Braided Fabric Christmas Wreath by Designer Tamara Tripodi

Hello, hello! Can you even believe it’s already that time of year for holiday crafting? If you do design teamwork or even craft fairs for the holidays, you may have already started! Today I am sharing a simple braided fabric wreath with you all. My idea was that this would be a great gift idea or to whip up quickly to sell at the craft fairs for some extra holiday cash. Or maybe you want one for your own home! Either way, this is so cute and fun and really easy to make. You can make this with your own fabric style for ANY occasion! I went for a bright and playful Christmas look. So, ignore the laundry for a bit (guilty..) and let’s get started!

Braided Fabric Christmas Wreath by Designer Tamara Tripodi

SUPPLIES:

5 various fabrics
Fleece or other ‘textured’ fabric
Felt balls or other embellishments (bells, stars, etc.)
Poly-Fil stuffing
Needle and Aurifil embroidery thread (you want something thick and strong to hand sew the pieces together)
Sewing machine and thread
Pinking shears
Scissors
Rubber band to secure braided tubes
Therm o Web Heat n Bond Heavy Weight Interfacing
Therm o Web Liquid Permanent Fabric Fuse Liquid Adhesive

CUTS TO MAKE:

Three strips for the ‘tubes’ cut to 6×22″ OTF (on the fold)

One strip at 6×16″ OTF for the bow

Small 3×5″ rectangle to fold around bow center

Fleece strip at 3×22 OTF

Start by sewing the tubes wrong sides together. Close one end and leave one end open.

Turn tubes right side out and begin stuffing in poly-fil. I used a yard stick to turn and stuff and it worked perfectly! You’ll want to stuff them pretty good, but not too stiff. Leave yourself about 2″ at the opening for sewing later.

Once all three tubes are stuffed and you’ve chased a few children around whacking at the them with the tubes like ‘noodle arms’, then you’ll sew the open ends together. Stack them on top of each other like so.

Now you’re ready to braid! If you’re like me, you’ll need to pay a kid $.50 to hold the sewn end really tight while you braid. Do a pretty snug braid, but not TOO snug. If you do it too tight, it won’t form correctly and will want to ‘turn’ out when you make the circle shape.

Once you’re finished braided the tubes, secure with a rubber band or elastic.

Shape into a circle and sew ends together really well with a thick embroidery thread. Don’t worry about the ends meeting up perfectly, you won’t see them after the bow is added.

Trim your fleece strip edges with pinking shears. Then run a gathering stitch through the center and create a bit of a ruffling effect with it.

Next you’ll use your Therm o Web Fabric Fuse Bond glue and adhere the fleece strip to the top of the wreath. Kinda cross the strip over itself to create a loop. To really secure it if the wreath is heavy, sew it down with a few stitches.

To create the bow, cut a strip of Therm o Web Heavy Weight Heat n Bond to 3×32″ and press to the wrong side of one side of the bow fabric. This will allow the bow to fold nicely and hold a nice shape.

Next you’ll sew the edges together. Leave the short ends open. Turn the bow strip right side out and press with an iron. Fold into a bow. Clip raw edges with pinking shears. Using the 3×5″ rectangle fabric piece, fold raw edges in and secure with a few dots of Fabric Fuse.

Wrap the strip around the center of the bow and secure with Fabric Fuse. Use a good amount of hot glue to secure the bow to the wreath. Then, you’re finished!

Hang and enjoy!

We hope you’ve been enjoying the Christmas in September week! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for one more amazing project! And just in case you may have missed it..we have a few giveaways for you to enter….here’s where you can go enter to win:

National Sewing Month Giveaway

National Sew a Jelly Roll Day