A Burlap Rosette Wreath Tutorial

As promised!

In keeping with the majority of my posts, this one won't be a short one, but this is out of necessity rather than out of a wish to bore you to tears.  Hopefully the photos of this tutorial will speak for themselves...though I should preface the tutorial itself with an apology for the slight blurriness of some of the photos.  They were taken with a cellphone camera; what can I say?  One has to make do at times! ;P

To make a burlap rosette wreath, you will need the following items.

* A wreath form.  (Check the thrift store for these!)
* A hot glue gun and hot glue sticks.
* Burlap...natch. :D
* Ribbon, twine, etc. (Basically, any accessories that you want to use for your wreath.)

To begin with, here is how I made the rosettes for my wreath.  It is crazy-easy to do...

Step #1: Begin with a scrap of material; any kind of material--of any size--works.  I used a mix of gold silk, white cotton, and natural-hued burlap to make the rosettes for my wreath.  Bigger scraps of material make larger rosettes, smaller scraps of material make smaller rosettes...you get the idea.  Cut the material to a rectangle shape, with one end of it cut at an angle, as shown below.

(Step 1)

Step #2: Tie a knot in the angled end of the material.  This will form the starting point, and therefore the center, of the rosette.

   

(Step Two)

 Step #3: Start twisting the material around at the knot, until you have twisted the entire length of the material into a rope.  It's helpful to twist as you go along...this is where you start with the hot glue gun.  Carefully apply the glue to the inside of the rosette, so that it holds its form as you continue to twist the material around, making a spiral shape.  

In imitation of Martha Stewart, I would advise keeping a glass of ice water within an arm's reach during this part of the wreath's construction.  Speaking from personal experience, hot glue hurts when it comes into contact with your skin.  (Yeeeeeeeowch...the very memory stings.)

(Step 3a)

(Step 3b)

Step #4: Continue twisting and gluing the rosette until you run out of material, and then simply glue the end of the material under the rose so that it doesn't stick out.  And that's it!  You have a rosette.

The rest of the wreath's construction is up to you: how you wrap the wreath, what you wrap it with, if you decide to wrap it at all, what you use to embellish the wreath with...the list goes on and on.  After I pulled my original wreath apart--you remember, the one that I made with an old pool noodle--I went back to work with the glue gun and my new grapevine wreath base.

I wrapped the burlap around the wreath, overlapping it so that none of the grapevine showed through.  Grapevine wreaths...grapevine decorations in general...are so pretty, though.  I'd like to work with it in future projects.  I've seen really gorgeous wreaths made from a combination of a grapevine wreath similar to this one, burlap, silk flowers, and home address numbers.  Geesh, just try searching "burlap rosettes" on Pinterest or Google search, and you'll find scores of wonderful ideas!  

As I had already glued my rosettes onto the original wreath, I didn't have to--or rather I couldn't--glue them individually onto the new, sturdier wreath.  I had layered and glued them onto the original wreath in a semi-circle, so when I reconstructed the wreath, I just had to reattach the stuck-together rosettes collectively.  I'm happy that I was all right with the placement of the rosettes to begin with...otherwise, I would have been an unhappy camper with hot-glue-seared fingertips!  

To complete the wreath, I took some champagne-hued satin ribbon and some twine and wrapped them crisscross around the part of the wreath that the rosettes didn't cover.  I had already added on a twine bow, and with the addition of a refurbished brass wreath-hanger, the Burlap Rosette Wreath 2.0 was able to be hung on the apartment door.  

And here it is now.  (I'm so-so-SO much happier with the new base.  The other one was beginning to look sadly lopsided, as out of sorts as a wreath could be.  Well, not anymore!)  

And now, to preview my next blog post in honor of Thanksgiving...two pumpkin dishes!  One is my version of the pumpkin pie smoothie that I have seen around the web; the other will be the dessert that I make for my family's Thanksgiving Day dinner.  Until then...

À bientôt!

Cait