Here’s an easy, DIY, no sew fabric scrap craft that’s great for kids and grown-ups. Use up some of your fabric stash to make these wreaths that work as a garland, napkin holders or ornaments for any holiday. Bonus, they make great handmade gifts for any occasion!
These wreaths are a featured simple craft in our upcoming book Homestead Holidays.
We can’t wait to share this book with you!
Supplies for Fabric Scrap Craft Wreaths
You only need three items to make these wreaths:
- Fabric scissors
- Fabric scraps
- Small wreaths
You will also need rustic or cotton twine if you want to make a garland or create a loop at the top of each wreath to make it an ornament.
>>>>—Click here to learn to make your own EASY grapevine wreaths—<<<<
Prepare Your Fabric Scraps
Pick your occasion or holiday and determine a color scheme. Most holidays have their own color scheme already. White, blue and gold for Hanukkah; black and orange for Halloween, etc.
For multi-colored fabric scraps, here’s some advice on color selection. If you have a multi-colored piece of cloth and can’t decide which color pile it should go into, try this trick I learned from a quilting teacher of mine: Close your eyes and hold the cloth in front of you. Open your eyes and quickly focus on the piece of cloth. Whichever color you see first, is the color group it should join.
Cut your Fabric Scraps
In order to avoid fraying, use pinking shears to cut your fabric strips with a half an inch width. You can cut them wider, if you’d prefer, which will cover the wreaths quicker. However, you won’t have room for as many colors.
I recommend that you cut your fabric scrap strips at least 6 inches long for ease of tying, especially if children are doing this craft. On that note, here is a short video to show the basic steps for making these wreaths. Then, you can follow the written instructions below.
3 Easy Steps for Fabric Scrap Craft Wreaths
- Pick up a wreath and tie on your first strip. Use a simple double knot.
- Keep tying on strips in whatever pattern you’ve designed until you run out of fabric strips.
- Clip the tails of your strips 1/2″ – 1″ inch from the knot on each strip; the longer the tail, the shaggier your ornament will appear.
A Few More Tips
- Whatever strip combination you settle on, make sure you have enough strips to repeat your pattern all the way around your wreath. FYI, I’ve made emergency pattern substitutions mid-wreath and it usually blends beautifully.
- You may want to leave small gaps between fabric scraps so that you can see a bit of the wreath showing through.
- Count on 5-10 minutes of assembly time per wreath for adults; maybe double that for children.
To Use Fabric Scrap Wreaths
As I said, these make nice napkin wreaths, especially for a rustic fall table or a breezy summer picnic.
They also make lovely handmade gifts. To give these scrap fabric wreaths as gifts, I usually batch them in groups of three or five because odd numbers are visually appealing.
To Make a Garland
These wreaths make simple ornaments, or they can be tied together to make a garland. To do that:
- Cut a 6 foot length of twine or rope.
- Tie a loop at each end of the twine. These loops will attach to hooks or nails when you hang the garland.
- Tie each fabric scrap wreath onto the twine individually so that you can slide them around where you want them once you’ve hung the garland. Natural wreaths are individual in size and weight, so you’ll probably need to adjust each wreath to balance the garland.
Other Fabric Scrap Resources
If you STILL have fabric scraps left over after this project, here are some other things you can do with them.
Fabric Scrap Craft Resources
Using Vintage Linen to Make a Patchwork Pillow Cover (no pattern needed)
Tame Your Budget With a Lined Zippered Pouch Tutorial
11 Scrap Fabric Gift Ideas
How to make DIY feathers From Upcycled Fabric Scraps
Easy Fabric Scrap Halloween Garland
Super easy fabric scrap mousepad tutorial
How to Make DIY Cat Toys That Your Cat Will Love, from Cotton Precuts
Homemade Rag Quilt Christmas Wreath
For a Christmas version of these wreaths, here's a guest tutorial we wrote for Melissa K Norris's site.
These are so cute and such a great way to use up scraps of fabric or even ribbon! I’ve made fabric scrap garlands but never thought about doing a wreath! How fun! I will definitely be trying this out!
Garlands would be so fun! Feel free to link it here, if you have an article about it – I love upcycling stuff!
These are so simple and beautiful! I’d love to make some with that tan and black buffalo check so popular in the primitive style. They’d be such a sweet gift, too!
Great idea – those would be adorable!
I love the idea of upcycling. I usually use branches and cones to make one wreath for Christmas but I will consider using your technique.
I hope it turns out beautifully for you!
Oh I need to get on this. I have a wreath frame thingy and fabric scraps in the basement, now to put them together to make a seasonal wreath for my front door.
That’s the rub, right? Actually doing all our fun, crafty things! I’m sure it will be lovely and I hope you have fun with it.
So cute! I’m not a crafty person but this looks pretty simple!
If I can do it, it is absolutely simple – I promise! Thanks for stopping by!