Floral Festoon

You will need

Embroidery hoop, 15cm
Crepe paper, various colours
Card
Satin ribbon
Yarn
Chunky wooden beads
Thread
Needle
PVA glue
Sewing machine (optional)

Floral hoop decoration

1. Cut four 70cm lengths of coloured yarn and fold in half. Fix to the centre ring of a wooden embroidery hoop at the quarter points with a lark’s head knot. Take all eight loose ends and thread through the hole of a large wooden bead.

2. Push the bead to the centre of the hoop as you hold the ends of yarn with the other hand and pull them taut to ensure they are all the same length. Tie a tight basic knot in the ends of the yarn and tie a loop of thin ribbon through this. Trim the ends short, apply a liberal amount of PVA glue and push the bead back up the yarn to cover the glued knot.

3. Trim several 4cm x 40cm strips of crepe paper across the grain. Fold each strip in half lengthways. Use a needle and thread to stitch a neat running stitch along the opposite side to the fold, 3mm from the edge and through both layers of crepe. Gather up the edge and fasten off. Alternatively, use a long straight stitch on a sewing machine and pull the top thread from each end to gather the crepe.

4. Stretch out the folded edge of the gathered strip to allow the crepe to curl into a spiral. Use thick PVA glue to fix a wooden bead to the bottom of each spiral to help weigh the paper down as it hangs. Fix the other end of the spirals to the embroidery hoop, spacing them out equally around the circumference.

5. Cut several lengths of coloured satin ribbon. Trim one end at an angle and seal the end with a flame to prevent the ribbon fraying. Thread a wooden bead onto the ribbon and glue in place about 2-3cm up from the end. Glue the other end of each ribbon to the hoop, in between the crepe spirals.

6. Trim a 4cm piece of green crepe paper along the grain and fold in half. Cut leaf shapes from the folded edge and open out. Make at least 20 leaves from two colours of green crepe paper and glue to the ring in sets, radiating out from each hanging cord and covering the glued ends of both ribbon and crepe paper.

7. Snip petal shapes from folded coloured crepe paper in the same way as the leaves. Rub your thumbnail into the centre of each to allow the crepe to stretch and curl each petal. Cut a small disc of card and begin glueing petals to this in sets of three, staggering the position of each set so the petals overlap. Trim a small strip of crepe paper across the grain. Stretch one edge and roll into a coil. Secure the coil to the centre of each flower before fixing them to the embroidery hoop.