Rag Wreath: Winter and Summer Edition

I realized that I didn't have the specific instructions I needed in my other posts.  Here are the two wreaths that I made this week.  My husband told me that he figured that they were de-stress projects.  Kind of.  :)

To start:
4 different types of fabric.  1/2 yard each of three.  Maybe 2/3 yard of a filler color.

How do I choose a fabric?
I generally have an anchor fabric or some type of color theme to go with.  In the case of my winter wreath, I knew that I wanted to go with grays and gray/blue.

I pull patterns that I find interesting.  Sure, the patterns below look whackadoodle together, but when you look at the wreath, it makes sense.  I try to have a dark, two middle tone and one light.

What size is the wreath?
I found a 12" "box wreath frame" at Joann Fabrics.  Works well for our size of door.

Cutting fabric:
Trim off the labeled end. Then fold your fabric so that you can cut the strips in one run instead of three.  Just remember to cut the ends so that you have 7" strips and not 14" strips.
7" strips
1 1/2" wide (in my case, the width of the ruler)

How many strips per ring?
There are 4 rings per wreath with 6 sections per ring.  I always start from the inside and work out.  There was one wreath that I did not have enough fabric (I've since figured that out) and I cut off the outer ring.  It's best to fix the goof like that from the outside than the inside.

Inside: 
8 strips per section
First interior ring:
9 strips per section
Second interior ring:
12 strips per section
Outer ring:
14-15 strips per section

Important to note:
Make certain to count the strips you have left before doing your final ring.  No matter how uniform we would love things to be, sometimes we are down a few strips.  This way you can take the number you have and divide them out by the remaining sections you have.  On the winter wreath, I ended up taking the darker fabric and using it as a double strip filler on the last ring.  You can't tell.  It was a lighter fabric and I had a lot of strips left.  Also, I needed to fill in a lil heavier than I had originally planned.

How to attach:
Well now, just go here and that'll tell you what you need to know.  Rachael did a nice demo on her link found in my fall wreath post.  My 4th of July wreath (the one I had to remove a ring from because a shortage of fabric) can be found here.

How to store:
Hang them on a hanger in the coat closet.

The Winter Wreath: 

Presently hanging on our door. 

The Beachy Colored Summer Wreath: 

Now go forth, check out your fabric scraps, orphaned bits and pieces, the Joann's remnants bins and sale fabric.  No need to pay an arm and a leg for the fabric.

I will caution that after 2 years of a harsh summer sun shining on my 4th of July wreath (I leave it up all summer,) the fabrics have faded some.  I'll give you a hint.  Just turn your wreath upside down and display it bottom side up!  That way, the faded sections hang down, the brighter sections are up and you can pull a bit more mileage out of your wreath.