Ruffle Art: Fourth of July Rag Wreath

What could be easier than a rag wreath?

All you need is a coat hanger, scraps of fabric, and a ribbon to hang it. I also used pliers to shape my coat hanger. My only cost was the ribbon at $2.50, since I already had a pile of fabric to work with.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to put this together. When I do this myself, I actually skip around with the steps. I get really bored of doing the same thing over and over and over.

Step One:

For a patriotic look, pick reds, whites, and blues. I really like to play around with colors and textures here. I especially love pairing whites and ivories. When you step back and look at your finished product, you won't be able to tell the individual fabric patterns, but a whole wreath. It's a great place to use up scraps, and a great place to hide that fabric that you brought home and then realized it was really, really ugly.

Step Two:

Use some pliers that you can form your hanger into a wreath shape. If you want, you can add a little masking tape if the edges are sharp.

Step Three:

Cut your fabric into strips. The strips can really be any size - play around with it and see what length looks good! Mine were generally 1" to 1.5" wide and around 10" to 12" long. You end up trimming anyway, so don't worry about the length too much. This is a project I try not to fuss too much with - I just guesstimate and see what looks good to my eye. Knot them on one by one.

Step Four:

To make it look very patriotic, I made red and white stripes, and then a blue and white section. When you think you've got enough on, squish the fabric together and add more. I like a fuller look to my rag wreaths, so I added as much as I could. When you're satisfied with the amount of strips on there, trim it up.