How to Make a Simple Patriotic American Flag Wreath

This simple no-glue American Flag  wreath is the perfect summer craft and will brighten up your front door for 4^th of July.  I’ve included an important How To that will keep the clothespins in place without using a single drop of glue! So get your Patriotic Pride on display with this fun summer wreath. Enjoy!

 

 

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.

The fun patriotic music.

The history.

The fireworks.

The food and fun.

And of course, now this may sound cheezy, but I also love all the good ole fashioned American patriotic pride.  I mean seriously-for all the problems in the world today, we are pretty darn lucky to live in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and I always like to think about that as we celebrate our great country’s birthday.  My family is full of immigrants that came here for a better life, and it’s also full of brave servicemen who sacrificed for us, so Independence Day is always very special to my family.

So, when I saw this beautiful patriotic wreath, I knew it would be perfect for my front door.  It’s simple to make and looks great.   Every time I arrive home, it makes me smile and fills me with patriotic pride.  I know my late dad, who served in the Army, would think it was pretty clever—I mean after all, it’s basically just painted clothespins—Brilliant! — and that makes it even more special.

 

How to make an American Flag Wreath

Supplies:

• Around 48 clothespins
• red craft paint
• blue craft paint
• white craft paint
• wooden craft stars
• wire wreath base (I used a 14″ wreath)
• wax paper
• hot glue-for the stars
• Optional: a spray sealant

 

Instructions:

I used a 14” wreath base. It was divided into 4 sections, and 12 clothespins fit into each section.

In order to create 13 stripes like our actual American Flag, I used 4 clothespins per color group. You’ll have 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes.  (If you look closely at my wreath, you’ll see I only have 6 of each. I’m not sure how that happened but I just realized my mistake).  If I go back to fix it, I will take away 4 blues and replace them with 4 reds.

Here’s how you’ll want to break down the colors properly (so you don’t make the same mistake that I did):

Blue: 20 clothespins

Red: 28 clothespins

White: 24 clothespins

Step  1:  Paint your clothespins and stars. Lay them out on your wax paper to dry.

The nice thing about summer is you can do this outside and they’ll dry pretty quickly.

Tip 1: I ended up doing 2 layers of white so it would be brighter.  Red and blue only needed 1 coat of paint.

Tip 2:  Paint a few extra of each color just in case a clothespin breaks or the paint sticks.  (I had a couple that had a little too much paint and sealed shut when they dried).

Step 2:  Attach the clothespins.

As I mentioned, the wire wreaths are divided into four sections. Pick any section to start.  I started with RED since that’s the first stripe on our flag.

Attach your first clothespin over the second wire (from the center of the wreath) and extend to the first wire (from the center).  Then for the next clothespin, start it a row back (on the third row) and extend it over to the second wire.  (See the picture below for more detail.)

IMPORTANT TIP

Now this sounds pretty easy and it is—BUT there’s also a TRICK to it that will ensure all the pins stay nice and tight.  NO GLUING IS NECESSARY!!!!

I REPEAT—if you do this right—you DO NOT NEED GLUE.

So here’s what you do:

You want to make sure that the clip extends over 2 wire rings all the way to the back notch.  If you clip it like you’re hanging clothes, it won’t be snug.  You want to make sure it extends fully so the wire tucks under that back notch.

 

 

Can you see how the wire tucks nicely into the notches on the clothespin?

Once you fit it right, this becomes the EASIEST craft ever!

But if you MISS THIS STEP—all your pins will fly around and it will be one big frustrating mess. Trust me! It took me a couple trial and errors, and then I finally got it.

Step 3: Attach the stars with your hot glue.

This is the ONLY part that requires glue, and it’s just a small amount.  I used hot glue, but you could also use any kind of really strong/weather-resistant glue.

I used 5 stars to represent the 50 states.  You can use as many as you like.

Step 4 (Optional):  Spray with a sealant to protect from weather.

I didn’t do this because my front door is covered by our porch but if you have an exposed from door, then you’ll probably want to protect it with some sealant.

Step 5: Hang

I used some Patriotic ribbon to hang it to my door knocker. But you can could also use a wreath hook.

 

 

 

I’m pretty excited at how well this turned out.  I’m definitely going to try another clothespin wreath in the Fall.  So, what do you think? Ready to try one yourself?  Leave me a comment below.

 

Cheers!

Shana