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Patriotic Wreath & Garland Tutorial

Patriotic Wreath & Garland Tutorial

patriotic-wreath-garland Patriotic Wreath and Garland Tutorial. Just click on the image below to watch the video. This tutorial was done in 2014 and some of the items are no longer available, but you can still follow the directions and just substitute products.

Supplies:
XX7576J6-red-silver XX7576J6 Needle Burst Pencil Wreath Metallic Red Silver
re1043m6-vertical-holiday-red RE1043M6 21" Vertical Line Holiday Red Deco Poly Mesh®
re104327-vertical-white RE104327 21" Vertical Line White Deco Poly Mesh®
re104325-vertical-line-royal-blue RE104325 21" Vertical Line Royal Blue Deco Poly Mesh®
HJ9001-patriotic-hat-9-inch-diameter-assorted HJ9001 Patriotic Glittered Metal Hal 9" Diameter
F3317578-red-silver-blue-pom-pom-spray RAZ 31" Red Silver Blue Pom Pom Spray
xx743324-pencil-red-red-ball Pencil Work Garland Metallic Red with Red Balls
Let's get started! Needle Burst Wreath - The 24" Needle Burst Work Wreath is the same size as our other 24" wreaths. (The wreaths actually measure 15" in diameter, but with the twists and addition of mesh, burlap, ribbons or other product, the finished wreath usually measures 24" or greater.) Other wreath products from other companies may not measure theirs this way, but our wreaths are all Craig Bachman Import products. (Note: Needleburst wreaths are sold out and no longer stocked, but we have a huge selection of Work Wreaths that work just as well). For this wreath, we have used the "pouf" technique. Typically, we use one entire roll of 21" mesh to cover a 24" Work Wreath using the pouf method with a yard or two left over. But for this wreath we did a three color combination. This may sound like a lot of mesh for one wreath, but we had enough mesh left over to do a 9' garland also....and still had some white and blue mesh left over. The first thing we did was prepare our Needle Burst Wreath. These are pencil wreaths, but one side of the twist has a "starburst" of tinsel pieces. The wreath is a little more expensive than a regular Pencil Work Wreath, but it has the added "bling." You work with it in the same manner. The Work Wreaths are made up of three rings - the outer ring has the most ties and the inner most ring, a fewer number of ties. We chose to add another layer of twists to the middle ring which contains no twists since we wanted to do three rounds of color. We used simple chenille stems for twists and used a number that was in-between the number of twists on the inner ring and outer ring. Vertical Line Mesh - Vertical Line Deco Poly Mesh® has a slight nubby like texture, no metallic and provides good coverage for your wreath. We started on the outer ring using the Royal Blue Deco Poly Mesh® Grasp the mesh 3-4 inches from the end, bunch together and secure in one of the twists on the outer ring. It doesn't matter where you start. Measure with a yardstick about 14" Grasp again and secure in the next twist. Give the twists a couple of turns to secure. Continue working around the outer ring, placing the last pouf in the same twist where you started. To do this, open the twist and secure the last pouf and re-twist. Cut the mesh off leaving a tail of 3-4 inches. Secure the "tails" using zip ties to secure the cut ends of the mesh to the Work Wreath frame. Snip off the zip tie and push the rough edge to the center of the wreath so you won't have any rough edges to scratch your wall or door. Typically, we don't cut 21" mesh when we are doing the pouf technique, but for this wreath, we are doing three separate colors. On the middle ring of the Work Wreath, use the White Vertical Line Deco Poly Mesh®, starting in the same manner as the Royal Blue, measure 14" and secure in the next twist. Work around this ring (this is the one where you added the chenille stems for twists.). Cut the mesh when finished and secure the cut ends again with zip ties. Use the Holiday Red Vertical Line Deco Poly Mesh® on the center ring. Make your poufs, cut the mesh and secure the ends in the same manner. Make poufs all the same size using the 14" measure. Along the way its always good to take a look at your wreath before you're completely done and check the size of your poufs. If you have any that are too small or too large you can adjust them. It helps to put your hands underneath the poufs to fluff them out. RAZ Red Silver Blue Pom Pom Spray - (Sold out, no longer available, but we have other Patriotic sprays) Each one of these sprays has three large sparkly pom poms. The spray is a silver glittered stem and you will need heavy wire cutters to snip off the pom poms. Position the pom poms around the wreath and secure them to the Work Wreath frame using zip ties. Be careful not to bury them too deep into the wreath, you want them to at least be even with the level of the mesh so they will be visible. Just play around with them until you get the look you're satisfied with and then secure them. Patriotic Glittered Metal Hat - (Sold out and no longer available, but we have other Patriotic Hats). The metal hat was positioned in the center of the wreath, but set at an angle. We didn't secure this hat to our wreath, since we usually only make our wreaths for tutorials. But to secure an object like this, you could drill or punch a small hole in the top of the hat and probably also in the brim, just large enough to slip a piece of floral wire through. Then secure the hat to the Work Wreath frame. It's import to secure large items to the metal frame itself most of the time. You could probably use clear fishing line if you are making the wreath for yourself and don't expect it to get moved around much. Or, if you are like us and make something to use at home....we never permanently attach anything, so we can take it apart later and re-design or re-purpose part or all of the wreath. When you are finished with your wreath, check the needle burst ends and make sure they are all pulled up and out from the depths of the wreath so they will be more visible. You can embellish your wreath with items different than the Patriotic Metal Hat or the RAZ Pom Pom sprays. Ribbon strips or other Patriotic style signs would work just as well. Pencil Ball Garland - The Pencil Ball Garland is the same size as the regular Pencil Garland, but does have shiny red ball on the ends. We wanted to use the remnants of the Deco Poly Mesh® for the garland but wasn't sure if we would have enough to completely do poufs the entire length of the garland. As you will see in the video we skipped some space at first and started the red about a yard from the end, but before we finished, it looked as if we would have enough to complete the entire length of the garland with red poufs, so we started over again. We did make the poufs about 12" instead of 14" just to be sure we had enough, and it turned out just fine. The mesh was started on the garland in the same manner as for the wreath. Grasp about 3-4 inches from the end, bunch up and secure in a twist. For this garland, you can just leave the cut ends free, they don't have to be secured to be out of the way or anything. Measure 12", grasp, bunch and secure in the next twist. Just continue down the length of the garland. We chose to use the red, since we used less of it than the white or blue on the wreath. We don't typically advise anyone to split 21" mesh down the middle because the more cut edges you have with mesh, burlap or paper, the more raveling you have. But we did want to use of the remnants of these rolls, so we split some of the blue and white right down the middle. Then took these lengths of mesh, cut them in 10" and made ruffles to place along the wreath, contrasting the colors. 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.) Even after we did ruffles down the entire length of the garland, we still had some blue and white left over, so this time we cut more 10" pieces and rolled the mesh diagonally into "curls" that we secured into the garland. The ruffles and curls were secured by opening the twist down to the pouf, laying the ruffle down and re-securing. The "curls" were then laid down right on top of the ruffles using the same technique - open the twist and lay the curl down, re-secure the twist. If you're making this wreath and garland for yourself, keep in mind how easy it will be to re-design these for the holidays......just remove the royal blue from the garland and add in some gingerbread, balls, or peppermint candy canes. For the wreath....remove the royal blue outside layer and do another one in red or lime green....add some elves...or other whimsy.....and you'll have a whole new look...plus saved some money)) We still had a bit left over of the white and royal blue....probably enough to use around some candles or vases of flowers that will be great for a backyard cookout on the 4th of July. White table cloths....red, white, blue decorations.......burgers on the grill......grands in the pool.......and me on the back porch in the shade with a glass of lemonade....simple pleasures are the best))))

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