Easy 4th of July denim wreath

July 1, 2014

I have been feeling very inspired and patriotic lately because of the World Cup and the upcoming fourth of July holiday. Even though the World Cup soccer game on Friday will probably eclipse our fourth of July celebration (my husband is a huge German soccer fan), I decided to craft a patriotic wreath out of old jeans for our table. Because what’s more American than denim and an American flag?! It took me less than an hour and was completely easy … once I figured out how I wanted to do it.

Stuff you will need

a pair of old denim jeans (or denim scraps)
pinking shears
crafting wire
a decorative bow

Figure out how big your wreath should be and measure the length of your crafting wire. Double it. This is approximately the length of the denim you will need. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Place your jeans wrong sides together (in other words, right sides out). This is important. See below.

Sew tubes of approximately 1-1 1/2 inches wide (3-5 cm) to make that length. I did this by sewing along the length of one pants leg. Leave a small seam allowance and then cut the tubes with pinking shears.

Make four seams along the leg of a pair of old jeans to create tubes

Slip your crafting wire into the tubes and bunch the denim aesthetically along the wreath as you go. Twist the crafting wire at the top and either insert the loose ends into the denim tubes to hide them or bend them and form a loop to hang your wreath with.

Attach a decorative bow.

I’ve made the mistakes, so you don’t have to …

I started out by sewing the right sides of my jeans together as one normally would. However, I had trouble turning the tube. The material was too thick and bunched up. I guess I could have made the tube wider but I decided to take a different approach instead. In retrospect, I’m happy I did. I think the unfinished pinked edge on the wreath looks quite nice.