1/23/17 White Bunny Easter Wreath Tutorial

Here's a new bunny wreath tutorial we did using a 21" mesh, 24" work wreath frame and the pouf technique. A limited number of kits containing supplies will be available. Click here to purchase. Sorry, the kit is now sold out. Once the kits have sold out, the tutorial will still be left up since you can choose other wreath form, colors of mesh, ribbons, etc to create a similar wreath using the same technique Supplies: XX748822 24" Pink Work Wreath RE100122 21" x 10 yards Pink Metallic Deco Poly Mesh XB96910-16 10" x 10 yards Grey Jute Mesh 61835WT Bunny Legs 61840WT Bunny Head (sold out on website, available only in kits as long as they last) RG1640RM 1.5" Bold Stripe Olive/Dark Pink/Plum/Light Pink Ribbon RG135710 1.5" Grey/White Quatrefoil Ribbon RG0120011 2.5" Giant Multi Dot Hot Pink/White Ribbon We chose a 24" Pink Work Wreath for this project. Please note that in our tutorial, we actually used a silver metallic work wreath. We re-use items all the time and this one was in the shop since it had a broken wire ring and we used it and saved the pink wreath to go in someone's kit. Our 24" Work Wreaths actually measure 15" across the metal rings, but with the addition of mesh and other materials, you usually come out with a 24" wreath or larger. We also chose 21" Pink Metallic Deco Poly Mesh as our basis for the wreath. To get started, just drop the roll of mesh off in the floor and grasp it 3-4" from the end. Gather up the mesh in your hand, and open a twist on the wreath. We started on the outside, but there is no rule. Just start on the inner or outer ring, whichever you prefer. Attach the end of the mesh with a couple of turns of the twist. You can poke the raw end of the mesh to the inside of the wreath frame. Once your mesh is secured, you are ready to measure and make your first pouf. We measured 14". Grasp the mesh, you may need to put your hand under the pouf to fluff it out a little and secure in the next twist. Continue measuring and securing and work your way around the outer ring. You can experiment with making your poufs different lengths. You may want them smaller. I wouldn't recommend making them any larger than 14" With the 14" measurement, we typically have a couple of yards left over on each roll. One time we calculated the math and made the poufs a length where we would use up the entire roll and not have any remnants. This proved not to be a good idea. The poufs were too large and floppy. So, just experiment and see what size you like best. Do keep them uniform around the wreath. When you get to the last space to add the last pouf, carefully open up the twist where you started (make sure your mesh doesn't pop out) and secure the last pouf in the same place. Give the twist a couple of turns. Pull the mesh up snug to the inner layer and secure at the closest twist with a couple of turns. Continue measuring the same 14" and securing mesh around the inner ring. One the last pouf is made, cut your mesh off leaving a tail of about 6" Tuck the raw end of the mesh to the inside of the wreath. You should be close to where your starting point was. Just twist the end of the mesh tails and secure to a wire with a zip tie to keep the raw ends from popping out in your wreath. You may want to hang your wreath up, stand back and take a look. Adjust any poufs that might look too large or too small. Next we used the grey jute mesh to make some curls. This mesh product is a combination of jute and Polypropylene, so it has properties of the waterproof plastic of Polypropylene and a difference in texture with the jute threads. It's 10" in width and 10 yards in length. We cut lengths of 10" to make curls. We use a 24" x 36" self healing Omnigrid Cutting Mat and a 45mm Omnigrid Rotary Cutter (these are available at Amazon and we have included our affiliate links.) The Polypropylene makes the mesh have a natural tendency to curl up. We curled up the mesh pieces and placed two curls into each twist. Just open a twist, making sure your mesh poufs stay in place, and secure two curls. Lay them cut side down when possible and in the shape of an "x" Secure the twist with a couple of turns. A 10" x 10 yard roll of mesh should give 36 pieces, but sometimes you may get a roll that results in 34" or a little more. Being short a curl or two will not make any difference in your wreath. For this wreath, you could be short a curl in the area where you are attaching the head etc. Here's the wreath after two curls were attach in each twist. Next we cut our ribbon strips 13" in length. We cut 18 pieces of each ribbon. It's always a good idea to test your ribbon strips before cutting up your ribbon. Cut your strips to where they are about the same depth as your poufs and curls. There are different ways to add ribbon to a wreath. Strips of all the same lengths are just an easy way, especially for the beginner wreath maker, and the wreath will usually come out fairly uniform. You can make loops with your ribbon, or clusters of small bows. Or, you might want to wait and make a couple of large bows. It's all a matter of preference. To attach the ribbon strips, pinch the strip in the center, pick up another ribbon, pinch in the center and do a cluster of three ribbons, spread them out so they are not just stacked on top of each other. Open up a twist, lay the ribbon cluster down and this time you can give the twist 3-4 turns since this is the last layer for this wreath. You can put your clusters in any sort of pattern you wish. We added a ribbon cluster to each twist. Next you can experiment with where you want to attach your head and legs. The pieces are made of plush and contain no wires. To make an attachment for the head, we just ran a small floral wire through the plush on the back of the head and used this to attach to the work wreath frame. You do want to attach to the wire frame and not the mesh. The legs have a band on them and this is good for attaching to the work wreath frame. We like to just clip on items with clothespins or chip clips until we decide for certain on our placement. The bunny legs have no wire, and you can use them this way, or if you want you can insert some wire like we did. The wire we used was a little larger than a sturdy coat hanger, but a coat hanger should work just as well. You want a wire that is stiff enough to hold if you want to shape the legs. The kit of supplies will not contain any wire. To insert wire into the legs, we had to cut a small hole in the plush portion and slip a wire down to the foot. This is strictly an optional step. We positioned our bunny with his legs crossed and secured the bunny legs using the band to the work wreath frame. Here's the bunny on my front door))) Think he measured about 29-30" in diameter and would be a little longer in length with the legs and ears sticking up. The ears to have some wire so you can shape them. The bunny would look cute holding a big Easter egg, carrot, or maybe an Easter sign too. Hoppy Easter! Save Save Save Save Save Save Save