A big welcome to Jeanne from WildWoods Art who brings us a lovely tutorial on making a recycled wreath for Halloween! Jeanne is a big Halloween inspiration!

Who doesn’t like to hang a pretty wreath on their door or fence in celebration of a Holiday or Season?  We’ll make such a wreath and it will even be out of recycled plastic bags!

Hi! I’m Jeanne Gripp of WildWoods Art. I am a self-taught Folk Artist who delights in making items of whimsy. I try to incorporate cast off items in as many of my creations as possible.
This wreath is made from a metal coat hanger and plastic bags. I used the plastic sleeves that a newspaper would come in to protect it from the weather. Regular (clean) plastic trash bags or shopping bags can also be used.

Supplies needed:
metal coat hanger
pliers
scissors
plastic bags – I used orange and black for Halloween

Step 1. Bend coat hanger to form a circle. Use the pliers to help form the curves. Using the pliers, bend the hook of the coat hanger to form a closed circle. This will be the loop from which the wreath will hang.

Step 2. Cut plastic sleeves or plastic bags into 2 1/2″ x 5 1/2″  strips. Because a wreath always looks best when very full, A LOT of strips will be needed !

Step 3. Tie plastic strips onto wire form. Over and over again! I make my wreaths while watching TV – it’s a very mindless activity. (Both watching TV and tying on the strips!) I like to use a double strip when tying onto the form. Push the strips together as they are tied on and alternate the ends. This will add to the wreath’s fullness. Do not pull the strips too snug or you might stretch out the plastic and cause it to snap.

Step 4. When the wreath is full, a bow will need to be made. Cut a 8″ wide strip of plastic approx. 54″ long. Double over the strip so it is 4″ wide. Doubling over the strip will  help your bow to ‘stand out’ and not flop over. Take this strip and tie a large bow around the ‘neck’ of the wreath (just below the loop you made for hanging).

VOILA` ! You now have an all-weather wreath. The color of plastic used for the wreath can be changed to suit the Holiday – green wreath with red bow for Christmas or even pastel colors for Spring or Easter.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this! Stay tuned for more Halloween fun, all month long: Halloween at Dabbled

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did… – Dot

How To Make Fused Plastic Sheets (from plastic bags)
…and then turn them into something neat!
1. Fusing Plastic Bags: Things you need, 2. Fusing Plastic Bags: The Bags!, 3. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step One, 4. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Two, 5. Fusing Plastic Bags: Don’t forget the Earth!, 6. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Three, 7. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Four, 8. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Five, 9. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Six, 10. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Seven, 11. Fusing Plastic Bags: The Motion in the Ocean, 12. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Eight, 13. Fusing Plastic Bags: Turn up the Heat!, 14. Fusing Plastic Bags: Aaaaand we’re GOOD!, 15. Fusing Plastic Bags: Step Nine, 16. Final step!The description of each picture gives you the scoop on what’s going on, so click through the links above for directions, or you can see all the steps here.

So what to do with it now?

“Just behave as if this cool, fused plastic sheet were a regular piece of fabric! It sews right through on a regular machine (won’t get stuck or not feed feed properly… it will smoothly go through just like any piece of fabric would!).

When you are cutting shapes out of it, I recommend you draw your shapes on the backside of the fused plastic using a permanent marker (so that it won’t smear and get all over you), and then cut them out. Do this instead of pinning pattern pieces to it because wherever you put your pins is going to leave a tiny hole in the plastic.

Just use a regular or universal needle, no leather needles needed… this stuff is actually quite soft and easy for a regular sewing machine to pierce right through!

And if using a sewing machine isn’t your gig, try your “hand”… haha… at hand sewing through your fused plastic! I’ve made some wonderful little accessories by “whipstitching” or “blanket stitching” around the edge with colorful embroidery thread and even yarn!

There are so many possibilities for what to do with this new eco fabric… dream up something useful for your new recycled fused plastic!”

Thanks Brooke, This is really cool, green, and inspiring!

All About Brooke, of So She Sews

“Imagine a young Cindi Lauper with Bob Villa composure.
Haha! Ok, well you can already tell that I’m a bit of a jokester. What is life if you can’t have fun, am I right? Basically I’ve been amazingly blessed all my life to pursue having fun for a living. And having fun to me is at the very core of creativity. I adore things with color, difference, functionality and good design. I learned to sew when I was very young, thanks to my amazing Mother (who will appreciate the Bob Villa reference), and I’ve been cultivating it since. I’ve done everything from altering wedding gowns to cutting faux fur all day long as a professional fabric cutter in a mascot costume factory. My education was in Costume Design for Theatre but my passion for vintage fashion has just as much to do with my design style. I care deeply about my impact on the earth, and hope one day to have my own “eco-home” with a little veggie garden in the back, and solar panels to power my sewing machine!”

Buy her stuff (Pictured above): Owl Purses, Dresses, Wallets

Check her out at
http://soshesews.etsy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soshesews/