A Felted Wreath

Total Time Needed:: Weekend Project

FamilyFun contributor Catherine Newman and her family have a custom of making gifts by hand for friends and family. Last year they shared the warmth of the holidays by recycling thrift shop wool sweaters into sweet wreath ornaments. They used a classic technique known as felting -- shrinking the wool in the washer and dryer until it's thick and fluffy. You can make a solid color wreath from one sweater, or mix and match several for our look.

Materials

Wool sweater (one sweater makes 3 to 5 wreaths)
Needle
Embroidery floss

Red ribbon (ours is 1/4-inch wide)
Fabric glue

Instructions

Wash the sweater in hot water with a cold water rinse, then dry it on high heat. Repeat, if necessary, until the sweater has shrunk and the weave is so tight it can be cut without fraying.
Cut the sweater into 1 1/2-inch-wide strips, then cut the strips into squares. (We used 60 squares for our 4 1/2-inch-diameter wreath.)
Thread the needle with the embroidery floss and string on the squares. Pull the floss and squares together tightly to form a circle, and tie off the floss. Make a small bow from the ribbon, glue it to the bottom of the wreath, and loop another piece of ribbon around the top for hanging.

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