This boxwood wreath DIY is one of the first pins I added to my personal account when I joined Pinterest years ago, and among those that I instantly repinned to the Hobnail Salvaged Goods boards when I opened them. I have a serious thing for boxwoods, so this photo makes my heart skip a beat. Plus, the source tutorial is marvelously easy…
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| Source |
I’ve been thinking for some time that I wanted to make something like these to go on the chippy windows that hang above our bed. (You can see this image as part of the mood board for our master bedroom update and see the before pictures in this post.)
As I researched and gathered supplies, I decided two things: first, I wanted my wreaths to be more long-lasting than they would be if I used real boxwood branches, and secondly, artificial or preserved boxwood was entirely out of my price range. So, I adapted!
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| Garland, floral wire: Michael’s. |
In terms of artificial greenery, the six-foot garlands available at Hobby Lobby, Michael’s and the like are certainly the best value for the project. Because each garland will make two wreaths using 8″ embroidery hoops (and I needed three wreaths), I needed to buy two garlands. I had a couple all picked out for 50% off at the Hob Lobs, but my gut said to hold off. I was glad I did, because I scored some on a 70% off clearance rack at my next stop at Michael’s!
Since garland is plastic and generally leafier than real branches would have been, I decided assembling the wreaths with hot glue wouldn’t be the best choice. I grabbed a spool of floral wire while I was a Michael’s instead. I had the hoops on hand already, but they’re only a buck or two to purchase new, or you can often find them at thrifters very inexpensively.
Alright, friends, DIY tutorials are not my finest-honed skill set, but here we go!
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| 1. Secure anchor points. |
Step 1: Secure anchor points. Cut your garland in half, then cut several 6″-8″ pieces of floral wire. I started at the top of the hoop by the screw, wrapping along the outside edge clockwise so I was working with the drape of the garland. Use the floral wire to secure points along the way. Don’t wrap all the way around the whole garland, or it won’t look full and the wire will be highly visible. Instead, choose points on the main vine, letting the tendrils hang loose yet.
Twist the wire a couple times to hold the garland in place, but keep the long ends available for the next step. When you get all the way around, snip the main vine to remove any extra length. We’ll add it back in later, but if you just keep wrapping, your wreath will probably look lopsided.
It’s gonna look scary. Like, what-have-I-gotten-myself-into. Like this-will-never-look-right. There will be stuff hanging all over the place. Like this:
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| 2. Secure the tendrils |
Step 2: Work around a second time, pulling in the major tendrils and wrapping them with the long ends of the floral wire. Doing this in two parts like this gives you much more control over how tight/full you want your wreath to look, how dangly you want it to be, and how well hidden the wire is.
If it’s still too messy for your taste, you can continue to straighten it up in the next step…
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| 3. Add extra bits and tweak |
Step 3: Add in the extra bits and tweak. If you cut off any extra length in step one, here’s where you use it. I pulled the little tendrils right off the main vine so I could weave them into the sparse parts. Just stick in the base of the bit wherever you feel you need volume or to cover really visible wire.
I didn’t worry about securing these parts with the wire. If you felt like you needed to, you could probably use a dab of hot glue on this step, but I just pushed and prodded and called it good.
Twist the tendrils around each other, sorta weaving them together by the leaves. This is the annoying part where you just have to work with it until you’re either happy with the result or decide it’s good enough. I made three of these for my space; I was happy with two and just resigned myself to the third being done before I got to the point of throwing it away. No judgement. DIY can suck.
One helpful tip: the two garlands I bought were just slightly different because I got them from a clearance rack. I thought it was just a color variation, but in working with them I realized one was a bit floppier than the other, also. Sturdy, thicker garlands are much easier to work with! Obviously, choose one than it still nicely bendable or you’ll have a host of other problems shaping it. But very fine or delicate garlands require more patience and finesse.
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| 4. Hang and enjoy |
Step 4: Hang and enjoy! My embroidery hoop wreaths went on windows, so I just popped a tiny command hook on the glass and hung it by a piece of the vine. Once it’s in place, you can fiddle with the leaves some more to make sure you’re content with how it looks from all the angles.
This project does leave the hoop visible. It’s a more casual look than many boxwood wreaths on the market, which are very full and structured. But they’re also pretty spendy, and I made all three of these for about $3 a piece, with a big length of garland left over. This is also much closer in spirit to the original inspiration pin, so I’ll take it!
These have been hanging in our room for a couple weeks now, and I’m really thrilled with how they’ve lived up the space! Here’s the before…
…and an after!
So, whaddya think? Tell me in the comments, and show me if you’ve done anything similar…I’d love to see your projects or to hear any different techniques you’ve used!
The post How to Make Embroidery Hoop Wreaths appeared first on Hobnail House.