Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine Series: All My Love Valentine Wreath


I know, I know.  Just from the title I have all you guys singing Led Zeppelin. Right?!  No?!  What?!!  How is that possible??  Well, for some of you who know what I am talking about read on.  For those who don't, what planet have you been living on?  

Today, I made a wreath for my front door.  I wanted to depart from the one I have used the past few years for two reasons. One, it's tired.  Two, it's tired. (wink)  I thought of a lot of options, but in the end decided to put this one together using fabric scraps.  

Materials
Wreath Form - I used a white grapevine
Assorted Fabric Scraps - Mostly Reds, including burlap
Assorted Buttons for accents 
Jute
Scissors, Regular and Pinking Shears
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Letters for a Message 
Quilter's Pins

If you have been reading The Homeless Finch for a while, you know that I have an awesome friend who is a decorator.  Whenever the firm clears out their fabric samples, she gives them to me!  Better me than the trash dump!  Yeah Me!  I took out an assortment of those fabric sample books that had red shades.  You can use whatever fabric, just remember that the largest piece to make the flowers needs to be about 4 X 4 inches square.  

I started with a basic wreath form that I have had laying around.  I covered it with strips of burlap and topped it off with a gathered strip of gingham fabric that I put a rough satin stitch  along the edges.  


I then cut three circles out of my fabric, one large, medium and small for the center of the each flower.  I took the two largest sized circles and put a running stitch around the middle so I could gather the center.  I then took each circle and hot glued them together working from large to small.  I then chose a random button from my stash to finish off the flower.


After completing each flower, I worked it onto the wreath affixing it with hot glue. A few of them, I used a quilter's pin to secure them and then hot glue.  The pins helped me figure out as I went where I wanted to place the flowers giving me the flexibility to move them before using the hot glue.  

I made the leaves by cutting out 4 x 4 inch squares of a green and creme ticking fabric, grabbing the middle like a handkerchief and tying off the ends with a string from the burlap.  

 I realized at this point, that I needed to bring more of the black and white gingham fabric around the wreath.  I ripped several strips of gingham fabric and finished off the edges on my sewing machine using a red thread satin stitch.  You don't have to do this, I was just in the mood to finish the edges.

I took the scraps of fabric that I had leftover from the flowers and made ten tiny pennants and strung them on a piece of jute using hot glue.  I popped onto my Silhouette Cameo Software and made the letters for the "All My Love" message.  I then sent it to my Silhouette which happily cut them out for me on creme colored scrapbook paper.  You can use your own letters, chipboard letter or whatever you chose. 
Here are the results... 


AND....some detail images....









AND...a little vignette...


Stay tuned for another great project in my series 
The Sweetest Days of St. Valentine!  

If you click this button, it will 
take you to the entire series.

Oh! By the way....if you have not idea why I referenced Led Zeppelin at the beginning of this post...perhaps this might help.



-The End-

Linking this post to:


11 comments:

Rosemary@villabarnes said...

Great wreath Lesley. Nothing wrong with a little Led Zeppelin. I've been humming David Bowie. We need to party sometime. lol

Cassie Bustamante said...

so sweet! the flowers are my favorite part- and i love that it's kind of spring-y and not traditional colors.

Yvonne said...

Really different, I love the wreath. Love the video too!

Vickie @ Ranger 911 said...

Love the mix of textured fabrics!

Dee ⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️ said...

Hi Lesley,

I love your adorable wreath. The buttons make it the cutest!!!

Dee

Honey at 2805 said...

Adorable wreath! Thank you for sharing your lovely project at Potpourri Friday!

Grammy Goodwill said...

I love your wreath. The little pennants and the flowers are so colorful and cute. It turned out great.

Unknown said...

wonderful materials and shapes I adore it !

-KAT-

Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} said...

VERY cute, Lesley!! I love the fabric you used with the flowers. And bunting is always good in my book. It has a great overall look!

Judy Whatilivefor said...

That turned out super cute...I love that it's still pretty and "lovey" but love that you used non-traditional colors for this V-day wreath!

Lisa Montsion said...

Such a amazing valentine's day wreath.

lisa