2017 Happy Thanksgiving Wreath Tutorial

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this Happy Thanksgiving sign turned out great on this easy to do ruffle wreath. Colors are a little different for Thanksgiving with beautiful shades chocolate, copper and silver. The supplies for this project will be available in a kit, while supplies last. Let's get started! Supplies: XX7504W4 24" Burlap Pencil Wreath 62117 Happy Thanksgiving Sign (available in kit only) RE1301E2 10" Chocolate Copper Deco Poly Mesh - 2 Rolls RG1279C2 2.5" Cream Ribbon C1640207 2.5" Silver Floral Ribbon ZXP-TT01 1.5" Faux Burlap Ribbon X743609-51 1.5" Brushed Charcoal Ribbon Update: Kit is sold out, no more will be available. Some of the individual supplies may still be available, but no more of the sign will be coming in. Summary: The only signs we will have available will be the ones in the kits, but even after the kits have sold out, we will leave this tutorial since the basic instructions for a ruffle wreath can be followed and other choices in products made. Just stick to the same size mesh and wreath size. Wreath: We chose a 24″ burlap pencil wreath for this project, but you could use other colors. Our 24″ pencil wreath measure 15″ across the widest ring, but with the addition of mesh and other products you wind up with a finished wreath that measures 24″ or greater. You could also use a regular work wreath for this project, just stay with a 24″ Mesh: We chose two rolls of chocolate with copper foil Deco Poly Mesh. The mesh was 10″ in width and 10 yards in length. One roll isn’t enough, but it doesn’t take all of two rolls so you’ll have a bit left over. We used the “ruffle” technique for this wreath because it’s one of the easiest for beginners. The mesh was cut into 30″ lengths. One length was used for one ruffle. We watched Lori with Hard Working Mom a few weeks ago and she had made her ruffles 30″ in length to help reduce the raveling. All mesh ravels for sure! But this does help. The fewer cuts you can make in your mesh and the less you handle it will help. A long time ago we started out making ruffles about 15″ in length and decided to try three 10″ ruffles and that turned out nicely. Now we’re going back to making them longer again….what goes around comes around as they say))) It all depends on the type mesh we’re working with as to whether we do two 15″ ruffles or one 30″ ruffle. Some mesh products are really bulk when gathered up and on those, we’ve been doing two 15″ ruffles. This mesh works great with one 30″ ruffle for each twist. We used a Fiskars 60mm Rotary Stick Cutter and Omnigrid Self-Healing Cutting Mat to cut the mesh. These tools just speed the process up because you can cut two or even three rolls of mesh at a time. The mat has measurements on it that are very helpful and it's also reversible. We've been using this same mat and cutter for years now. You can also buy replaceable blades for the cutter. We don't sell these tools on Trendy Tree but we're happy to share our affiliate links for the items. We cut 18 pieces of mesh, 30" in length. Our 24" wreaths typically have 18 twists, so we needed 18 pieces . You have a little mesh left over. One roll isn't enough, but it doesn't take all of the second roll. To make your ruffle, let the mesh just roll up naturally on the table. Spread the mesh out, working from the top side of the roll (cut edges will want to roll under) starting at the cut edge, scrunch up through the middle of the 10″ piece gathering it up tightly. It will look like a bow tie. Open up a twist on the wreath and secure the ruffle with a couple of turns. We started on the outside of our wreath. You only need to secure with a couple of turns right now, because you’ll be opening that up later, to add a ribbon cluster. Continue working around the outer ring and then move to the inner ring, same size ruffle and one in each twist. The image below sows the wreath after one ruffle has been placed in each twist around the outer ring. Next, just move to the inner ring and continue placing the same size ruffle in each twist. The image below shows the wreath with the ruffles completed. It will help if you go ahead and put a chenille strip on the back as a hanger. This will help you keep up with your center point when finding the position for your sign. Ribbon: Ribbon can be added in several different ways. You can make strips, loops, small bows. Just choose which method you like the best. Ribbon strips is also one of the easiest methods to do. We chose four ribbons for this project. Some were 2.5″ in width and some 1.5″. All the ribbons were on 10 yard rolls. It’s always good to do a test ribbon before you starting cutting up your ribbon. We settled on 12″ strips for this project. Ribbon is just a matter of preference. You might rather have no ribbon and use a bow or a couple of bows. Again, strips are just an easy way, especially for beginners. There are 18 twists, typically, on our 24″ wreaths. So we cut 18 pieces of each ribbon. We angled the ends of the ribbons. Sometimes on the 2.5″ ribbons we cut the ends with a dovetail or chevron cut and we’ll show you how to do that in the video, but for our project this time, we just angled all the ribbons. Ribbon tips will curl up and the stiffer or thicker ribbon you have will help. We took one of the each four ribbons and just alternated when picking them up. No particular pattern, but did try to alternate them a bit. Pinch the ribbon in the center and pick up another strip. Sort of spread them out in your hand so they are not stacked right on top of each other. Open up a twist on the wreath, making sure the ruffle stays in place, lay the ribbon cluster down and re-secure the tie now with three to four turns. Place a ribbon cluster in each twist around the wreath. Again, this is a matter of preference. You might be applying a sign and might want to leave ribbon off that would be under the sign and not seen anyway, so just experiment. Sign: The turkey sign is about 14" x 15" and comes with a wire hanger. The sign is made of MDF and has really nice colors and something different for fall. The colors are sort of a muted silver, copper and chocolate. We used the wire hanger to attach the sign placing it on top of the ruffles in the center of the wreath. We attached to the wreath form using floral wire. You don't want to push the sign so far down in the wreath that the ruffles and ribbon cover it up, so don't attach it too tightly. Course you don't want it bobbling around either! There are additional places toward the bottom of the sign were you can secure with extra flora wire as needed. You may want to hang the wreath on the wall, door or something so you can get in front of it to figure out your placement. I had to adjust mine a couple of times because it would hang down lower than I wanted. Once it's secured, gently fluff out your ribbons that may have gotten trapped down. If any ruffles are in the way, just push them to the back a little so your sign shows up well. It can sort of sit on the ruffles and just lift out ribbons here and there and you may have to push some ruffles out of the way and to the back of the wreath so you can see the wording on the sign well. When you’re all done, be sure to clip all your strings and check the back of your wreath for anything sharp that might scratch your wall or door. The overall diameter of the wreath was about 28″ or so. Happy Thanksgiving! Save Save Save Save Save Save