Make a Festive Thanksgiving Wreath

Not only is Thanksgiving a historical celebration, it is also a time to gather your friends and family and show gratitude for all the good things that make life special. And what better way to welcome loved ones into your home for feasting and fun than with this festive wreath? You can whip up this vibrant door-hanging in a flash between basting the turkey and setting the table - it's super quick and easy to make. Here's how!

Supplies

• 25 assorted coloured felt leaves.
• Needle and red embroidery thread.
• Fabric scissors.
• Hot glue gun.
• 1 cardboard ring.
• Felt banner.
• Shapes template (See below. Open the image in a new window or tab in your internet browser to access it at full size.)

Step 1: Cut Out the Leaves

Using the shapes template, cut 25 leaves from assorted felt. We used an array of warm, autumnal colours. Cut out the leaf template, place it on your chosen piece of felt and trace around it with a pencil. Then use fabric scissors to cut out each leaf.

Step 2: Cut Out the Ring

Creating a cardboard ring to glue your leaves onto is easy. On thick cardboard we traced around a medium-sized dinner plate (approximately 24cm/9.4" in diameter) to form the outer edge of the ring, then centred a smaller plate (approximately 16cm/6.2" in diameter) inside this ring to create the inner edge. The ring just needs to be thick enough for you to be able to sturdily affix the leaves to. After cutting out the ring, punch a hole to hang the finished product on your door.

Step 3: Cut Out the Banner

Cut the banner shapes from the template and transfer them to your chosen piece of felt by tracing around the outlines with a pencil. To transfer the "Hello" text onto the larger banner shape, hold the template up to a sunlit window with the felt piece on top and trace the text. You could also hand-draw your own message.

Step 4: Embroider the Text

Use a red embroidery thread to embroider in backstitch over the text on the large banner piece.
To create a backstitch, draw the needle from back to front through the felt. Push the needle back through the felt, making a stitch approximately 4mm long. Bring the needle back up through the felt 4mm in front of the first stitch. Push the needle back down through the felt through the same hole as the top of the first stitch. Continue this process to complete the embroidery.

Step 5: Assemble the Banner

Using a hot glue gun, affix the two smaller banner pieces to the back side of the embroidered banner piece.

Step 6: Glue the First Layer of Leaves

Using the glue gun, start affixing the leaves onto the ring. You don't need to be too particular about the placement of each leaf - we found that a random formation looks more interesting. Make sure not to glue any leaves directly over the punched hole in the cardboard ring. You will need to be able to access it to tie a hanging string on at the end. (You can just lay part of a leaf over the hole to hide it from sight).

Step 7: Build Up the Leaves in Layers

Continue to glue leaves in a random formation, building up the layers by affixing leaves on top of each other. To make your ring of leaves look fuller, don't just stack them on top of each other, build the circle outwards slightly as you glue.

Step 8: Affix a Hanging String

After the leaf layers are complete and the glue has dried, turn the wreath over and tie a short, looped hanging string through the punched hole. We used the same red embroidery thread for this. Ensure that the loop is short enough so that it is invisible when viewed from the front.

Step 9: Glue the Banner

Turn the wreath back over and use the glue gun to affix the banner across the centre of the wreath. And you're done! Happy Thanksgiving!