Upcycle Dollar Tree Scarves Into Cute Floral Decor To Dress Up A Boring Wall

One of the easiest ways to add character to a home is dressing up a lackluster wall. You can upgrade a boring wall with trendy paint patterns or wood accents that give it a natural look, but sometimes all you need are a few supplies from Dollar Tree. Since this craft relies on a wreath form, the finished product can be hung on other surfaces as well, including your front door. You'll also need lightweight fabric, which will look like petals after you attach it to your wreath form. The rest of the project can be adapted to reflect your interior design aesthetic or use supplies you already have on hand.

To get started, gather scarves whose colors complement the room you're decorating. Dollar Tree's Juncture summer fashion scarves and polyester infinity scarves come in many versatile shades and patterns. Plus, they're nice and thin, which makes them easy to manipulate. Next, choose a wire wreath form — or several of them. A 2-pack of 8-inch floral garden metal wreath forms is perfect for making smaller wall flowers, but don't rule out larger circular wreath forms that can help you make a bold statement. Many Dollar Tree stores carry 14.25-inch and 18-inch forms. Also grab fabric scissors for cutting the scarves and string or ribbon for hanging your creation.

There are many ways to make fabric look like flower petals on a wreath form. One of the simplest involves cutting your scarves into ribbon-like strips and tying them onto the form with slipknots. Strips that are 24 inches long and 2.5 inches wide work well. You'll need between 60 to 65 of them to fill out a 14.25-inch wire wreath form. This form size contains four concentric circles of wire. 

To form petals, fold each scarf ribbon in half width-wise and lay it across the form's four wires. The folded portion looks like a flattened loop. Guide the ends of your ribbon through it to form a knot. Then adjust the ribbon so its ends extend outward from the form. Repeat this process until you've covered the whole form. The YouTube channel JuliesWreathBoutique shows how to tie fabric pieces with this method. It also has tutorials on other petal-making techniques. 

Use your imagination for your flower's midsection, which botanists call a central disc. To create this flower feature, some crafters cut out a circle of decorative mesh such as Ai-De-Chef poly burlap 10-inch mesh and place it in the form's center. A few 8-inch zip ties from the Oupeng 600-piece pack of nylon cable zip ties can affix the circle to the form. Have a round photo frame, drink coaster, or roll of burlap that's same size as the form's center hole? Attach it with hot glue to create the central disc.

If you'd rather not cut your scarves, consider using the bubble method to create your petals. Grab a scarf and attach it to the center of one of the wreath form's crossbars. A plastic zip tie is ideal for this task. Next, gather the width of the scarf in one hand and pull a bit of it through the gap between the two outermost wire rings. The pulled-through section will look like a fabric bubble. Repeat the process, forming a bubble in the gap between the middle rings. After that, make a bubble in the gaps between the innermost rings. Continue doing this until you run out of fabric. Then zip-tie a new scarf onto the frame and go through these steps again.

You can also source your scarves from someplace other than Dollar Tree. Make this project even more affordable — and sustainable — by upcycling scarves from yard sales, clothing swaps, and thrift stores. Also consider using other fabrics. Cloth napkins, bandanas, silk sheets, curtains, and burlap ribbons are all a good match for this project. Instead of throwing them away when they fade or develop holes, extend their life by using them as supplies for this craft. Then, after making your wall flower, turn leftover fabric scraps into twine so you never have to buy it again.