Argyle Valentine Wreath Tutorial

A few weeks ago I shared with you a few of my favorite Valentine inspirations.  One was a cute wreath I found on Pinterest, and unfortunately it was pinned wrong so I couldn’t find the actual page it came from.  Which means I had to make one for myself…

 Well, guess what?!? I actually finished it!  (for those of you that are avid crafters you may laugh- but I am too often a craft “starter”… not finisher!   Anyway, I am in love, which is timely since it is a Valentine’s Day decoration!

Okay, wanna make one too?  Good I am glad, cuz I took pictures of “how to” along the way!

( A WHOLE lotta pictures!  I hope it makes sense, let me know if you have questions)

 Argyle Valentine Wreath Tutorial

Supplies:

18’ Wreath Form

2 skeins of yarn ( I used Lion brand’s – Vanna’s Choice in Taupe)

2 colors of felt (less than about an 1/8th of a yard each!)

Hot glue (optional!  but super helpful!)

I borrowed an idea from Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick.  She used a pool noodle, which would have been the perfect scale, but it wasn’t the season to find that right now.  (I got a pipe insulator from Home Depot for a buck or so.  Which was a little too thin for 18 inches, might have been perfect for 12 “ or smaller mini wreaths, just FYI)

(p.s. a pool noodle would be a lot stronger.     but if you are doing this at home go for the pool noodle, or just a larger wreath form.  To bulk up my form I taped on some quilt batting… and in pure ghetto-craft style I used my black duct tape to secure it.. (In my defense it was just sitting there from taping the tube together… so it made sense at the moment!)

This step isn’t necessary if your form is the right size!

Lydia wanted to help… I got some cute pictures that are pointless to the tutorial…but I love them!

You are ready to start your base of wrapped yarn at this point.  Start by wrapping your first ring of yarn and secure with a square knot.  If you do use batting keep it sort of snug but not too tight.  I went around my form first 2 – 3 times just to secure the batting smoothly.

Start a movie cuz you are going to be wrapping this thing for a while!  Don’t be overly concerned with a few gaps. I went around it after it was completely wrapped to fill in any gaps!

Here it is all wrapped and Etta testing her skills as a hand model (and it was pure coincidence that her nail polish perfectly matches her sweater!  But she is all girl, so maybe she planned it!)

Next you need to cut out your hearts.  I used white and pink felt.  I only needed a tiny bit.

When figuring out your heart, just test out the shape in scrap paper first to create your pattern.  You don’t want it too big, but this final size will depend on your wreath form.

Lay them out in alternating directions (and color) around your wreath til they are all evenly placed.  My wreath was about 18 inches, and I used 8 pink and 8 white.

Once they were laid out and equally spaced, I heated up my trusty glue gun.  Take one heart off at a time and add three small dots of glue to the back.  Be sure when you place it down you *don’t press it to hard in place.  ( *I used cheap polyester felt, if you press it in place the felt will melt and the glue will be visible through the fabric)

Now you are ready to wrap the hearts to create the argyle look.  This will sound harder than it is, it was actually super easy.

Start by wrapping a loop of the yarn around the wreath.  Be sure it is not on top of a felt heart, either between the hearts or tuck it under them one so you can’t see where you add this tied on piece.  Tie it in place on the back of the wreath with a square knot.  Trim and tuck the end under the other wrapped yarn.

Flip over the wreath and decide which heart color you are going to start wrapping first.  I chose white.  Pull the yarn diagonally across the first heart. (see the second image below).

Continue the same line, by wrapping the yarn around the back of the form moving in a clockwise direction.  Skip the pink heart and pull the next yarn diagonally across the second white heart, see the first image below.  Continue around whole wreath until it has one diagonal line on each white heart like the second image below.

To make sure the yarn will stay in its place create a loop around the side of the wreath and pull the yarn ball through the loop.  This will create a little knot and keep the yarn from moving (sorry I didn’t get a picture of this til later but but hopefully you can get the idea of what I mean).  I did this loop after each time I went around the wreath.

The first image below shows where the yarn was once secured.  Now, I started on the next closest heart.  Which ended up being the pink one.  This time around, I wound the yarn in counter clock wise direction wrapping diagonally across each pink heart.  See the second image for direction.  Continue until you have gone completely around the wreath again.  And secure with a knot like before.

After two rounds, this is what the wreath looked like.

When you’ve secured your thread a third time, you will still be going counter cock wise.  Only this time you will be adding the second diagonal thread on the white hearts

**When you add the second yarn line make sure your first yarn is placed properly, you can kind of just scoot it into place if it needs to be adjusted.

Once the round is complete, tie your yarn one more time.

Line up your yarn to add the cross on the pink hearts. This time you will be moving around the wreath in a clock wise direction. until completely around for your final time

Add your final tie to the thread to secure it in place.

Now flip your wreath over, and trim your thread.  Slip the end under the wrapped yarn and tie a knot. Then trim off the excess and tuck the end under.  Your done!

You can see a knot, but it is on the back so no real problem!

The crossing of the yarn creates a cute detail line around inside of the wreath too!

Okay, so finally I hung mine up with a loop of pink satin ribbon over the mirror in my entry and it has made me happy every time I see it!

I hope you like it!  I hope you will share it on Facebook, or twitter or pin it!  THANKS!

See y’all later!

Published: January 27, 2012Filed Under: *Our Projects, Crafts, Decorate, Holiday, Tutorials, Valentines Day Tagged: Valentine's Day, Valentines

About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.