How to Make a Wreath with Dried Flowers

dried flower hydrangea DIY fall autumn wreath

Making a gorgeous dried flower wreath is so much easier than you may think!! It sure was easier than I thought it was going to be – and this was my first time!

Step 1 – Collect Flowers to Dry for Your Dried Flower Wreath

This season was one of lots of gardening for me. It has become one of my favorite hobbies!! BUT you don’t need to have your own garden to make a dried flower wreath. Drying grocery store flowers will work just fine!

I used hydrangeas as my base. They work great because they are large and add a lot of bulk for the amount of flowers you use. I dried about forty (40) hydrangea blooms of all different sizes for my wreath.

For my accent and “fill in” flowers, I used spray roses, garden roses, zinnias, sedum, snapdragons, gerbera daisies and bunny tails.

Step 2 – Properly Dry Your Cut Flowers

This is easier than you may imagine.

To dry the fresh hydrangeas, simply place them in a vase with one or two inches of water. The hydrangeas will keep their shape and dry perfectly like this. Their colors may deepen as they dry.

To dry the other flowers, I hung them upside down on a drying rack with clips. I used one like this: https://amzn.to/36MIgCi. You can hang hydrangea blooms as well but it’s not necessary.

Enjoy the flowers as you would normally first, in a vase, etc. until they look like they are just about to turn/decline. That is a great time to hang them upside down as they will have the least amount of moisture then.

Leave them to completely dry 🙂

Step 3 – Gather Supplies to Make Your Dried Flower Wreath

In addition to your dried flowers, below is what you will need:

Grapevine Wreath Form: https://amzn.to/33Hp0V1

Snips: https://amzn.to/36NbVvg

Paddle Wire: https://amzn.to/3nxwJwr

Wreath Hanger: https://amzn.to/30NnHBV

Step 4 – Prepare Your Work Space

organize dried flowers to make gorgeous fall autumn wreath

I find it easiest and most efficient to start a project as organized as possible.

When making this dried flower wreath, I laid out all of my items on the floor, with plenty of room to spread out.

I separated my flowers by type… All of the hydrangeas together, spray roses together, then zinnias, etc.

The hydrangeas were different colors so I separated them by color as well to be able to easily see my options.

Step 5 – Make Your Dried Flower Wreath

This is the fun part…

First, simply wrap your paddle wire three or four times around your wreath form. This will hold the wire in place as you begin to assemble the flowers.

I used all of my hydrangeas first. Take one large, or two small, hydrangea blooms and hold them by their stems with your non-dominant hand against the front of the wreath form in a way that looks pleasing to you.

Then, using your paddle wire and your dominant hand (I am right handed so I used my right hand for this), simply wrap the paddle wire around the stems and the wreath form tightly two or three times until they are secure.

Continue to do this step again and again until you have all hydrangeas on the wreath form.

I used my wreath hanger to hang my wreath in my work space periodically to ensure I liked the shape it was taking.

Here’s a tip…

The flowers are of course dried and may want to crumble if handled too much… I found that it truly is a dance between your fingers, the flowers and your paddle wire.

Be gentle but firm with your wire.

Ensure the wire encircles the entire bloom before tightening it around the stems and your flowers will enjoy the dance 🙂

Don’t be afraid to really wriggle that wire in between each bloom as you assemble your wreath! 🙂

Use your snips to trim any long stems once your hydrangeas are secured to the wreath.

I found that a four to six inch stem was great to work with and usually cut off about two or so inches once it was wired on. You just don’t want to see any stems sticking out of your wreath 🙂

Step 6 – Add Your Accent Flowers

On my wreath, these were spray roses, sedum blooms, snapdragons, zinnias, garden roses, gerbera daisies and bunny tails. You can use any dried flowers that you love!

When placing accent flowers, I like to place light against dark (or dark against light) to create contrast. This contrast really helps your accent flowers POP 🙂

I did not use paddle wire when placing my accent flowers. I simply tucked them into the hydrangeas and they stayed perfectly! You can of course use a hot glue gun if you’d like!