scrappy burlap wreath

wow! my very first official tutorial! and it turned out cute - double bonus! okay, okay, on with the info. remember when i linked to this wreath? well, that crafty lady never published a tutorial, so here's mine! it's not exactly like hers, but pretty darn close. i started with a metal florist's wreath about 16" in diameter:

and 2 yards of 48" wide burlap (you can probably make this with 1 yard - i used the leftovers to make bows and garlands for the entry-way trees that flank the doorway where this wreath is hanging). i cut 1" strips from the burlap until i had 24 1" x 48" strips. then, i cut each strip to get four 12" strips. so, mathwise, i now had 96 1" x 12" strips.
(side note: burlap is very messy! muy! molto! tres? is that right for french? just know that you will have tons of little, tiny fibers and some bigger fibers resulting from cutting and then tying the burlap strips. i did this project in the bathroom for easy cleanup.)

before tying the strips, i added a wire loop to my wire wreath. you could also use ribbon or twine or something for this. mine's not that pretty, but it will be covered up by the strips, so no worries.

start tying on the strips! i used a regular ol' square knot, and staggered the knots so they could scrunch up a bit more.

1/3 of the way there!

oops! i forgot to take a picture of the wreath with the strips all finished, but, trust me, it was awesome. :) i used 95 of the 96 strips - my tied-on strips were closely bunched but not super-tightly packed. fortunately, the strips are easy to cut if you discover that you need more.
on to the embellishments!
i originally had planned to make yo-yo flowers to sew onto the wreath, but i found some strips of red cloth in my scrap box and made these flowers instead. i'm very pleased with them - they have a raw look to them that i thought matched the wreath perfectly. i started with a strip of red fabric at least 12" long and uniform in width (if your strip is wider, i might use a longer piece) and stitched (with a long thread) along one of the long sides:

pull firmly on your thread and the stitches with bunch together like so:
(p.s. don't cut the thread!)

it's okay for the flower to circle around and overlap itself - this makes it fuller and assures that you won't have any gappiness. then, using the long end of the thread, sew the flower to the wreath, securing it with a button in the center. you can use varying widths to have a nice selection of unique flowers, and maybe add a few leaves:

hmmmmm..... still needs something. it definitely needs one more leaf.
for each leaf, i cut a 2 1/2" x 6" strip in green, and then cut it diagonally, like this:

i machine-stitched the pieces back together like so:

and pressed it open:

then i stitched and bunched them the same as the flowers, and they end up being more of a 'leaf' shape. attach with buttons, and voila!

bellisima!
and cheap, too! the burlap and wreath form cost about $6, and then i had the fabric and buttons already, so that was no additional cost - yahoo! if you want to make this, but don't have the fabric scraps or buttons, let me know and i can send you some.
happy holidays!