Have you ever started a project thinking, “This is going to be so cool! I’m totally going to finish it in a few hours, and I’ll probably end up making half a dozen more because I like it so much,” only to find yourself, weeks later, still working on the same project with not much of an end in sight? Yeah, this was one of those projects. However, I did finish, and I love, love, love the result, so it’s a very happy ending.

My ruffly wreath was inspired by a felt rosette pillow tutorial that I spotted back in September over at Etsy’s The Storque blog. It’s a beautiful felt project by Anne Kyrrö Quinn, and I was in love the moment I saw it. This wreath is actually pretty easy to make, but be warned that you’re going to need many, many felt circles. My wreath had 286, to be exact. Oh, how I wish I’d known about maya*made’s genius tutorial for making lots of felt circles quickly while I was doing this project. If you use her tutorial, then you’ll probably be able to cut the time spent on this project in half, at least. I’d say that it took me about 12-15 hours to finish the wreath, and after you have the circle patterns made it’s easy to sit and watch T.V. while you’re cutting, pinning, and attaching.

I was going for an ultra modern, neutral look that will match any décor year ’round, which is why I made mine completely white, but you can add holiday flair with red or green felt, or you can use a rainbow of felt for something bright and whimsical. I got a great deal on felt — Eco-fi, which is made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles — at Jo-Ann, so I only spent five or six dollars on that part of the project, plus about four dollars for the wreath form and a few more dollars for the pins.

What you’ll need for the wreath:

– a 12 inch styrofoam wreath form

– approximately 2 1/2 yards of felt

– straight pins (enough to match the number of felt circles needed, plus two for attaching the hanger)

– scissors

– a 3 inch circle template

– a pencil

– ribbon for hanging

Using a pencil and your circle template (or that great tutorial from maya*made), trace circles onto the felt. Cut the felt circles, and fold them in half twice to form rosettes. Insert a pin near the bottom corner of the rosette, about 1/8 inch from the corner.

Attach the felt rosettes to the wreath form, making sure to group the rosettes tightly enough that no styrofoam is showing through the rosettes. After you’ve added a few, fluff and adjust the rosettes to your liking. Continue making, pinning, and attaching the rosettes until you’ve worked your way around the wreath form. If you have circles that are slightly misshapen or that have a little pencil or ink on them, place them toward the outside or inside edges, where they can’t be seen when the wreath is hanging.

This is what my wreath looked like on the back when I was finished. As you can see, I started off with ball point straight pins, but I switched to flat head pins when the rosette count started to get up there and I had to run out and buy more pins. If you use flat head pins, then I suggest using a thimble to push them into the wreath form, or your thumb will take a beating. Ask me how I know.

After you’ve finished adding the felt rosettes, cut a 5 inch length of ribbon, fold it in half, and attach it to the wreath form with two pins to form a hanger.

I love how organic the wreath looks when it’s finished. The ruffly felt rosettes, when grouped together like this, remind me a bit of a coral reef. While this is a rather ambitious project, I think it was completely worth the time spent. I’ll be using my wreath year ’round as part of my home décor!