The LIBERTY Wreath

I am in LOVE with my new patriotic wreath.  I love all things Red White and Blue in the summer (exciting opportunity having to do with that coming up later this afternoon – stay tuned!) and so I wanted a summer wreath to reflect that.  I was actually on the ball to get this done for today, Memorial Day.

I thought today was an appropriate day for the tutorial – you probably won’t make it today, but you’ll be able to admire it and pin it or whatever to make this summer – especially for around the 4th of July.

So, let’s get started!
For the wreath part, you’ll need:
-Styrofoam wreath form
-1 yard Red Broadcloth
-1 yard White Broadcloth
-1 yard Blue Broadcloth
-straightpins

I wanted the frayed-edge look on my fabric to give the wreath some texture, so I ripped my fabric.  First, into strips that were 3-4 inches thick, then I ripped those strips to make squares that were 3-4 inches in size. I got about 12 squares out of each strip of fabric.  If you want a clean edge look, you can cut the squares using scissors or a rotary cutter.  (kind of off-topic, there’s a similar wreath at Whipperberry that I saw, and she cut her squares, so if you want a visual on that versus ripping, check it out.  She also used burlap which is a fun idea.)

After you have piles of squares, it’s time to attach them to the wreath.  Grab the center of the square and wad up that section and poke a pin through it, like shown below:

Then just poke that pin into the wreath form.  Make a strip of color.  To make sure my spacing was correct, I did all one color first, spaced evenly in 5 sections:

Then I went back and added the next color, etc:

Really fill it in – the more the better.  If you’re a video tutorial type of person, I have a quick video on the basics of making this wreath – enjoy! (the video is about 8 minutes total – this wreath is the first 4 minutes, and there’s another cute wreath shown on the second half of the video)


Now, on to the “Liberty” part of the wreath.
This section of the tutorial could be called “ode to my social media followers” – you all were an awesome help!
–I finished my wreath but thought it needed a little something more, so I asked on my Sugar Bee Crafts Facebook Page what a good “patriotic” word was – I was leaning towards “freedom” before I posted it, and several of you suggest that, but then I saw “liberty” as a suggestion and just knew that was it.  Perfect.
–Then I cut it and it was too plain – I couldn’t decide the next move – I was thinking maybe paint it red.  I posted a picture of the plain “liberty” to my Instagram and to FB, and separately, both outlets suggest glitter – uh, genius!  why didn’t I think of that.  Most people said silver, which is my instinct, but a few said gold.  I went with gold to push myself a little out of my norm.  Again, perfect.

So, let me tell you how I made it.

I cut the word “Liberty” out of the Chipboard on my Silhouette Cameo.  It’s similar to a thin cereal box.  I copied and pasted the word so it would it cut it out 3 times.  Then to make it a thick chipboard word, I just used spray glue to stick and stack the 3 layers on top of each other.

For the glitter, I used mod podge.  I put a thin coat of regular mod podge over the word, then dumped on the fine glitter:

After letting it dry for a few minutes, I shook off the excess glitter.  Then I gave it a quick spray with clear sealer so that the glitter would be less likely to fall off over time.

To attach it to the wreath, I hot glued some of the straight pins to the back of the word, with the pokey side sticking up, like so:

I also used a pin and hot glue to make the dot of the “i” floating:

I wish you could see this in real life – glitter is so hard to capture in a picture.  It is so sparkly!!  Yet not overly so – it’s just the perfect touch to the wreath.

I used a gold ribbon scrap to hang the wreath and compliment the “liberty”.  I am not normally a gold person, but I am all about this wreath!

If you love it, feel free to comment or share the link via your favorite social media, or pin this post on Pinterest to share it with the world – thanks for all the sharing you do!!  Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day.