Lovebirds Wreath

November 16, 2011 at 6:27 pm (tutorial)
Tags: Bird, crafts, Etsy, handmade, recycle, tutorial, upcycle, Wreath

I had so much fun making this wreath for my Etsy shop. I can’t wait to share the process with you. All of my materials were things I had on hand other than the wreath form.

I was going to use an old bed sheet for the fabric, but I found a piece of muslin left over from a long ago project and I liked the off white semi-speckled color better. Tear your fabric into strips a couple of inches wide.

Attach the end of a strip of fabric to the wreath form with a glue gun. Wrap it around the form and tack down the end with another drop of glue. Attach the next strip and continue until the entire wreath is wrapped.

 

To make the nest take a few pages out of an old book and cut into thin strips. Scrunch up the strips to form a loose ball.

Cut a small circle of fabric to use as a base. Spread hot glue over it and press the paper ball onto the glue.

  

Find a couple of sticks that appeal to you. I glued one to form the branch for the nest to rest on and placed the other in the position that seemed best to me.

Glue the nest onto the wreath.

Now it is time to make the birds. I like to draw the pattern for each bird freehand so that they are a little bit different from each other. Here is what a simple bird pattern looks like. (Note, this notepaper is 4″ x 6″.)

I did see a bird pattern here from Spool Sewing that can be printed out. I didn’t print it out myself so I’m not certain about the size. You could reduce it on a photocopier if need be.

Sew your birds and stuff them. This fabric came from one of my favorite shirts that is no longer wearable. I used buttons for the eyes of one bird and beads from a broken hair clip for the other.

 

Glue the bird into the nest.

Glue the other bird wherever it looks best to you.

Now it’s time to add a bit more texture and decoration. I wound some twine around part of the wreath, and added a few beads attached with glue.

 

Attach some method of hanging to the back. I used a bit of leather cord knotted at the ends and glued.

Update: I found that gluing the branches and hanger wasn’t enough. I went back in and sewed them onto the muslin with invisible thread for added strength.

Thanks for reading!

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