Deco Mesh Wreath

I don't know about y'all, but I love having cute wreaths and door hangings for every holiday and season!  If you read the tutorial on Fabric Foam Board Wall Art, you know I like to craft myself and spend as little $$ as possible to have cute things!  Door hangings are no different!

For this project, I decided to make an Alabama deco mesh wreath for football season!  This is a quick, easy, and cheap project to show your team colors!  You can also use this same tutorial for any other holiday.  

If you haven't heard of deco mesh before, it is seriously amazing!  It is similar to wired ribbon in that you can mold it to whatever you want.  You can buy it in wide or thinner rolls in a bazillion colors.  I find it at Joann, Hobby Lobby, and and even Sams!  You can also order it online.  Just Google deco mesh.  I used Mesh Ribbon by Nicole. 

First, you'll need to get some supplies.  You need a wire work form wreath (I got an 18" one from Joann... dont forget to use your coupons!), floral wire or pipe cleaners, deco mesh, scissors, and anything you may want to put in the wreath (letters, feathers, beads, signs, etc). 

If you're using floral wire, you'll need to cut your pieces.  I made mine about 5 inches long.  If you're using pipe cleaners (the same color as your mesh), you get to skip the cutting step!  Next, you'll need to twist the wire or pipe cleaners around the wreath.  I twisted mine around the 2 middle wires.  Place them every 1 1/2" or 2".  You'll be able to move them around or add/subtract as you go. 

Its a little hard to see, but this is how you should wrap the wire

 Here are some good things to know... Make sure you don't cut pieces off the roll.  Leave it on and just pull as you go.  Make sure your base is the large roll of mesh.  Also, you may want to buy 2 rolls of the base color.  I just used one, and it was fine.  But with 2 rolls, you can make it fuller! Now you'll start adding the mesh! To add, pinch the beginning of your roll together, and secure it to your wreath.  Just twist your wire around it a few times.  Now you, want to keep going!  Pull ab 5" or 6" inches from the roll, pinch together, and secure/twist with the wire.  

Twist your wire around the mesh just a few times to secure

Feel free to add or subtract the wire to make sure your wreath is as full as you want!  After a few pinches, it will start to look like this:

Keep going all the way around until your ends meet.  When you get to the end, cut the mesh from the roll.  Secure the end just as you did the beginning.  Pinch it all together and twist it to the wire. Your's will look like this!

If you want to make it fuller than this, you'll repeat all of the steps above.  This is why you may want a second roll of mesh.  If you just want to add another color, here's what to do.  Choose your accent color.  Because it is moldable, I didn't twist this color with wire... I just worked it around the red mesh. It is super easy to just twist and tuck it in to the spaces. 

You can stop right here if you want!  You've got a great wreath for minimum cost.  I wanted to take mine a step further to truly show my home's allegiance to the Crimson Tide!  I found a fabulous metal sign at Objects, my favorite store back in Baldwin County, AL.  I had too add it! I used floral wire to attach the sign to the wreath.  Its fairly light and worked quite well!
Here is my finished project!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Please feel free to comment with any questions you have! I'll answer them asap!  

Happy college football season!