There are lots of DIY patriotic ribbon wreath pins on Pinterest but it was really tough to find a tutorial. I was inspired to make one so I searched until I found a few. The two patriotic ribbon wreaths, I created are shown here. Which one do you like the best? The heart? or the star?
DIY Patriotic Ribbon Wreath – Step 1
Wrapping the Heart Shaped Wreath
The heart shaped ribbon wreath began with a Dollar Tree wire wreath form. I wrapped the inner part of the wreath form using two strands from a 11.1 ft. package of Dollar Tree Nautical Rope. There are some places at the top where the rope is wrapped around just the middle wire or just the inner wire to make up for the differences in the curves. These pictures show the process of wrapping the rope on the heart shapped wreath.
Wrapping the Star Shaped Wreath
My star shaped ribbon wreath also began with a Dollar Tree wire wreath form. The tag said it was 13.5 inches. If yours is larger, you may need more rope and ribbon than I used. The wreath form was wrapped with over 30 ft of 4mm natural jute rope. To wrap the wreath as shown in the picture below, first cut 5 pieces of rope about 6 ft long so you have one piece for each point of the star.
- Begin by using hot glue to attach the end of one rope to the back of one of the wires that is in between two points. Bring the rope up over the inner wire then over the middle wire and around the back of the wreath form. (see first picture below)
- Wrap the wreath in this manner 6 times, then begin wrapping the rope around the wire that crosses the wreath at the point of the star and the middle wire of the star. Continue until you have done this four times. (see second picture below)
- Bring the rope behind the cross-wire, over the middle wire on the other side of the star point and down in to the section of the wreath that you just wrapped. (see third picture below)
- Now bring the wire behind the cross-wire, behind the middle wire on the other side of the star point and down in between the loops of rope that are already there. Do this four times. (see fourth picture below)
- Then begin to just wrap the rope around the middle wire and the inner wire until you reach the end of your rope. Put hot glue on the end of the rope and tuck it into the rope on the wreath.
- When you begin the next point of the star, make sure you start the rope on the under side of the wreath and bring the rope up and over the inner wire and then over the middle wire and across the back of the wreath.
- Continue until you have wrapped all five points of the star.
These pictures show the process of wrapping the star shaped wreath.
DIY Patriotic Ribbon Wreath – Step 2
Once you have your wreath form wrapped with rope, you need to prepare your ribbon. You should purchase wire edged ribbon. I found that wider ribbon that was not treated with something to make it stiff worked best. Most of the ribbon I used was not of that type which made it hard to get the look I wanted. To DIY a patriotic ribbon wreath you will need at least two rolls of two different types of ribbon plus ribbon to make a bow if you wish to add a bow. How much ribbon you need will depend on the width of the ribbon, the size of your wreath frame and on how full you want your wreath to be.
Adding Ribbon to the Heart Shaped Wreath
The ribbons that I used on my heart shaped wreath were all purchased from Hobby Lobby during a week when ribbon was on sale. Cut the ribbons into 6 inch pieces and then dove-tail the ends. To dove-tail the ends, fold the ribbon in half long ways and make an angled cut from the outer edge down toward the fold.
To understand how to add the ribbon to a heart shaped wreath, I suggest these two YouTube videos.
Dollar Tree Farmhouse Heart Wreath
Farmhouse Bee Heart Wreath Tutorial
Adding Ribbon to the Star Shaped Wreath
I did not use as much ribbon on the star shaped wreath as I did on the heart shaped wreath but I found attaching the ribbon to be more challenging. Because of the angles and points, it seemed that every thing I tried made my wreath look like it was having a bad hair day. Read on to see how I solved that problem.
I used a natural colored burlap ribbon with red chevron strips (purchased at Dollar Tree) for the first layer of ribbon. I preferred the look of cutting the ends at a slant instead of cutting a chevron. Because the ribbon is one sided, I had to make the strips of ribbon take on a V shape (Please see picture below). The star shaped wreath form has a lot of cross wires so I had to attach the ribbon so those wires were covered. That is also shown in the pictures below. One half of the V goes under the wire and the other half goes over and is glued to the other side. The tip of the V is glued to the rope. After, all the cross wires were covered, just one V of ribbon was added on the sides of each star point.
I chose to use navy ribbon for my second layer of ribbon. The stores in my area did not have the type of ribbon I wanted so I ordered the ribbon from an Etsy seller. It is very high quality ribbon and it was delivered quickly. Because there were 10 yards of ribbon on the roll, I only needed one roll. To be consistent, I cut these ribbon pieces at a slant also. Instead of attaching the ribbon to the star shaped wreath form, I removed a wire from a circular wreath form and I attached the navy ribbon to it. I then attached the circular hoop to the back of the star using zip ties.
Finishing your DIY Patriotic Ribbon Wreath
The wreaths are very pretty with just the layers of ribbon but you might wish to do a bit extra. You could use a bow maker to make a bow or add other accent items. I made 5 loops of the red ribbon and three loops of the blue ribbon to make a bow for the heart shaped wreath. I used a small wooden flag from a piece of Dollar Tree patriotic decor for the middle of my heart wreath.
Because the star shaped wreath form is small, a bow covered up too much of it. I took the three stars from that piece of Dollar Tree decor and used them to add the finishing touch to the star shaped wreath. I used Mod Podge to decoupage on coordinating scrapbook paper. I added the USA letters using tacky glue and gave them each a coat of mod podge. Here are the results of my quest to DIY a patriotic ribbon wreath. Please comment below and let me know which one is your favorite.
That is how you DIY a Patriotic Ribbon Wreath. It is relatively simple to do but it is time consuming so start working on your DIY Patriotic Ribbon Wreath now!
If you enjoy wreath making, here are some other posts about making wreaths.
DIY a Buffalo Check Pumpkin Wreath
