How to make a Christmas Wreath! Christmas is a great time of year for DIY festive projects… decorating the home is one of my favourite things to do at this time of year… although my door is one of the last to have a wreath placed on it due to me making everyone else’s! For those of you interested in making your own christmas wreath this year I have compiled this easy to follow guide, which should help you out. Visit your local florist for foliage, or head out into your garden with the secateurs to pick seasonal foliage and berries. Ivy and fir are great at this time of year, especially as the ivy has its berries on. You will need a wreath wire frame, and some reel wire, which you can buy at your local florist, foliage and moss for the base and then any extra festive bits you would like to add.
First secure the start of your reel wire to the wire frame by winding it round a couple times and twisting around one of the copper wires. Next gather a handful of your moss and place onto the top of the wire frame, continue to wrap your reel wire around the moss, securing it tightly to the frame.
Keep adding handfuls of moss to the wire frame, and keep wiring around to secure the to the frame. When you finish the mossing, feel free to go over the wreath again with another cycle of wire to make sure the moss is secured to the frame.
The next step is to add the foliage. Cut the larger foliage branches into smaller sections. Cut smaller sprigs around 15cm and layer them up on in a small bunch, wrap the wire around the stems of the bunch around 3 times, tightly so the bunch is secure on the moss.
The blue spruce is tough so add this at the base, and then the daintier foliage such as the eucalyptus on top, so you don’t squash this. Feel free to add in any twigs at this stage too!
After you have wired the first bunch, place another foliage bunch over the stems of the first, and again secure tightly with three wraps of wire. Keep going along the wreath, covering the whole moss frame.
The last foliage bunch should sit neatly under the first, covering all of the moss. Your finished wreath should look something like this! Although feel free to go more wild looking, or larger… each wreath is unique! To finish off the wire, wrap it around the last bunch a few times, and bring back through itself to secure tightly, cut the wire and push back up into the moss.
Choose your decorations and place them on top of the wreath to get the look you want, that way you can tweak the design before finally wiring! Clusters work well, say pairs of cones or orange slices. Spread them out evenly, or group them. Leave space for a bow, or if you would prefer without that’s fine! Great festive decorations are orange slices, apple slices, whole oranges/limes cones, feathers, twigs, cinnamon sticks, etc.
Keep adding all your decorations until the wreath is finished. Finish off your design with a ribbon bow of your choice. There you have it, your very own, handmade door wreath!