Hello! I’m delighted to be here today, sharing how to make this gorgeous ribbon and dried flower festive wreath with you all. For those of you who don’t know me - I’m Lotts and run a tiny flower farm in the heart of my town Leigh-on-Sea, you can find me at Lottsandlots.com. I sell fresh flowers to my local community from April - November and run creative floral workshops with all my homegrown harvest during the cold months.

It’s so important to surround ourselves with nature and love how dried flower wreaths can be enjoyed 365 days a year.

For this tutorial I have created a simple wreath with pickings from around the garden and of course fabulous Talking Tables ribbons. I have used everlasting strawflowers which are a joy to grow, If you don’t have any of your own - i’d encourage you to search a local flower farmer who I am sure will be delighted to sell you a bunch for this project.

Alongside the strawflowers, I’ve used a mix of eucalyptus and seed heads and pods, really concentrating on pulling together colours that will enhance the shades of ribbon. Now is a perfect time for a walk in the woods, if you don’t have these exact flowers handy go for a stroll and see what delights nature has available, I always look out for golden bracken at this time of year. If you are foraging, check local rules before you start as some species are protected and never take more than you need.

Let’s get onto the tutorial!

Step 1.

Take three lengths of twigs about 1 metre long, you want these to be as bendy as possible. My favourite is Willow as it’s so pliable, when I don’t have any available I use any bendy sticks I can find growing around the edge of my flower beds.

Take the first stick and wrap over itself to make a circle shape (the centre of this wreath was dinner plate size), fasten with some craft wire or string. This is quite a loose style of wreath so keep the ends sticking out as this will create the movement for the wreath.

Step 2.

Take the second stick and repeat the above step. Fasten this hoop onto the first hoop about a third of the way around your newly created wreath base. Repeat again with the third stick.

You should now have three sticks fastened at three points around a circular shape, with some ends pointing outwards. If it’s looking to “sticky” tuck some of the ends in or trim them off. You are now ready to add the foliage and flowers.

Step 3.

Create three bunches of flowers and foliage, these should be quite loose and wild looking. I used tiny branches cut from a eucalyptus that was scorched this summer as a frame work for the shape. The aim is to have stems and petals feeling like they are growing really organically from the wreath. You may need to play about with this to get the shape you’re after.

Step 4.

Once happy, trim the ends of the bunches so they look neat and fix onto the wreath at the points where you secured the wreath together.

Step 5.

Now take the pink, peach and orange ribbon and cut into three lengths. Mix the colours so you have, pink and orange, pink and peach, peach and orange together. Take each bundle and wrap over the wire securing the flowers and the wreath. Tie into a bow and trim any excess length, making sure the wire is completely hidden.

You can keep it simple with just the bows or add baubles or bells when you tie the bow for an extra detail!

All you need to do now is decide where to hang it!

To style this wreath, I used it as backdrop to a simple Christmas table but it would work just as well above a fireplace. Using exactly the same method as above, I created a  mini tabletop version  of the wreath with fresh bay leaves and dried flowers. I popped a pickle jar inside the wreath and filled with the prettiest pearl string lights. When mixed with some of my favourite Talking Tables candle sticks, tea light holders and vases it created a gently glowing tablescape that would last well into the new year. As a final touch I used the green ribbon in the pack to tie together vintage cutlery creating a really sweet place setting. Not only did it bring out the green in the pheasant napkins but gave the overall setting an extra flourish.