Christmas Advent Book & Craft - Day 21

Advent Day 21: The Shortest Day and miniature felted wool wreaths

Book: The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer
Activity: Miniature Felted Wool Wreaths

Happy Solstice everyone! It's so nice to think that this is the shortest
day and from here on into summer our daylight hours will get longer.
Yea for the sun! Yea for light conquering darkness! Go here for some
ideas on how to celebrate the Solstice. The Shortest Day explains all
about the winter solstice, its history and astronomical information, in a
pleasing kid friendly tone. It also has some solstice activities that kids
can do in the last few pages.



Today's activity is a miniature wool wreath using felted wool sweaters.
If you don't have any felted wool sweaters on hand then try regular felt
but you will need more squares to fill the wreath up. I used 53 squares
but how many you use will depend heavily on the thickness of the
sweaters and how tightly you pack them onto the wreath. I made a
little flower for mine using three circles of felt in different sizes and
finished with a button in the center. I think they look great with or
without a flower but I'll leave that up to you. The finished wreath
is about 4 1/2" in diameter.

Miniature Felted Wool Wreaths Tutorial


Supplies:

• felted wool sweaters cut into 1" squares
• sharp scissors
• floral wire gauge 18", plain or cloth-covered
• wire snips
• nneedle nose pliers
• ruler to cut 1" squares
• optional rotary cutter makes cutting the wool easier
• a round object about 2 1/2" in diameter to form the wire around


Step 1: Take your wire and starting in the center, wrap it around
your round object; create a hook like the one pictured above.


Step 2: Snip off the long ends of the wire.


Step 3: Make a hook with the other end of the wire; first hook
should be vertical to be used for hanging later, the second hook
should be perpendicular to the first one.


Step 4: Open up the hook you just made and begin stringing
on wool squares; pierce the center of the square with sharp
scissors to make a hole for the wire to go through.


Step 5: String wool squares onto the wire until it is
full then hook closed.

Optional Step 6: Get creative and make a decoration for
your wreath if you would like

via Bella Dia