DIY Fall Raffia Wreath

Disclaimer:  I am NOT ready for fall.   I am NOT ready to say goodbye to summer.   Clearly I am bucking the trend to jump ahead on the changing the seasons thing as this is what I saw last week at Michael's:

Christmas decorations?   In September?  I think not.

But with Pinterest on all-fall, all the time and the weather turning noticeably more like fall and less like summer, it may be time to start fall decorating.

I saw this  raffia wreath all over Pinterest and loved it - no orange, no leaves, no pumpkins, just a riot of ecru raffia- perfect.   And easy.

Supplies:

Straw wreath form .  I used the 12 inch size.  Be sure to leave the plastic on, since that's what holds the wreath together!

Bag of raffia from Michael's.  This bag was just enough for my wreath.   I added a little dark raffia I had in my stash for a bit of color.

Floral pins - or you could use u-pins.

This is a wing-it project - no measuring, no precise anything.   Grab several strands of raffia  and loop together , sort of like making a bow.   I made my loops about 7 inches long - I didn't measure as I was doing it, but just eyeballed it.    Don't worry about straggling pieces, short pieces in the grab- it'll all work out.  The raffia strands are roughly 2 1/2 feet long and I usually used 5-7 strands, depending on how wide they were.  Again, I didn't count each grab - just eyeball it so each section will be roughly the same size.

Now slightly twist the loop in the middle and pin to the wreath with one of the floral pins.   You will be alternating the direction of each raffia loop.  Start with the first one horizontal on the wreath.

Make another loop, this time pinning that one close to the first and vertically.   (Sorry for the bad lighting!)

Keep adding loops in alternate directions until the wreath is full.   

And it will be very full!   Now the fun part - pull, twist and play with the raffia until it looks right and there aren't any gaps showing.  I cut some of the loops open and left others as is.

I added a twisted wire loop for hanging .  You could use a burlap ribbon , but I didn't want to crush down any of the exuberance!

I love my wreath.  It says fall, but in a cheery, subtle, "let's not go crazy just yet" way.