Burlap (hessian) wreath tutorial–long post!

I have been admiring Christmas wreaths these past couple of weeks and love all the natural materials that are in vogue at the moment.  Having some left-over hessian ‘ribbon’ (for want of a better word) from my gardening pursuits, I thought I’d design my very own wreath.  Would you like to make one too?

It only took a couple of hours to make with limited supplies and very little sewing!  I finished my wreath off with a purchased decoration, but the opportunities are endless.  At the end of this tutorial I will give you some ideas for finishing the wreath in different ways!

Vikki’s Hessian ribbon wreath

Finished size:  22inches (56cm) round

Here is what you will need:

Note:  I purchased the 2in-wide hessian ‘ribbon’ (I’m not sure of its official name) from Bunnings (garden centre).  It is used for tying trees to posts, etc.  It cost in the region of $10-$15 Aussie dollars and came on a 25m roll.  The terms Hessian and Burlap mean the same thing – so for the purpose of this tutorial I will just refer to it as hessian.

Doll needle:  You don’t necessarily need a doll making needle for this project, I have used one for the tutorial as it is more visible in the photos.  You will however, require a needle of sufficient length (2in or more) to travel through several layers of hessian at a given time.

Metal ring:  I purchased the 12in (30cm) ring from Spotlight in Australia, but I’m sure they are available in most craft stores.

Let’s begin!

I placed a sheet of white paper beneath my quilting ruler to show the markings more clearly.  Unroll the burlap ribbon and place the raw edge at the ‘start point’ as pictured.  Measure to 5in then fold the ribbon back over on itself and back to the start point.

Then, fold the ribbon on top of itself again and measure to the 3.5in mark.

Repeat the same process for the final time, measuring to the 1.5in mark.

Carefully hold the folded hessian on the innermost-curl (see photo below), and place the metal ring between the outer and middle ‘curls’.

I will now refer to this folded hessian strip as a ‘leaf’.  Secure it to the ring as follows:

Tip:  You will need a really big knot!  I used doubled thread in my needle just because I didn’t have any stronger thread at the time.  If you are having trouble with your knots pulling through – try this method:  Thread the needle with a long length of thread (14in is a good length).  Double the thread by matching the two ends; knot the tail end.  Then…

Okay, so you have made and secured your first ‘leaf’.  Now to make another 17 more…

Maybe its time for another gingerbread latte and mince pie????

All 18 leaves attached – the hard work is done!  Now to give some fullness and structure to the wreath…

Snip each raw edge evenly just a couple of times, it helps the hessian to splay better.

Unroll the hessian ribbon and begin threading it through each middle curl.  Continue until you return the start, then overlap and make a cut.

Overlap the two ends and tuck the uppermost raw end in to the closest ‘curl’.

Make a few holding stitches with needle and thread…

Now repeat the same process and thread another round of hessian ribbon through the outermost curls in the same manner.

Once you are done it is time to attach a hanging loop to the top back.

Embellishing!!

I personally love a red and white colour scheme with neutrals.  For a quick and easy embellishment you could raid your button stash to decorate.

Try out different layouts until you find one you like.  I’m loving the white!  Ooh – snowflake buttons or scrapbook cut-outs would look amazing in little clusters!

Perhaps you love the country look and opt for stitching or gluing on a berry garland to the centre?

Or if you’re really short of time, hang a favourite ornament from the top centre of the inner circle?

If you sew (as opposed to gluing) objects on to the wreath, you have the option to remove them and change your design each year!  That’s what I plan to do!

Happy crafting! 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial? Please send in photos of your finished wreaths as I’d love to see them!  If you decide to share this tutorial or post pictures on your blog, please link back to this post.  Thank you!

Design and tutorial © Vikki Collumbine, SEW Useful Designs 2014

I have two other Christmas tutorials you may enjoy!  Just click on the images to take you to the tutorials

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Christmas sewing and decorating…

I have been creating little vignettes around my house this past week.  I’m finding that as I get older and accumulate more Xmas decorations, it seems I have too many and to display them all at once just looks cluttered!  But then I feel guilty putting any back in their box for another year of darkness when their sole purpose is to delight the household for just one season each year!  Do you find yourself doing the same?  I think it’s the way my generation (and those before me) grew up… not wasting anything and having a purpose for almost everything!  It seems wrong not to do so.

I always purchase a new ornament every year and this lit-up cottage in its cloche was snapped up as soon as I saw it.  I usually wait for the sales but I knew there wouldn’t be any of these left with a reduced price tag on!  I purchased it from Bed, Bath & Table.  The red gingham and glass baubles in the background were last years’ treat, and I made a simple hessian (burlap) table runner for them all to sit upon.

Like most of my friends, I love op-shopping!  I collect glass domes and cake stands whenever I come across them.  I placed a Xmas candle beneath one and a tree ornament, sat upon a crocheted doily, in the other.  The cardboard reindeer in the background were cheapies from Spotlight and I think they look great as they are atop the hessian.  I had originally planned to adhere fabric scraps to them both… maybe next year!!

Some country-style soft ornaments come out every season – they have been friends of ours for the past twelve years or so… I think there’d be a few shouts of “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” if these were left in the box!!

Another glass dome with a model pine tree that rises to the tippy-top… surrounded by Ganz Cottage miniature teddy bears.  My Rosie loves playing with these!

My favourite nook in the lounge room sees Frosty the Snowman wishing upon a star… I wonder if he’s dreaming of a white Christmas?

Another hessian runner is yet to be made for our dining table.  My collection of vintage doilies has come in handy.  Do you collect them too?  I think this is a first for me to use them for what they were actually intended for!!

I’m working on a magazine project at the moment… log cabin blocks made from Lynette Anderson’s ‘Scandinavian Christmas’ range.  The stitchery designs have been completed, wish I could show you more, but this one is for next year.  Sometimes the design process for me is weird.  I worked on something for two weeks, tweaking… liking the result but feeling it wasn’t really ‘me’.  then when I started looking for fabrics I came up with something else on the spot, scrapped my old idea, and had the new one fully designed and half-made within the day.

I will, however, be sharing something else with you this coming week.  A tutorial for making a hessian Christmas wreath.  There are so many lovely ones on the Net, but I have some surplus supplies at home that I want to use up which call for something a wee bit different to what I’ve seen.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend!  What are you up to?  Sewing?  Christmas decorating?  Shopping?!  Whatever it is – enjoy!

See you next week!

Vikki xo

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In the garden with new books!

Melbourne is notorious for it’s “Four seasons in one day”… but after experiencing three of them last week, today was a dose of Summer… which meant that morning coffee-time was spent in the garden.  Yippee!

It looks so cool doesn’t it?  Gotta love those tones…

I recently purchased this hydrangea… I’ve always loved its flower and how it varies its muted tones.  Blue is my ultimate favourite colour.  What’s yours??

I love succulents too… and they’re pretty easy to take cuttings from and grow.  This Jade tree was picked up from my daughter’s school market last year and has come on leaps and bounds.  Is it also called the Money Tree?  I’m not sure… but I know there is a plant that is meant to bring prosperity to a household by keeping it.  I wonder where that story came from?

The pond has come to life as well… they’re a bit hard to see with the sunlight bouncing off their white petals, but there are three water lilies already opened.

The Bird of Paradise next to the pond is having a sticky-beak as to what’s going on, too!

Our small garden was planted with palms when we moved in and now, after nine years, they are so tall.  In the corner is the lemon tree that just keeps on giving… and a newly planted border of camellias that you can’t really see, but I’m looking forward to them flourishing over the years to come.

This basket sits just outside the back door, I picked it up from an op shop last week for just a few dollars and stuck all my cuttings in there.  I don’t know what the succulent is called as a friend gave it to me (she rescued it from her neighbour’s green waste), but it kind of likes to curl and  hang so is difficult to plant in garden borders.  I also stuck a geranium in there (another cutting), but I’m thinking it probably needs a bigger pot and a bit more lovin’.

Here it is again with a mirror I picked up off eBay for just twenty bucks!  This whole set up cost me less than thirty dollars… gosh I love up-cycling!

So after admiring the plants, I sat down to coffee and a flick-through of my latest books!

The first book, My Sewing Room by Robyn Welsh of Country Hart Designs, contains seven projects for you to make as gifts for friends – or for your very own sewing space!  I love the little bird motif that is featured throughout, and the nice easy-reading of the instructions.  Of course, I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights just on the front cover – because of the cute Little Betty sewing machine sat there among Robyn’s lovely designs!  I was fortunate to win this book from one of Robyn’s giveaways on Facebook – but you can check it out here.  While you’re over at Country Hart Designs, go have a swoon over Robyn’s newly-released block of the month.  It’s called A Touch of Spring.  You can see it pictured below on the Two Green Zebras stand at AQM.  (Thank you Robyn for allowing me to use your photo).  The design is as gorgeous as the Tilda fabrics the quilt has been made with!

The second book I perused is a recent from Lynette Anderson, and is called Stitch it for Spring.  It features eight projects in Lynette’s whimsy style and is a real treat for any Lynette-lover!  I purchased my book from here.  The bunnies, owls and birds are soooo cute!

So that’s me for today… I’m currently designing a table runner project and looking through my books of quilt block designs to inspire me.  Do you have any favourite blocks?

Catch you round like a fruit loop!

Vikki xo

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The SUDs team get busy in the suds-room!

 

Someone recently asked me why I called my husband, Mr SUDs… and I explained that a few years ago in the blogosphere it was customary to call your family by the name of your blog, and for me of course it’s easier to abbreviate to SUDs! So it is very fitting that my hubby and I worked together as a team to re-decorate our laundry… the suds room!

So why am I showing you a picture of a mirror situated on a table in our garden?!  It is the mirror that hangs in our downstairs toilet before I did a lime-wash on it…

Here are the before and after shots…  the very ‘yellow’ laundry and toilet are now a refreshing blue… what I would call a duck-egg blue, although the paint colour is named Turquoise Mist, manufactured by Taubmans.

We now have artwork on the toilet wall courtesy of IKEA!  It really makes the room more homely… a strange choice of words to describe a dunny?!

The window has a new treatment also, the pot plant, candle and bird ornament tie in really well with the images of cherry blossoms in the wall art.  Can you tell I’m excited about this room?!  Is there a word for this, like, um… sad?!

Yes, it’s me – the saddo!  I took a photo to say Hi!  I love how the flash of the camera looks like a visual ‘beep’ to tune out expletives!  Do you know what I mean?!  Either that or my smile is much more dazzling than I realise!  Ha ha!  I wish!

This next photo was taken during re-painting the laundry…

Now I get to show you some before shots of the room… and it is Messy with a Capital M.  The laundry has been a dumping ground for tubs of fabrics, craft supplies, piles of ironing, and anything else we found during decorating the rest of the house that didn’t fit back in to its old surroundings.  Plus, there was no bench space and the top of my washing machine wasn’t a good choice as whatever was  upon it would vibrate off to the floor when the machine was on fast-spin.  So we got in lots of storage and just one small shelf was enough to keep my washing powder handy.  It’s so much more functional now.

Okay, the photo was taken during the ‘clean out’… the mounds of ironing have been removed by this point and the floor wasn’t quite as messy.

I love this storage unit from… guess?  Yes, IKEA!  My spare clothes hangers have somewhere to live, and it’s great for hanging up wet shirts, as they were usually dried over the back of my dining room chairs.  Also – this is the one much-sought-after shelf… next to the washing machine.  Beneath are three wire pull-out baskets that I’ve labelled.

The main storage is this all-so-familiar, Expedit, from IKEA.  I’ve got craft stuff, sewing stuff, my overlocker, tools and cleaning supplies stored with still some space for other ‘stuff’.

Mr SUDs and I have been busy in the garden too… it has been all systems go.  Sadly, my sewing machine has felt lonely, as has my needle and thread.  But some old furniture is really loving a new lease on life, as I’ve been revamping a few things too – I’ll be sure to show you when I get some good pics.

Not sure when I’ll find time to do the ironing – the pile isn’t any smaller – it’s just compressed!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour?  Thanks for visiting, and if you’ve got some washing to do… feel free!  (smile)

Warm wishes!

Vikki xoxo

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