’m right-handed, so looking back, it would have felt more natural for me to work towards the right.  Next time I’ll start my poofs to the LEFT of the divider bar instead so I can work towards the right.  No big deal, though….it was still super easy to work with.

 

I then made more poofs in the middle and then outer loops.

 

Here’s what the backside looked like at this point.  Not the prettiest of sights, but hey, that’s why it’s the BACK side. :)

 

Also, when there wasn’t a divider bar to wrap around, I would instead TWIST the burlap and then feed it through the loop to make my next poof.  For example, the next step in the pic above doesn’t have a divider bar to wrap around (I was working to the right in that pic), so I just twisted the burlap before feeding it through the outer loop again.  That created a sort of anchor and prevented the poofs from easily pulling through the backside and unraveling.

I just continued this process until all of my first roll of burlap was used, which ended up covering about 2/3 of my wreath form.  As I worked, I pushed the already-made poofs close together to keep them bunched up so my final wreath would be nice and full.

 

Step #4: Attaching the Second Roll of Burlap

Depending on the sizes of your wreath form, burlap ribbon, and poofs, you may or may not need to use more than one roll of ribbon.  I did, so I attached it basically the same way I attached my first roll.

Instead of wrapping the floral wire around a divider bar (my transition point wasn’t near one), I had to wrap it around one of the loops of the wreath form.  Then I started making poofs until the rest of my wreath was covered.

 

Once all my poofs were made, I grabbed my scissors and cut the ribbon from the spool, then tucked the end around the back of the wreath form to keep it in place.

Here’s a view of the completed back:

 

Step #5: Decorate & Hang

You can then get your creativity on and decorate your burlap wreath any way you want!  That’s one of the reasons why I love burlap wreaths so much (and why they’re so trendy!): they are a great neutral base that can be jazzed up in countless ways.

Here’s my burlap wreath once it was complete but before I added any additional decorations to it:

 

I’m turning this burlap wreath into a fall wreath (for the moment at least), so I added some glittery gold floral leaves around the back edge (I just cut them off the bunch then wedged their stems between the burlap poofs and outer loop of the wreath form).  I also made a simple loop out of some floral wire for hanging.

 

To the front, I hung a custom monogram state sign that I made.  You can check out how I designed the monogram state sign and also how I cut the sign out of a cereal box and decorated it for all the juicy details.

 

The burlap poofs are very forgiving too so you don’t have to be Martha Stewart to make one of these (trust me, I’m sure as heck not!).  You can easily move them around, tuck one in or pull another out, and adjust them as needed…..there is no need to be intimidated!

 

If You Enjoyed This….

Check out my Project Gallery to see more crafty creations I’ve shared, including more wreaths and door hangers like these!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

[Source of floral wire wreath form stock photo that has added terminology.]