Fall Wreath

by Lovesunique

3 Materials

$12

2 Hours

Easy

I decided to make a grape vine wreath to celebrate fall. We have grapes coming up as volunteers all over the property so vines are plentiful.

These are vines my husband cut weeks ago so I retrieved them. When I went to make my circle size for my wreath they were too dry. They started to snap!

I don't recall this happening with this wreath. I made this back in the 80's and it was from dried grape vines I found on our property. The actual plants were dead. I added the silk and ribbon and that was that. When it gets dusty I take it outside and hose it off. I think polyester is going to out live me!

So I did a little research and it's advised to soak the vines. I used the dog's pool and I weighted down the vines with crockery. Worked out great, except . . . .

. . . I left the vines for more than a few hours (recommended) and they got full of mud from the dog's paws!

It was true. Once the vines soaked they became pliable and I could make my circle size for my wreath. I used jute to hold the vines together and tried to keep as many "feelers" as possible (this was recommended for uniqueness). Those "feelers" when dry are as strong as rope. Once I had it all together I hosed off all the dirt and laid it on my outdoor table to dry flat to secure the shape.

I may have made the wreath a bit too large, but it works. I mainly used Dollar Tree silk. I did find bigger sunflowers at Walmart that looked "like sunflowers". I just started filling in by cutting each blossom from the original stem. Each stem had four to five flowers. I didn't use wire because the vine was tight enough to secure the stems. I filled in with wheat and yellow leaves and smaller blossoms of orange. I didn't plan on ribbon or a bow to keep it simple. Now where am I going to store this huge wreath come Christmas? !!