St. Patrick's Day Wreath

Remember this wreath?
What do you think that wreath has in common with this wreath?

They're actually both THIS wreath!


When I finally got around to it, I took down my valentine's wreath and in about 2 minutes had the boas and felt unpinned and stuffed into a gallon ziploc bag:


That ziploc bag is the whole motive for this wreath - VERY minimal storage during the other seasons. I may be singing a different tune when I try to refluff all that in a year, but until then, so far my plan is working perfectly. :)

So how did I turn my plain wreath into a St. Patrick's Day wreath? First I gathered about nine yards of 3"-wide green fabric (I happened to find a twill that was a shade of green I liked, but just about any cotton would work). I blogged in more detail about my extremely accurate gathering process here. I also grabbed a spool of green tulle. I wanted some of the fluff that the valentine's wreath had but less diva-ish.

My first step was to gather the tulle as well. I just gathered until I got bored and then started pinning it onto the wreath. When I ran out of length, I gathered some more. To pin it on, I started on the back side and just pinned in a zig-zag around the wreath:

When I got back to where I started, I continued the zigzag pattern but in the bare spots between the previous zigzag. Like the technical explanation? I hope it makes sense. So this is what I had when I was finished with the tulle.

I then grabbed my gathered 3" cotton and began pinning the same way I pinned the boa and felt for the valentine's wreath:

THIS is the monstrosity that resulted. It's TERRIBLE! I thought it looked like iceburg lettuce which is NOT the look I was going for!

But it was late, so I slept it off and the next day (or two) decided to try a change of tactic. I unpinned the cotton (which took about two minutes), and started pinning it down in the same zig-zag pattern I'd used with the tulle. When I finished, I was MUCH happier. But it still wasn't enough (sorry, I forgot to take a picture). I grabbed a sheet of cheap green felt (none of that expensive wool stuff for me), and cut it into triangles 3" wide and 4" long (or so). I then used a pin along the short end to do a kind of "running stitch" like this:

Then I pinned it tightly into the bare spots:

Which then looked like this:

I then used some of the tulle to hang it from the wreath hanger so that it was in a more pleasing position on the door. No other rhyme or reason.

So for the next few weeks, my changing season's wreath will be all-green for St. Patty's Day, but I've got plans for a quick costume change after that, so stay tuned!


Linking to these parties:

Someday Craft's Whatever Goes Wednesday

Bizzy Bee Creations

Someday Crafts Categorically Crafting