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How-to: Felt Thanksgiving Wreath

November 14, 2011 1 Comment

Quickly DIY a funny Thanksgiving wreath with felt and only a little bit of sewing!
This totally cute Thanksgiving wreath combines felt, scrap fabric & some easy sewing to add a whimsical touch to any Turkey Day doorway! It builds upon this easy wreath idea, but with a little added zhush. ;)

Supplies

Styrofoam wreath
Craft felt in a variety of colors. I used acryllic felt because it’s way cheap.
Very sharp, small scissors (precision is key when working with felt!)
Sewing machine
Straight pins
Scrap fabric (enough to cover your styrofoam wreath)

Directions

Decide what festive items you’d like on your wreath. I spent a fair bit of time brainstorming this process and drawing out ideas on paper. Most of the Thanksgiving icons I went with for this project were food. The thing with creating food out of felt is that it’s easy to get really unappetizing results. I embraced my inner cartoonist and went with (what I consider) Garfield-esque caricatures of Turkey Day dishes. A slice of pumpkin pie, corn on the cob, crescent rolls, a wishbone, and cranberries from the can floated my boat for whatever reason today.

When you’ve got your drawings all set, start cutting them out of the appropriate felt.

To create an easy cranberry design, cut a rectangle, an ellipse, and a few strips of felt as shown above. Super easy, even for the less-than-artistic types out there. Like me ;). The crescent rolls, shown in some photos of the finished product at the bottom of this page, were really easy too.

Corn on the cob:

The wishbone is probably the easiest of all of these to make. I added a couple pieces of gray felt over my brown background for some added realism, but that’s probably not a necessary step in this process.

Once all of your felt food is cut out, cut out a backing piece of felt for each one. This will help them stand up when you attach them to the wreath at the end. A simple silhouette of the whole food piece is all you need.

Then, use a simple basting stitch to hold them together. The reason you want to use a basting stitch instead of straight pins is because pins will warp your felt and affect how the pieces lay.

Now, you can start sewing all of the pieces together with a sewing machine. You can sew right over your basting stitches because you’ll be pulling them out later.

I had a fun time adding some textural details to my cranberries and corn on the cob, though it took a little creative maneuvering with the ole sewing machine.

Once your food is all set, you’re almost home free! Cut some long strips of fabric and wrap them around your Styrofoam wreath, pinning them in place.

Play around with the placement of your felt food on the wreath until you’re satisfied. Then, pin those to the wreath with straight pins as well, being careful to conceal the pin heads behind overlapping pieces of food. If you created a backing for all of your felt food, it comes in handy here.

Quickly DIY a funny Thanksgiving wreath with felt and only a little bit of sewing!

Quickly DIY a funny Thanksgiving wreath with felt and only a little bit of sewing!

I like my Garfieldy wreath so much that I’m hanging it inside my door for the next couple weeks, at which time I’ll need to sit down and make some Christmas doodads. I really like this wreath and am glad I revisited my first, Halloween attempt and made it even better. If you’ve got friends who claim they don’t have enough time for crafting, tell them about this idea! It’s so easy to update this wreath every month once you’ve got the felt pieces in place. Just keep each month’s wreath accessories in a Ziploc with other holiday accoutrements, and you just swap out Halloween for Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving for Christmas (or whatever) each month. Easy peasy.

Quickly DIY a funny Thanksgiving wreath with felt and only a little bit of sewing!

Filed Under: How-to, Sewing, Thanksgiving Tagged With: fabric, felt, felt wreath, garfield thanksgiving, How-to, nvovember, Sewing, thanksgiving, thanksgiving craft, thanksgiving wreath, versatile, wreath

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
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Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
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During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
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Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
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These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
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I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
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In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
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Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
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You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
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Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vi Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vintage knitting pattern from 1938 called the Fernlace Pullover. A pattern so nice, I knit it twice.
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Yellow version 💛: knit with Despondent Dyes’ Vintage Vixen Sport after attending a @squidneyknits vintage knitting retreat in 2019 & learning *so much*. Paired with a self-drafted circle skirt pattern. 
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Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
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Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
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Image descriptions available in alt text. 
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#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
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P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
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Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
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