How to Make a Patriotic Wreath

Sometimes we’re called upon to use gifts we’d forgotten about. This happened to me about three weeks ago when I got an email asking me to make a wreath to be used for Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. The church administrator, who i’d met recently, thought I might be a good person to make an artificial wreath. It was a bit of a necessity, as the parishioner who had donated the patriotic flowers for years would no longer be able to do so.

Kathy, a volunteer on worship needs, sent me an inspiration photo and we met in the sacristy, which is sort of a workroom off the sanctuary in traditional churches. She had an old Christmas wreath that could be used as a base, plenty of stands and a huge basket full of red and white silk flowers and greenery, but just a few royal blue carnations. I would be out of town all the next week, but could shop for some more blue flowers while I traveled.

Nearing the end of the JoAnn’s clearance sale (oh, how I will miss them!), these were the only blue flowers I found, but I liked the obviously patriotic theme of navy blue, bright red and white. The combination of textures: silky flowers, fluffy fronds and beady seeds added a lot of interest, and at 60% off, I bought three branches!

Once I returned to Statesboro, I headed off to Dollar General for more blue flowers. I found some light blue pansies, 3 branches for $1 each! I was so excited I forgot to take a photo of them, but they were fresh looking and very pretty.

So, a quick drive to the church and I set up in the sacristy, on a work table covered with newspaper and my trusty glue gun, plus a lengthy extension cord. First I sorted through the basket , separating by color into red and blue, white and green. I started with two vine-like swags that looked like eucalyptus, silvery leaves and a few buds, hoping to distract from the Christmassy look of the wreath. I used an “S” pattern on the top and sides of the wreath, rather than wrapping around it, which made a better use of the two swags. When looking closely, one can still tell it’s a Christmas wreath, but not for long! Here’s a photo of the wreath after about an hour of actual work, including cutting of flower stems. The red carnations I had, only three, were placed, not glued at this point.

Incidentally, you might wonder why I was using mostly available materials, such as flowers and greenery the Church already had, as well as using an old Christmas wreath for the base. First of all, our church is very focused on helping others, so while I was told to go buy what I needed, using what we already had, as much as possible, just felt better to me. Secondly, I enjoy repurposing things, so this thrifty usage came rather naturally, as natural as silk flowers can be, anyway.

The two above photos show how I cut up the flower branches. I didn’t have wire cutters handy, so I scored the plastic stems with old scissors, then wiggled the wires back and forth until they broke. Most branches have at least one larger section, with two or three smaller ones. I separated one type of flower at a time, placing the larger ones first for balance, then adding the smaller ones, saving all the extra leafy bits to fill in spaces at the end. The blue carnations balanced the three red carnations nicely, with the small white flowers as edging. I had many types of white, so I didn’t mind using these up. Here’s the view after the next short morning in the sacristy. It’s a bit dark.

With the wreath starting to take shape, now the fun really began! I enjoyed placing and gluing the tri-colored flowers with berries and plumes, making sure each sprig I glued had a balance of each color, one plume and one berry stem. Then the pansies, their light blue tones giving it a nice delicacy. I didn’t realize until studying the photo later that the wreath had two white horns! Oops!

Ahh, horns bent to look like the plumey fronds they are, so much better! Next, I added red sweetheart roses from the one branch I had, spread out, they add a little spark. The baby’s breath really brightened things up, a little greenery scraps covering piney spots and it’s done!

Blessings to you, and peace, as we remember those who have sacrificed everything for our country. I hope to enjoy a hotdog and some fun outside time, but as always, we remember.