A Page from Jenna's Journal: Burlap Wreath

I decided to make this wreath to give away to SUU students and alumni. My friend, The Crafty Nurse, helped me make it and the project couldn’t have been easier or nicer. It’s also great for any holiday: all you need is some burlap and determination.

Tools and supplies:

1 hot glue gun

2 hot glue sticks

1 18 inch wire wreath frame

1½ yards burlap

1 wire rimmed ribbon (approx. 9 feet long)

Scissors

1 straight pin

We started out by cutting the burlap into strips about 6 inches wide. The easiest way to cut burlap is to find the place you want to cut and remove one of the strings. This is done by lifting that string using a straight pin and cutting it with scissors. Then, pull it out of the fabric. Hold back one of the strings you pull out for later.

Next, cut a hole in one of the burlap strips and the ribbon and tie them together using the string.

Then, slide the burlap through the outer ring of the wreath frame and glue the end of the burlap back on itself. We found it helpful to use the scissors to press down the burlap because glue can slide through the holes in the burlap and burn your skin.

Start forming your wreath by pulling a loop of ribbon through the top section of the wreath form followed by a loop of burlap in each of the three sections.

Next, push the loops together so they create a “scrunched” look. Then twist the burlap to hold your work in place before starting on the next group of loops. We put three groups of loops in each section of the wreath frame. We also rotated which part of the frame the ribbon would come out of going outside, center, inside, center, outside, and so on.

When you reach the end of a strip of burlap, simply hot glue another strip of burlap to it and continue. This is what two sections of burlap looked like on the wreath.

To finish, cut off any remaining burlap and ribbon. Then, apply hot glue to the ends and bend them back into the wreath in the same manner that the wreath was started.

After the glue has dried, the burlap and ribbon can be pulled and spread to fill in any gaps. To add some school spirit, We picked up an SUU pennant at the bookstore and attached it with hot glue.