Rainbow Heart Wreath – Beginner Crochet & Craft Tutorial

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Here’s a craft that’s perfect for kids and parents to do together! Make one of these adorable rainbow wreaths to display on your front door and/or in your windows – no crochet experience necessary! It’s the perfect photo tutorial for beginner crocheters as we will be learning the Chain Stitch. Don’t have a crochet hook? No problem! You can make chains with your fingers (kind of like finger knitting) instead! This is especially fun and easy for the kiddos!

(Pin it for later!)

Crochet has always been a form of escapism for me, but honestly, it’s been hard to escape the events of the world around us lately. Due to the global pandemic at hand, families are stuck at home and routines are out the window as we all try to deal with the “new normal”. (Please see the CDC’s Website for more information on the virus.) But many have started displaying rainbow decor on and around their homes as a symbol of hope for passers by. It’s a trend that I absolutely love, since I’m a big fan of rainbows to begin with!

Families are being overwhelmingly affected by the changes taking place all over, as kids are now home from school and normal routines are a thing of the past. We’ve never dealt with something quite like this ever before in our lives, and it’s hard to try and figure out how we’re supposed to be handling it. I personally have always used arts and crafts as a way of dealing with anxiety and stress. So I decided to try and help in some small way by providing a fun and productive crochet / craft tutorial that parents and kids can do together!

But what if you’re out of craft supplies? No problem! This tutorial calls for a wire coat hanger as the base of the wreath. If you happen to have a wreath form already, or craft wire, then great! But a simple household item is all you need to get started!

Similarly, you can use just about any material you’d like to wrap around your heart wreath. If you have yarn, it’s a huge plus! But cut up scrap fabric or t-shirts, ribbon, etc. will do just fine, regardless of whether or not you’ll be using a hook or your fingers to make the project. (Oh yeah, a crochet hook isn’t mandatory either!)

If you really need to stock up on a few supplies ahead of time for this project, though, here are a few recommendations that you can purchase on Amazon and have delivered to your door!

Let’s make this fun craft and discover the rainbow that’s coming after this storm. Time to get started with the tutorial!

Supplies
10 mm crochet hook (optional)
5 mm crochet hook (optional)
1 skein each of light (3) or medium (4) weight yarn in Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple. (Or, use ribbon, fabric, scrap t-shirts or cloth, etc.)
1 Wire Coat Hanger (craft wire also works)
Small amount of string or wire, or a twist tie, for hanging
Duct Tape
Scissors

Size
About 25-27 inches long, including streamers

Instructions
Shaping Coat Hanger
Remove bottom from wire coat hanger by pulling at wire edges (note: this part should be done by adults only for safety reasons!) Bend the wire into a heart shape. Depending on the flexibility of the hanger, you might be able to twist it at the middle to secure the “dip” in the center of the heart. If not, use duct tape to secure. Also, don’t worry if the hanger snaps while bending – duct tape can fix that too!

Making Rainbow Fabric
Make a slip knot with all 6 colors of your yarn (or other material) held together.

Using 10 mm hook or fingers, make 155 chains, or about 72 inches of chains. (This is a fun, repetitive step that’s great for kiddos!) Fasten off yarn, leaving a few inches of yarn to use for tying a knot onto the heart in the next step.

There are two ways to do this part!

With Fingers: Reach through loop made by slip knot to pull up a piece of yarn, which makes another loop (chain).

With Crochet Hook: Place loop made from slip knot on hook, bring yarn behind/around and over the hook next to that loop, and pull your slip knot loop over the yarn, and off the hook, to make a chain. (You can also watch my video on How to Crochet to learn the chain stitch!)

Wrapping Rainbow Fabric around Heart
Use one of the yarn ends (from either the beginner or end of your chaining) to tie a knot around the bottom tip of the heart. From there, pick up entire chain piece in your hand and start loosely wrapping it around the heart. (Wrapping loosely helps to hide any bumps from the wire coat hanger and makes the wreath look thicker.)

At the “dip” of the heart, wrap vertically a few times to hide any duct tape that was used to secure. I also wrapped around those wraps once to hold them in place a bit. Continue wrapping around the other half of the heart.

When you reach the bottom, where you started wrapping, tie the two yarn ends together a few times and trim the knot.

Making the Streamers
Using one yarn color at a time, make 70 chains (about 24 inches) with each color; fasten off. Leave a long yarn tail at one end (either beginning where you make the slip knot, or after you fasten off) for tying to wreath. Make 3 red streamers, and 2 of each of every other color.

Attaching the Streamers
Using long yarn end to tie streamer onto wreath. Trim any yarn tail that is at the bottom of the streamer. Repeat for all streamers, arranging them in the order: R/O/Y/G/B/P/R/O/Y/G/B/P/R.

Attach a small piece of wire, string, or a twist tie to the back of the wreath, near the center, for hanging.

Here is the finished wreath!

I hope you enjoyed this beginner crochet / craft tutorial and get lots of great use out of your new wreath! If you’re looking for fun crochet patterns, please be sure to check out my other Tutorials and find some fun free patterns! And if you subscribe to my email list and follow me on social media, you’ll be up to date on my latest patterns!

Happy Crocheting!

COPYRIGHT:  This pattern is owned by Crafty Kitty Crochet (Melissa Moore). Any reselling or distribution of this pattern is prohibited. Sale of items made using this pattern is welcomed, but I do ask that credit/a link be provided back to my site, craftykittycrochet.com.