Rag Ball Wreath Tutorial

I adore rag balls. I have no idea why. Maybe it's the simplicity of them, as well as being able to use up fabric strips. They're also fun to make. Simply tear long strips of fabric and roll them up into balls. (It's an easy craft to do while watching TV). If you want bigger rag balls, wad up some of remnant fabric pieces and wrap longer fabric strips around them. Some people put little styrofoam balls inside their rag balls. I prefer the more natural look, so I wad!

I want to make a rag garland for Christmas, but until then, I decided to string together a garland of sorts, yet put in in wreath form.

I cut up a couple cardboard forms from a cracker box.

Then I put them together to make it stronger. I also put a little tape along a couple of the sides to hold the two pieces together better.

I strung my rag balls onto some twine. Before doing so, I also did some stitching on the balls so they wouldn't unravel. I'm paranoid about that! Nothing like putting a rag ball project together, and the balls start unraveling. Eeks!

I wrapped my cardboard form with matching fabric - just like I did for my Funky Fabric Wreath.

I placed my rag ball "garland" onto the fabric covered wreath form and tied them together with twine.

Then I snipped the excess twine strings and put a matching fabric strip in the middle to hang it up. (That fabric strip is actually the front part of a button up dress. I used one of the button holes to hang on to a nail on the wall).

It's a little lopsided, though. It adds to the homespun quaintness of it, but I think next time, I'm going to use a stronger wreath form so it won't sag under the weight of the rag balls. In fact, I might even use a straw or other kind of wreath form and put a whole bunch of different size rag balls on it. I have a ton of them all wrapped up, itching to be used in something!

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