DIY Spring Chevron Wreath with Pennant Banner

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With J gone for fleet week, I’ve been staying up far too late, watching Hulu (I started Nashville, not my fave show so far, but it’s alright) and crafting my little bootay off. I may have mentioned in previous posts that I love to decorate for holidays/seasons and made a promise to myself to do so, especially while baby P and any future babies are growing up. So far I have made good on my promise, and although most of my decorations come from the dollar store, it still counts, haha! I recently found myself at a loss as to what to do decor-wise between Easter and Memorial Day/Independence Day, so I decided to leave the inside be and just make another cute front door wreath since I was so pleased with the way my Easter wreath came out. Since I had picked up a few yards of burlap for some larger pennant banners I plan on making, I thought it would be fun to add a teeny tiny pennant banner to my wreath, especially because it would act as a trial one for my future banners. This wreath was super easy to throw together, once I had created my mini pennant banner and fabric flowers, it took me under 10 minutes to assemble the whole thing! The best part is, with the exception of the ribbon and Styrofoam wreath, I used items I already had on hand so the project cost me about $8 – BOOM! Give this one a try, if you don’t want to make the fabric flowers yourself you can always purchase ready made ones at your local craft store (but first read my tutorial on fabric roses and see how easy they are to make!), the rest is easy breezy!

DIY SPRING CHEVRON WREATH WITH PENNANT BANNER

YOU WILL NEED:

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  • Styrofoam wreath (I purchased mine at Michael’s using a 40% off coupon, download the Michael’s app if you haven’t already, they will scan coupons right off of your phone)
  •  Chevron Ribbon (Mine was wired but it doesn’t have to be, they sell large rolls of chevron ribbon at Walmart for $3.99)
  • 8-12 Fabric Flowers (Tutorial Here)
  • String or Twine
  • Burlap (since the banner is so tiny just ask for the smallest piece they can cut for you, burlap costs $2.97 at Walmart so a 1/4 yard will cost you about $0.75 and you’ll still have left over fabric)
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • Small Letter Stencils (I had picked some up for another project I’m working on but I’m sure the dollar store has stencils that would work)
  • Paint Brush
  • Glue Gun
  • Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Assemble your fabric flowers by following this tutorial. The amount you will need depends on the size of the flowers you make and how much area you want them to cover on the wreath. If you are using store bought flowers or none at all skip this step.

Step 2: Start creating your pennant banner by fashioning a triangle guide out of paper (I used a post-it haha), the size of your pennants will depend on the length of your name or words you are using. My last name is seven letters long and a 2″ wide by 2″ long triangle was perfect for mine. Using scissors, cut out your triangles. NOTE: It is optional to use modge podge or fabric stiffener to seal the edges of your burlap triangles so they do not fray. I skipped this and they are fine.

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Step 3: Once your triangles are cut out, using your stencil, paint and paint brush, carefully paint your letters onto the burlap triangles. Be sure to protect your work surface with a piece of paper or wax paper since the paint will seep through the burlap. Allow a few mins to dry, this is a good time to start working on the body of the wreath!

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Step 4: Take your wreath and ribbon and attach the end of your ribbon to the styrofoam wreath using hot glue. Keep wrapping the ribbon around the wreath, overlapping the previous section each time, place a dot of glue underneath the ribbon each time you wrap it (I suppose this isn’t totally necessary but I didn’t want my ribbon to move at all once I was finished covering the wreath).

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Step 5: Your burlap letters should be dry by now. If so, take a piece of twine, ribbon or string and use hot glue to attach your burlap triangles to the string by applying a line of top glue to the back top of each and pressing onto the string, it is best to do this over wax paper so that the glue will not stick to anything. Make sure you leave a decent amount of string before the start of your first triangle so you will have a means to attach that side to the wreath.

Step 6: Attach your banner to the wreath by tying each end to each side, you be the judge of placement and tautness of the string. Once I got the banner tied how I wanted, I used a small dot of hot glue on each side to secure the string (again, overkill with the glue but it can’t hurt right? lol). Now, attach your flowers however you see fit, I alternated sizes and colors but feel free to arrange them however you’d like! The bow is optional, I just thought the top looked naked. Now throw that bad boy on your front door and know you’ve now got the best wreath on da block 😛

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Fabric Rose Tutorial

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I’m so excited to share this craft with you! These little fabric roses can be used in SO many ways from decor to jewelry the applications are endless, so if you like shabby or cottage chic style decor this craft is right up your alley. I began making these little flowers when I was selling shabby chic style rosette lampshades (pictured below) on Etsy  for a short while. Although I didn’t think my lampshades would drum up much business it turns out they were extremely popular and for the year that my Etsy shop was open I made HUNDREDS if not thousands of these little fabric flowers, so needless to say I’m pretty sure I have it down to a science, haha. Unfortunately, when baby P arrived I had to close down my shop indefinitely, as the lampshade process is pretty labor intensive and I was just simply not going to have the time to devote to the shop with a new baby (hopefully I can reopen it one day!), so now I just make lampshades as gifts for friends and use my little flowers in other craft projects. Since I love a project that can be used in multiple ways, I knew that a lot of my future crafts would feature these little fabric flowers and that is why I’d like to share this tutorial with you! Obviously there are lots of different fabric flower tutorials out there, as well as lots of craft stores that sell them ready-made (but after reading this post I hope you are inspired to make them yourself and save some coin!), so this is just my personal method to my fabric flower madness! I think it’s also worth mentioning that these make great embellishments for just about any decor project (I will give some suggestions below!) and are a great way to dress up something simple if you’re looking to decorate on a budget, all you need is a glue gun and the fabric of your choice! Happy “flowering” (as my husband calls it lol)! P.S. I plan to write a separate post on DIY fabric rose lampshades, so be on the lookout for that!

FABRIC ROSE TUTORIAL

YOU WILL NEED: 

  • Fabric of your choice (anything will work with the exception of maybe organza, tulle and silk where the dried hot glue might show up or wreck the material. The amount of fabric you need is dependent on how many flowers you would like to create.)
  • Glue Gun
  • Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Begin by cutting your fabric into 2″ wide strips (this is an approximation, just eyeball it, no need to measure the width of each strip).

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all of the fabric I used to make these flowers for my wreath was left over from previous projects, the peach fabric was a thrift store find – 2 yards for $1!!!

Step 2: Starting with the end of one of your strips, fold the corner down to form a point and use a dab of hot glue to secure it.

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Step 3: Begin to roll your point as if it is a cinnamon bun, then place a dab of hot glue to hold it. Next, begin folding or rolling and turning your fabric simultaneously, placing a dot of hot glue after each fold (or every other fold depending on how tight you want the rose to appear, I do every fold, but if you’re going for a more shabby chic look you can let it appear a little looser). NOTE: For the particular roses shown, as I was folding/turning each piece I was sure that there were no raw edges apparent because that was the look I was going for, if you are looking for more of a shabby chic raw/frayed edge look, instead of “folding” as you turn simply use more of a twisting motion so that there are some raw fabric edges visible on your rose.

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Step 4Once you have reached the end of your fabric use a final dot of hot glue to tuck the tail end of the strip underneath or tight to the side of the flower and you are done! Yup, it was that easy! If you would like your flower to be bigger simply repeat the beginning of step one, but instead of rolling the point into a cinnamon bun, simply fasten it to the side of your finished flower with a dot of glue and continue your folding/rolling and turning process.

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Here are just a few ideas for using these roses in decor/fashion (since I have done most of these I will be posting examples of each of the following soon!):

  • Shabby chic lampshade (tutorial coming soon) flow8 flow9
  • Embellish a chalkboard, mirror or frame
  • Create a hair band or bow (perfect for a baby shower gift!)
  • Create a necklace or earrings
  • Embellish a wreath (see my spring/summer wreath post here)wreath
  • Embellish a vintage sign