You will need to gather up…
a 4 inch hoop
black (or whatever color you want) fabric for the top
twine for hanging
needle/thread
sewing machine
scissors
wool felt scraps in a variety of greens
a selection of red buttons
Take your felt scraps and trim them into roughly one inch wide strips. Then snip off little 1/4 inch pieces to make your wreath with.
Take a chalk pencil and outline the top part of your hoop to use as a guide for your wreath. If you are using white or light colored fabric, use a water soluble marker.
Now here’s the tricky part. I laid out just a few green strips and then stitched slowly over them. When I came near the end of the last strip, I lifted up my presser foot and laid down some more. Just go slowly and stitch along as you go around the circle. I never laid down more than about an inch or so of strips as I was going around the circle.
Now that you’ve made it once around the circle, take a a few little strips to add a second “layer” and fill in some of the holes that might have happened while stitching around the first time.
Stitch around a second time.
Now it’s time for buttons. Gather up a few red buttons, some red thread and stitch them down. I find it’s much easier to stitch them down if you go ahead and set your wreath in the embroidery hoop.
Use your pretty christmas fabric for the back and make a hoop sandwich. The hoop circle without the bolt goes on the bottom, then your pretty fabric (right side down), the sewn wreath (right side up) and top it off with the bolt part of the hoop.
When I finish my hoops, I trim off the back fabric down to the hoop and then trim about a 1/2 inch off the top fabric around the circle. Then using a glue gun, I tack that 1/2 inch all around the inside of the hoop.
Hang your little ornament on your tree or gift it to a friend! Happy Holidays!