DIY Burlap Door Wreath

I love the look of all the beautiful burlap wreaths I’ve been seeing all over the internet this past year or so. If you remember, I first got crafty with burlap last fall. That project was a lot of fun, but I already have my eye on a few different fall-themed door ideas for next fall so that one may or may not make a reappearance. We’ll see. In the meantime, I’ve been eyeing the burlap wreaths, but wasn’t sure how much time/skill it would take to whip one up myself. After reading a few tutorials, I was still a little confused about exactly how to achieve that fluffy burlap look…but the more pictures I found on Etsy & Pinterest, the more I knew I had to do it.

So the question was…what kind of burlap wreath was I going to make? And the best part is, once you make the actual burlap wreath part, you can add whatever kind of flair you want! I decided to go with a baseball/St. Louis Cardinals theme cause, well, go Cardinals! (That’s how we roll in these parts.) You might choose to use ribbon loop accents, flowers, or anything else you can attach to your wreath. Seriously, whatever floats your boat.

When I was in the “planning stage” (and I recommend having a planning stage…really think about what you want to use so you aren’t just shopping blindly when the time comes) I did a lot of pinning of wreaths I liked. I may not like the entire wreath, but there might have been one or more aspects that I really liked. I included a note with each pin to remind me what made that particular wreath catch my eye. And then I just checked over my pictures every once in a while for a few days until I had narrowed down in my mind what I wanted. I knew I didn’t want to get too specific cause the chances of me finding an exact ribbon or trinket to add were slim…so I just went with general ideas. Here’s what I needed for mine!

You will need:

18″ wire wreath form (these are just a few bucks at your local craft store…bring a coupon to make em even cheaper)

10 yards (30 feet) of 6″ burlap ribbon (I used the kind without wiring & liked it…not sure if using the wired ribbon would have been easier or harder…oh and if you use a bigger or smaller wreath form, don’t forget to adjust the amount of burlap up or down accordingly!)

accent ribbon (I purchased a 3-yard spool of the red & natural chevron ribbon and didn’t use it up.)

other accents: I used cork letters for the “S” and the “L” because I liked the font better than the available wooden letters. The “t” is wooden…got all 3 for about $2.50. Leftover red acrylic paint from a previous project now coats all of them. The wooden, pre-painted baseballs were $0.67 each.

To get started, tie the end of your burlap onto your frame leaving enough of a “tail” that you can tie the other end of your burlap to this piece when you make it all the way around the wreath. Then, beginning in the middle section (see on the above wire frame how there are three sections?) push a loop of burlap through to the front from the underside of the wreath. You really are just pushing a single loop up into this space. You do not need to pull all 30 feet of burlap through or anything like that, just the short loop. Next, create another loop of burlap behind the wreath and push it through one of the outside sections, then the center again, then the other outside section.

Here’s what you should be looking at after several of these loops. You don’t want your loops to be too big. Ten yards of burlap is just perfect for an 18″ wreath form if you are careful not to make giant loops. Otherwise you end up with this…

Oops. Yep, this was my first attempt and I came up a tad bit short. But then I looked and noticed how uneven my loop sizes were. See how much fluffier/bigger the loops areon both sides at the bottom than they are at the top? Yeah, being consistent is tricky on the first try. Don’t give up! Or maybe you’ll nail it on the first shot…more power to ya! If your wreath looks like the one above, don’t fret, just pull out what you need to and refluff. It all works out in the end.

Here’s what it will look like from the back too.

Oh yes, and when you get to the end, just tie your loose end to your starting piece or even onto the wire frame. Whatever works for you.

Now you’re ready to decorate! I painted my letters before I started making the burlap base so they would be dry.

Then hot-glued them together the way I wanted them…

All ready to be attached…but only after I added my ribbon accents. I cut 6″ (give or take) strips of ribbon to tuck into my wreath. Dig around in the burlap to locate the wire frame (the burlap hides it really well!) and tuck it under.

Then loop it over and tuck it under again (under the same piece of the frame.)

Space these out all around your wreath for a balanced look. You won’t need too many…just enough to give it a pop of color. Add as many as you need to get the look you are going for.

I used red curlin ribbon to tie on my StL I created, then went about spacing my baseballs. I originally thought I wanted them like this…

But later consulted my sister (so wise, that gal) and she suggested a grouping.

And I decided that was the way to go. I was trying to avoid hot gluing anything to this wreath (in case I wanted to reuse the burlap base for a different wreath someday…) but decided it was the best way to get those baseballs to stay securely.

I just love this finished product!

Have you ever made a burlap wreath? What did you use to decorate it? I’d love for you to send me pictures!