MAKING A BASIC RAG WREATH
Homespun is a perfect fabric for tied rag strip wreaths because homespun fabric is the same on both side. No unattractive "back side" of the fabric will show on your wreath! A rag strip wreath made with homespun plaids is beautiful and simple but can also be embellished according to your taste. All you need is a wire frame which can usually be purchased at any craft or department store and about 3 total yards of assorted homespun fabric.
On this page you'll find instructions and pictures for making a basic rag wreath made from torn homespun strips. This tutorial uses a base off white color and mixes in some tobacco cloth for texture. We've also included pictures of wreaths made in various colors and embellished with ornaments and picks and such. If you make something creative, send us a picture! We love seeing what our customer do and sharing their pictures on our Facebook page.
On this page you'll find instructions and pictures for making a basic rag wreath made from torn homespun strips. This tutorial uses a base off white color and mixes in some tobacco cloth for texture. We've also included pictures of wreaths made in various colors and embellished with ornaments and picks and such. If you make something creative, send us a picture! We love seeing what our customer do and sharing their pictures on our Facebook page.
Instructions:
- You will need a wire frame wreath base. These come in different sizes and are easily found at most floral or craft stores. I can usually find them at our local Walmart in the floral department. The frame in this tutorial is 18" across.
- You will also need about 3 yards total homespun fabric. This can be all one color like the wreath we are featuring here or it can be various coordinated colors or it can just be your remnant stash. In this wreath, we used about 2.5 yards of an off white natural homespun and 1 yard of unbleached light weight tobacco cloth. It's important to use fabric that is not printed so that you will not have the unattractive back side of the fabric showing in your wreath. Homespun fabric is perfect for this and we believe we have the widest selection of homespun at JCS Fabric.
- Tear your fabric into 1" wide strips. Then cut those strips into 6" lengths.
- Tie one 6" strip to your wire wreath just using a simple single tie. Making a knot is not necessary. Continue tying the strips on one section of the wreath at a time until you have reached the desired fullness. Then move to the next section of the wire wreath frame. If you are using different colors or textures just randomly mix them as you are tying.
- Make sure you keep all the ends pulled forward to the front as you go. The back side should just be knots as shown in the image below left. All the strip ends should come to the front as shown in the image below right.
- When you are satisfied with the look of the rag wreath, either use it as it is or embellish it as desired. This is a good movie night project. I estimate it took me 2-3 hours to tie all the strips. I'd suggest getting the kiddos involved as much as possible because your hands will get a little tired if you do this all in one night.