How to Make a Rag Rug Wreath

* Wire Wreath Frame 30.5cm

* Hessian Squares

* Sewing Machine

* Fabric Scissors

* 10 Different Fabrics (approx. 25 x 50cm)

* A Pen

* Rag Rug Tool

10 different fabrics - each approx 25 x 50cm or one quarter of a medium sized ladies t-shirt. I used offcuts from:

- Hot Pink Rainbow Etch Cotton

- Debbie Shore Blue Lily Pad Cotton Fat Quarters

- Driftwood Under The Sea Cotton Fat Quarters

- ¼ Mustard t-shirt

- ¼ lilac pink lace top

- ¼ white chiffon top

- ¼ light pink blouse

1) Draw around your wreath base onto a piece of hessian, leaving at least 10cm of excess hessian between the frame and the edge of the hessian.

2) Sew a zig zag stitch circle approximately 4cm outside of the outer drawn line and another zig zag circle approximately 4cm inside of the inner drawn line. This will help to stop the hessian from falling apart during assembly.

3) Draw eleven small circles roughly equidistant apart inside the drawn ring. These will be where your rag rug flowers will be positioned.

1) I started with mustard jersey fabric in the centre of each of the 11 small circles. Cut out 33 pieces of fabric that are approximately 6 x 2cm (they don't have to be precise). Feather the end of each piece of fabric by cutting 4 small cuts into each end.

Shaggy rag rug three pieces of mustard fabric into the centre of each of the marked out circles. To do this:

1) Keeping the spring tool closed, weave the pointed end down into a hole in the hessian and up through a hole two strands away. You should now have two strands on the lever of the tool.

2) Open the spring tool, place the short edge of the fabric piece between the lever and the barrel and release the spring lever to clench the rag.

3) Pull the spring tool back through the hessian (it helps to wiggle it a bit), so that half of the strip is on one side of the strands of hessian and half is on the other. That is your first piece of rag rugging!

4) Leaving approximately two or three strands between each rag and the next, repeat steps 5-7 to continue. You should put three mustard strips into the centre of each of the 11 circles. They don't have to be very accurate.

1) Choose two fabrics to mix together in your first flower. Cut these fabrics into pieces that are approximately 4 x 8cm. You'll need about 20 pieces of each fabric per flower.

2) Overlap your fabric strips together and shape the fabric pieces to create a rough bow shape. This gives a pretty petal appearance when rag rugged. They don't have to be uniform.

3) Rag rug your first flower by pulling your petal pieces of fabric through the hessian as described in steps 5-7. We worked two circles of rag rugging around each of our mustard centres, leaving approximately two rows of empty hessian between each circle of rag rugging and the next. This took us up to the edge of the drawn line. We mixed the two fabrics together randomly to create a more interesting flower.

4) Repeat steps 9-11 for all eleven flowers, making sure to spread out similar colours across the wreath.

1) Choose two fabrics to mix together for the background of your wreath. I used a blend of the light blue and green fabrics from the Debbie Shore Blue Lily Pad set. Cut these fabrics into pieces that are approximately 5 x 2cm then stack the pieces together and cut the short ends of the fabric into points.

2) Fill between your flowers by pulling your fabric pieces through the hessian as described in steps 5-7. Leave at least 4 rows of empty hessian around each of your flowers, so they have space to lie open.