How to Make a Christmas Wreath

Take the end of the wired ribbon and hot glue it onto the outer ring of the wire wreath frame.

Two and a half inch wired ribbon is the right width. Wired edges matter more than they sound: the ribbon has to hold a shape when the yarn pulls across it, and unwired ribbon collapses into a flat strip that disappears under the wrapping.

Lay the end of the chunky yarn directly over the glued ribbon end and hot glue that down too.

Both tails anchored at the same spot is what lets you wrap them as a pair without either one working loose halfway round.

Start winding the yarn around the frame, passing it through the middle of the wreath and back over the outside, going over the top of the ribbon each time.

Four wraps. Count them. The whole pattern depends on the count staying the same all the way round.

Fold the ribbon back on itself so the frame in front of it is bare, then do four more yarn wraps directly onto the frame with the ribbon out of the way.

This is the move that makes the whole thing work. The ribbon is being buried and exposed in an alternating rhythm, and those four hidden wraps become the white gaps between the stripes.

Push the ribbon forward over the yarn you just wrapped, then do another four wraps over the top of it.

That is the full repeat: four over the ribbon, flip, four under, flip back. Keep going and the candy-cane stripe appears on its own.

Continue the four-and-four rhythm around the whole frame until you are back near the start.

This is the long part and there is no shortcut. Take the wreath onto your lap and put something on in the background.

Near the start point, cut the ribbon, hot glue the end down onto the yarn and trim the excess. Fill any remaining gap with plain yarn and glue that down on the back.

The closing section will be slightly wider than the rest. Leave it. The bow goes exactly there.

Now cut six strips of ribbon for the bow, each 16 to 17 inches. Three of one design and three of a second design gives the bow depth.

Take one strip, bring both ends into the middle to form a loop about nine inches across, and hot glue the two ends down where they overlap.

You end up with a loop and a short tail. Do the same to all six strips.

Pick up each loop by its glued centre and pinch it. Collect all six in your hand, alternating the two ribbon designs as you go.

Squeeze the middle tight while you gather them. The pinch is what makes it fan out into a bow rather than sit as a flat stack.

Wrap a pipe cleaner around the pinched middle of the bow, pull it tight and twist. Leave the ends long, because they are what fixes the bow to the wreath. Set it aside.

Then make the hanger: loop a length of chunky yarn around the wrapped section at the top of the wreath and hot glue it down at the back.

Hold the bow where you want it, over the wider closing section, and push the pipe cleaner ends through the yarn to the back of the wreath.

Twist them together tightly behind and snip off the excess.

Work around the bow opening out each loop with your fingers and pulling them into different planes so it fills out.

Then trim the tails to the length you want, cutting each at an angle. Hang it and adjust anything that sits flat.