We all know the house isn’t properly prepped for Christmas until you’ve hung a gorgeously festive wreath on the door to welcome guests, or just catch the eye of passers-by. So grab your felt and some fancy embroidery threads, and spend a few cosy evenings putting together Laura Howard's DIY felt Christmas wreath which is complete with its very own sparkly partridge and pear wreath. There are loads of different felt techniques here to practice and to adapt into other projects – you could also just sew the hanging partridge and pear into individual felt Christmas decorations if you don’t want to make the whole wreath. We can just imagine a string of pearls and partridges hanging in your windows as some cute handmade Christmas bunting.
When stitching, use a third of each piece of metallic thread (so for six-stranded thread use two strands). For the black and brown thread, use half (so for six-stranded thread use three strands). Metallic thread can be tricky to work with, so cut shorter pieces than you’d normally use and take your time. We ordered our mini sequins from www.simplysequins.co.uk and found the polystyrene wreath at www.craftmill.co.uk. Check out our embroidery for beginners guide to learn all the stitches and head to our embroidery starter kit for everything you need to make your felt Christmas wreath.
This felt Christmas wreath was created by Laura Howard for Mollie Makes magazine issue 59 – for more easy-make craft projects and creative inspiration, subscribe to Mollie or click here to find out more. Click to find the Mollie Makes issue 59 templates.
Materials
- Polystyrene wreath base, 17cm (63⁄4")
- White felt, approx. four 23 x 23cm (9 x 9") squares
- Green felt, approx. 15 x 15cm (6 x 6")
- Pale green felt, approx. 6 x 9cm (21⁄2 x 31⁄2")
- Pale brown felt, approx. 13 x 19cm (5 x 71⁄2")
- Small piece of brown felt
- Matching sewing threads
- Silver, gold, black and brown embroidery thread
- White nylon thread (or other thin, strong thread)
- Silver sequins (6mm wide)
- Mini silver sequins (3mm wide)
- Mini gold sequins (4mm wide)
- 1m (1yrd) white ribbon, 5-10mm wide
- Polyester stuffing
- Glue gun and glue
- Sewing needle and pins
- Embroidery scissors
- Sewing scissors
- Air erasable fabric
- marker (optional)
- Mollie Makes issue 59 templates
Use the templates to cut two pale green pears and one green mini leaf. Cut two pale brown stalk shapes (approximately 2 x 0.5cm). Embroidery scissors are great for cutting out small shapes.
Stitch along the leaf using running stitch and silver thread, sewing along then back, filling in the gaps to make a continuous line. Start and finish your stitching at the bottom of the leaf. Join the stalk pieces using blanket stitch and pale brown thread.Attach the stalk and leaf to the pear pieces using pale green thread. Sew the leaf with a few tiny stitches and the stalk with whip stitch (sewing into the felt not through it).
