My Felt Flower "Wreath"

You might vaguely remember me mentioning back in November last year that I was going to be organised and make a Christmas wreath before Christmas (see here).  You might also have noticed that I never posted about the wreath I made.  Well...ahem...that would be because I never got round to making a Christmas wreath.  Yes, I got too caught up in the end of year madness that hits our home every year in the lead up to Christmas, made worse last year by several unexpected and stressful events in December.

Anyway, when the Creative Collective announced that their May project theme was "in the hoop", it was the impetus I needed to finally make my Christmas wreath!  I have long had a bit of a thing for fabric flowers and creative projects using embroidery hoops, so when I saw the Purl Bee's tutorial for a felt flower wreath, I thought I would combine the two ideas.

As you can see, I have gone for an asymmetrical look to my flower arrangement on the hoop.  Looking at this project had me thinking that I use a lot of asymmetry in my creations (such as my asymmetrical necklaces seen here and here), but I guess that's not very surprising given that I used to wear mismatched earrings as a fashion statement when I was a teenager, ha ha ha.  And although my French knots aren't perfect, this was the first time I sewed them without somehow getting the technique wrong and then having to repair my odd-looking knot.

I am showing you the rather embarrassing back of my hoop project only because I wanted to share a great link with you.  I got the idea for backing my new wreath from a lovely little tutorial on Crafster.  This method is great for hiding all the unsightly stitching and excess fabric on the back of your hoop project.  However, if, like me, you aren't feeling up to accurate sewing and small, neat stitches, your end result won't be as pretty as the one in the tutorial.