Quick N Easy: Bubble Wreath Tutorial

Ready for a quick project that has a big impact? What if I told you it was cheap, too? Would that make you wanna make it even more?

Well great! Hopefully you've already gotten your supplies based on the list from last night's post, and are ready to rock and roll. If not, that's okay! Check out the the list here, and then once you have everything, come back to this very spot, and we'll have you on your way to a new front door.

1. Take one roll of your main color and your wreath frame. Turn your wreath frame away from you so that the curve is pointing outward. Tie a knot with the end of your main color to one of the center rods. 

2. Take a 3-6" piece of your fabric and create a loop. The bigger the piece, the bigger the "bubble" (but also the more fabric needed to fill the whole frame in the long run). Starting at the back of the frame, push the loop through the top set of wires so that the loop sticks out on the front side like so.

3. On the back side of the frame, twist your fabric, create another loop, and push through the second set of bars. Never put two consecutive loops directly next to each other in between bars. They won't have anything to secure them, and may end up unraveling. 

Twisting the fabric before each loop & putting each new loop in the next set of bars will help to ensure you won't have any finicky bubbles that need extra attention later.

Fill one whole set of bars (for me, this meant three loops) with your main color.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 with your secondary color. You should now have two complete sets of bubbles on your wreath, one of each color.

5. Repeat this process until you reach the end of one of your colors. My main color was a longer roll, so I ran out of the chevron a lot faster than I'd have liked to (this is where that whole "learned this the hard way" thing comes in, and improvising started happening).

The back of your frame will probably look something like this atrocious mess.

6. Tie your additional roll of fabric to the end of the one you just ran out of, and hide the knot in the back. You'll have to do this for your next color as well, so make sure you leave enough fabric on each to be able to secure a good knot.

Since I ran out of my chevron burlap, I grabbed one of the ribbon spools I had purchased that matched the colors scheme that was happening. Ribbon is a lot thinner than burlap, so I had to use a lot more length for each bubble to keep the thickness consistent around the entire wreath (another learning experience that could have easily been avoided). 

Luckily, when I ran out of the plain burlap, the linen I used was thick enough that I could get away with the same length of fabric for each bubble. My learning experience is your advantage here, since you were able to buy the correct amount of each roll based on the supply list.

7. Because I had to use more of the ribbon & linen for the thickness to stay consistent, I ended up having a good 4" space on my frame that was totally naked. No worries- this is what the faux flowers, leaves, garland, etc are for!

You may not have any naked space, but you may have some sections you aren't happy with for one reason or another. This is where we get to disguise our shortcomings and make people think that we planned this the whole time. ;)

Figure out how you want to arrange your fake plants. If you don't like the way the whole piece looks, that's ok- fake flowers and leaves are super easy to take apart. 

8. Arrange your faux flowers/leaves on your wreath, and attach them. Since I had a partially exposed frame, I tore the stems apart on mine (see above middle picture) so that I could wrap them and hide the frame wires. If you are applying yours directly over your fabric, I would suggest using fabric glue or a hot glue gun for this step, as you will only be using the "buds" or leaves that pop off of the stems. Glue will look a lot neater on the back of the frame, as well.

Since no one is ever really going to see the back of the wreath, however, it can look like a hot tangled mess of wires in my case.

9. Now that your accent pieces are attached, all you have to do is figure out how you'd like to hang this. I have a wreath hook for our front door, so I slipped it through the top set of bars of the frame, and it hung very nicely. You might want to use ribbon and a command hook, add a letter inside your wreath (I'm still thinking about this option since we both have "A" names), or any other ideas you may have.

 10. Hang your wreath, and you're done!

For such a cheap and easy project, it really could have a big impact on your curb appeal. Since my bubbles aren't very big, the space inside seems a little empty to me, so I may look for a cheapy way to fill that void with a wooden letter, number, or shape of some type (maybe a pumpkin?).

Right now, though, this wreath is perfect for the season, the time, and the cost. It turned out so much better than I had expected, especially considering the improv work that needed to happen. I already know that there will be a Christmas Wreath tutorial in the future.... I'll make sure to have the right amount of fabric for that one though ;)

Did you make your own wreath? I'd love to see some of your creations as well! Feel free to post the on the Facebook page, send them to me in a message, or email me pictures! It's always great to see other people's ideas, projects, and results!

If you have any suggestions to fill the space in my wreath, I'd love to hear those as well!

Happy crafting :)