I almost feel a little silly creating a DIY plaid rag Christmas wreath post.
It is SO easy, but does take a little time.
Then I thought, as easy as something is, it doesn’t mean it is easy for everyone. I mean, an accountant things math is easy, but I certainly don’t.
So maybe this DIY on making a rag Christmas wreath is more of a little nugget of inspiration and reminder that not all DIY projects have to tear up your house and take over a whole room of your house. And by “rag” I mean strips of fabric.
You don’t HAVE to use shirts. You don’t HAVE to use flannel (only 2 of my 5 were flannel). Use any leftover fabric you might have laying around. I wonder how this would look in all denim?! Hmmm…
Though this is not a room-consuming craft, as I worked on this I did consume the dining room table for a few days. I would sit and work on my wreath 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there… I’d knock out a little at a time when I didn’t have enough time to dig into a BIG project.
I supposed if I am being TOTALLY honest, it’s a great project to help procrastinate on other things…
OK. Here’s what you need:
- 5-6 plaid and/or flannel shirts
- 18″ wire wreath form (smaller forms work too!)
- fabric scissors
For my rag Christmas wreath, I used 5 adult shirts.
If I would have had another shirt in the color theme I wanted, I might have used one more to fill the wire form for the plaid rag Christmas wreath a tad more. Note: if you use a smaller frame, fewer shirts can be used! There is no set number… tie on strips until you feel the frame is full enough or until there’s no room left to tie strips on!
I used strips that were about 5-6 inches long and 1ish to 2 and even 3 inches wide… using my eyeballs as a ruler 😉 I prefer the variation that differing lengths and widths give. If a strip was too long, I trimmed after I finished the entire project.
I would say the thicker the strips should be a little longer as chubby, short strips are more of challenge to tie.
When cutting/tearing the strips for the rag Christmas wreath, use scissors the snipe the fabric to start the tear… and then tear each strip. I cut and tore away all the seams and then used the remaining fabric to to create the strips. I like the rough edges and threads added throughout the piece.
I like not having to stress about exact measurements and not having to stress about a straight cut. I know some folks who make these types of wreaths use a mat and rotary cutter (like this set-up), but I see no reason to put oneself through all that detailed pressure!
PLUS? The tearing is quite satisfying and a bit of a stress reliever in and of itself!
Where did I find my shirts? I had a couple we were planning to pass onto Goodwill and the other few I got at Goodwill. The cost of this piece… around $11!
Plaid Rag Christmas Wreath Pro tips!
- Because I wanted the green to be my foundation and the red to be the accents, I worked in most of the greens trips first… making sure I gave each section of wreath (in a few photos above you can see the frame has 9 sections) fairly equal numbers of strips from each shirt. Then I worked in the red.
- Flip over the form every-so often and tuck the ends through to the front that fall to the back to get a good visual of how things are filling out.
- Towards the end, I began to flip the frame often to peek at the back to find gaps that needed to be filled. It can be tough to see working only from the front.
And y’all… THAT’S IT!
I decided to hang my rag Christmas wreath over my reading corner where I hang some of my macrame pieces. But you could hang this wreath on an interior door (definitely not an outside door – particularly if it will get rained on), or above a mantle, on a chalk wall or chalk board… I don’t have to tell you all the places this wreath could go 😉
For more crafty holiday inspo check out these fun holiday-inspired DIYS!
- Delivery Person Appreciation Printables
- OVERsized hoop wreath
- Mason Jar Snow Globes
- Joy Sign
- Peppermint Candy Bowl
- Loop Yard Christmas Tree
- Loop Tarn Wreath
- Upcycled Beanie Craft
- Mini trees DIY
- Ribbon-wrapped Trees
Peace and Sparkles!
Jenny
