Patriotic Rag Wreath x2

This is a re-post from last summer's patriotic rag wreath - back then I only made one (even though I had planned for 2) 'cuz I didn't start on them until a few days before the Fourth of July and I ran out of time. Woke up this morning thinking if I'd just put the second one together already I could hang them on our double front doors in time for Memorial Day - and I'll have them for the 4th too. The second one took me less than an hour and a half since I already knew what I was doing this time.

From 6/26/18:
Oh my gosh, I love-love how this wreath turned out! I've never made a rag wreath before and I just this morning decided I should attempt one for a July 4th front door decoration (I realize there aren't many days left in June!) - when I told the fabric cutting lady at the craft store what I'm making she goes "well you better hurry up" hahaha. No judging, fabric cutting lady!

This is simple to make, a little bit time consuming but not bad, maybe a couple hours. All it requires is cutting strips (and if you have a rotary cutter it goes really fast - I recommend you get one if you don't already have!! - but you can cut them by hand of course) and tying them onto a wire wreath. We have 2 front doors so I need to make another one quickly, but I wanted to show you this asap in case you also want to make a rag wreath at the last minute! I'll make the second one tomorrow morning - or find a place where I can hang one by itself!

There are different ways to make these (look online for examples), I asked someone at the craft store (the fabric cutting lady hadn't made one so she wasn't helpful haha) if they had any tips for making a rag wreath...she said she doesn't cut the strips short and tie each one on (lots of the online examples do that) - you can save time by cutting the strips twice as long and doubling it over, stick the loop thru the wire wreath then bring the ends back thru the loop and pull, like a slip knot. That's a great tip - I did that and it was easy and sped the process up.

I cut strips of fabric 1.5" x roughly 10.5" - they do not need to be perfect at all, and best part - you don't need to sew anything. The edges of the material will fray and that adds to the look, don't make the wreath totally uniform and neat. Also vary which way you put the loops thru the wreath so some tails go up and some go down. There are 4 rings on the wire wreath form - I found I liked how it looked when I fed 1 strip over the first two rings, a second strip over rings 2 and 3, then a third strip over rings 3 and 4, then keep repeating. My 16" wreath has 8 sections, each section took 25 strips pushed very tightly together (I took lots of pictures, hopefully they help).

my 5 coordinating fabrics, and one tired helper

one segment of the wreath holds 25 strips

an unexpected surprise - the back of the wreath looks so cool! I might hang it backwards.

close up of the front (LeDonna had the idea to
add flags to the wreath - it's a good finishing touch. 

close up of the back - love this!

I'm in the process of making paper pinwheels (more on that later), look how good it looks on the wreath!

after you cram in as many strips as possible, go back thru and  fluff it by pulling
on the knots and directing them which way to go - no gaps or holes!