DIY Fabric Wreath [easy, cheap and gorgeous]

Looking for a fun and easy fall wreath idea? How about a fabric fall wreath made from scraps and some faux and real flowers. This fall rag wreath is a fun craft project and very easy to make.

I have been crafting. I did a fun little project that was so easy to make, took only about 30 minutes, and used up lots of scrap materials that I had lying around…

You can make yourself a fabric wreath for fall too. Let me give you a quick and easy fabric wreath tutorial.

DIY fabric wreath with scraps and flowers

How to Make a Fabric Wreath with Scraps

This DIY fall fabric wreath looks nice, doesn’t she? I like how my little rag wreath turned out, even though I didn’t have a clear plan going in.

I had this vague idea that I wanted some soft and soothing colors. And I wanted to use what I had on hand. No buying any materials this time round. A rag wreath is a perfect project to use up leftover bits of material from your sewing projects. Using only leftovers and free materials makes this a cheap wreath to make. This is a true scrap materials wreath that looks gorgeous anyway. I decided to create a fabric wreath DIY project for my fall mantel.

fabric fall wreath diy

I guess I love it when a (non-existent) plan comes together.

The basic steps for making a fabric scrap wreath are cutting or ripping fabric in strips and tying them to a metal wire frame. You can add flowers, ribbons, and embellishments to make it even more beautiful. I made a romantic floral fall fabric wreath. A fabric tie wreath is a fun craft project that you can make to fit every style or season.

Let me show you how to make a wreath with fabric strips.

Related Reading: Easy Fall Decorating Ideas

Related Reading: Inexpensive DIY Fall Decor Ideas

Materials for Making a Fabric Wreath From Scraps

fabric scrap wreath for fall supplies

There are only two basic materials for making a fabric rag wreath: lots and lots of fabric and a metal wire frame.
Adding embellishments like flowers, feathers, berries, and whatnot is an optional step.

You can rip the fabric into pieces, but some sharp sewing scissors will come in handy too. Or you can go all fancy and use a rotary cutter and a cutting mat, but that is the luxury option.

I used a single metal frame for my wreath, and that worked perfectly. For a bigger and even more luscious fabric wreath, you can also use a wire wreath frame with multiple rings. You’ll need even more fabric, then.

For my fabric scrap wreath, I used materials in fall colors.

I gathered several different leftover bits of fabric, like some linen, a bit of burlap, some cotton pieces, and an assortment of leftover bits of ribbon.

You can use any kind of fabric you have left. This is perfect for repurposing flannel shirts, old pajamas, curtains, old sheets, pillowcases, or whatever fabric you can find in your closet or thrift store.

There goes quite a bit of fabric into a scrap wreath like this. You want to pack the wreath form really full, so you need lots of fabric strips. If you are going for a monochrome look using only one kind of fabric, make sure you have enough of it to get the full effect. I’d advise having about a yard of fabric available.

How to Make a Fabric Wreath on a Wire Frame

There are only a few steps involved in making a fabric scrap wreath. Here are all the simple rag wreath instructions for this fun project.

Four different strips of frayed fabric laying next to a pair of scissors to make a fabric scarp wreath.

Step 1. Preparing Your Fabric.

Cut or rip your fabric into strips. I cut and ripped until most of my fabric was turned into a pile of scraps. My strips were roughly 1 inch wide and 5 inches long. Wider and or shorter strips of fabric are harder to tie and knot. You can always trim the ends later if necessary.

Rip and cut way more strips than you think you might need. Because you want to really stuff the scraps in tight.

White metal ring with fabric straps tied in a knot to make a scrap wreath.

Step 2. Tying Fabric Strips Wire Wreath Form

To tie the fabric strips to the metal wire, I mostly used a simple knot that left the ends free. Tying simple bows, actually.

You can also tie both ends together in a Lark’s Head knot. Your choice, really.

Step 3. Add More Fabric Scraps to Your Fabric Strip Wreath

Keep pushing the strips of fabric together, and add more strips as you go. Go for full and luscious, and keep adding strips until there is no more room on the wire ring.

Step 4. Tidy Up

A final step is tidying your wreath up. Cut away any loose threads, snip off excess fabric strips, and make sure that the fabric is evenly distributed around the wreath.

Your basic fabric wreath is ready now. This is how my DIY fabric wreath looked at this stage.

You can leave your wreath like this, or you can do as I did and start embellishing the fabric wreath even more.

Rag wreath in fall colors

I thought my wreath looked pretty already. I could totally imagine stopping at this point like I did when I made my fabric Christmas wreath back in the old days. But as much as I liked the fabricky goodness, a vision was coming alive, and I wanted to give it more of a romantic look.

Related Reading: How to Make Burlap Roses for Fall

Related Reading: DIY Burlap Pumpkin Wall Art

Embellishing Your DIY Fabric Wreath

I decided that I wanted an even more luscious and gorgeous wreath for fall. So I opted to add some faux and real flowers to my wreath.

The fake flowers that I had lying around were stark white and didn’t go well with the overall design. The flowers were too bright and white. So my first order of business was to tone the color down a bit. I gave them a bath. Let me show you how to tea-dye faux flowers to give them a neutral and vintage look.

how to tea dye faux flowers

To give bright faux flowers a vintage look, you can give them a tea bath. Put your fake flowers in a bowl. Boil water and make black tea with several tea bags. Use real black tea (herbal tea will not work). Soak the faux flowers in the tea. Let sit for at least a couple of hours or overnight. The color of your faux flowers will turn into a nice neutral and vintage hue.

Form stark white to soft, muted colors:

Tea dyed faux flowers

The soaking had definitely tuned that white down into a lovely natural soft pinky/brown. I just didn’t like those bright yellow hearts. So I tried to tone those down with some ink (it didn’t work so well, but it did give the petals a nice edge). In the end, I just dabbled some craft paint on them with a brush. That did the trick.

To add embellishments to your fabric wreath, you can use pieces of metal wire. But often, just pushing the stems of flowers and berries into a knot will suffice. It is really easy to add decorations to your fabric wreath that way.

And then the assembly began.

Some hydrangea Annabelle from my garden…..

Tea died flowers…

fall wreath with green hydrangeas and fabric scraps

And some squiggly bead/berry branches I found in my florist’s stash.

Fall wreath idea with fabric and flowers

I simply pushed the flower stems through the knots in the fabric and, when necessary, added a bit of florist wire to secure them.

More Inexpensive Wreath Ideas

<<<< White and silver winter wreath >>>>

<<<< How to make a twig wreath >>>>

<<<< How to make autumn hops wreath >>>>

This was a fun home decor project. And I loved how my fabric wreath turned out. It is only fitting that she is the star focal point in my fall mantel decor featuring birdcages and a vintage mirror.

DIY fabric wreath on a vintage mirror behind a black birdcage. Fall mantel decor

Fall is definitely sneaking into my home, and every day a few shells and sea stars are moving out, and some pine cones and scented candles are moving in. This little wreath fits in perfectly.

Fall wreath idea in neutral colors. Rag wreath with flowers

That’s it! That is all there is to how to make a fabric wreath.

Bye.

PS UPDATE This fabric rag tie wreath lasted until next year’s fall too, when I repurposed her into a hydrangea wreath.

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rag wreath fall decor
Songbird | Website | + posts

Marianne Songbird is the founder of Songbird, where she hopes to inspire everyone to create a home they love, one DIY project at a time. She shares anything from craft ideas to home decor inspiration and from DIY projects to decorating hacks. Originally from the Netherlands Marianne and her husband Lex are currently renovating a 250-year-old farmhouse in Germany.

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17 Comments

  1. That’s a real beautiful wreath! And I love how you dyed the flowers, what a neat idea!

    Have an awesome week!
    Love, Midsommarflicka

  2. That turned out gorgeous, I love the colors… I may have to try something like that!

  3. Wow, I hopped over. Yes we definitely must have drank from the same well. Her wreath is beautiful too. I think that my jump off point through, came from a wreath I did years ago for Christmas. https://www.songbirdblog.com/fabric-scrap-wreath/
    I went in this time wanting to use my fabric and the hydrangeas from my front yard, and this is how it turned out. You are right great minds must think alike.

  4. Beautiful wreath and a great idea with the flowers. I never thought it would work with artificial! I’m inspired, thank you!

  5. Love your wreath, great job on distressing the flowers. They’re perfect with the hydrangeas.

  6. So pretty! What did you use for the wreath form?

  7. Now I got all excited and I am out into the yard, clipping some branches that need clipping anyhow, to make the form for the wreath, then I get some hydrangeas from outside, and I must have some silk flowers in my arsenal of
    “stuff” and I will go for it, yours turned out so pretty that I got all excited to make one of my own, once finished I intend to put it in the middle of the dining room table, and place a lovely large candle in the middle, thanks for the great idea…
    Edith YourChicagoConnection

  8. I’ve been wanting to do a kind of rag wreath tearing strips from some of my dear Papas old undershirts. I bleached them white again and want to make a small wreath for the back of the dining chair for Christmas. You’ve inspired me to use perhaps the brown tiny tweed checked fabric from the hemming of his suit of the 1970’s (yes, he’d saved it) to make the flowers. And if its small I won’t need quite as many strips of fabric. I’m trying to only use the things in the little suitcase he kept his darning in so I have a few of his flat cotton socks I could also use for strips plus he had lots of string and various kinds of thicker threads I can add! Thank you for the inspiration!!! I miss my Papa. He was so kind, wise, Godly, loving, and full of fun and laughter. He would say Oh my, my Lelah Pa Lelah! I’d have never thought to make that out of my old socks and undershirts. He’d have smiled and checked it out and been tickled. My Swedish Papa. I’ve been missing him so much these days.

    1. Oh that is such a great and truly lovely idea. I think these rag wreaths and garlands are perfect for using up sentimental bits of fabric. I just know that your Papa would love it. Things used are so much better than things just ‘kept’ in my book. It will be as if he is with you during your Christmas meal if you have your lovely little wreaths hanging on the chairs. Good luck with this project. Will you let me know how it turned out?

  9. Laura@Elegant Nest says:

    Love the way this turned out! The colors and textures are perfect. So nice when things just organically come together and end up so pretty!

  10. I love it, love it, love it! No I am actually love struck to this! Such a beautiful & elegant wreath it is. The advent of fall has surely enhanced that creative flame in you! Super!!!
    Love
    Jessica x

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