Handmade New Year’s wreaths: A collection of festive ideas using shimenawa and mizuhiki
How about brightening up your front entrance or rooms for New Year’s with a handmade wreath? From arrangements inspired by shimenawa ropes, to pieces with a gentle feel using fabric scraps or tissue paper, to stylish designs finished with mizuhiki cords or craft tape, there are countless ways to make a New Year’s wreath.
In this article, we introduce easy, handmade New Year’s wreath ideas you can try with materials you already have.
You can incorporate auspicious red-and-white or gold accents, add lavish decorations to celebrate the new year in style, and create all kinds of variations with a bit of ingenuity.
Let’s get ready to welcome the new year while enjoying heartfelt, handmade creations!
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Handmade New Year’s Wreaths! A Collection of Festive Ideas Using Shimenawa and Mizuhiki (1–10)
New Year’s wreath made from fabric scraps
This is a wreath made by finely cutting fabric scraps that evoke a Japanese aesthetic, attaching them, and finishing it in colors inspired by the New Year.
If the base vines are visible, it can end up looking more like Christmas, so be sure to fill in the gaps thoroughly with the scraps.
The patterns you choose are also key to creating a New Year feel—combining red-and-white scraps with traditional Japanese motifs is recommended.
Adding gold accents will further enhance the festive New Year atmosphere, so that’s also recommended.
Felt wreath
This is an original New Year’s shimenawa wreath made from felt, which doesn’t require edge finishing and can be used as-is.
Felt is easy to handle, comes in a wide range of colors, and has a warm feel, resulting in a cozy, heartwarming finish.
Adhere fabric to an embroidery hoop, then use a glue gun to arrange New Year–themed flowers and parts—such as pine and camellia made from felt—in a well-balanced way.
Store-bought shimenawa are nice, but how about welcoming the New Year with a handmade shimenawa wreath that brings a sense of warmth?
Mizuhiki wreath
A mizuhiki wreath goes very well with modern-style homes.
Mizuhiki refers to the decorative cords often found on the front of gift-money envelopes, so it gives off an auspicious feel and lets you enjoy a touch of Japanese tradition.
At the same time, because it’s red, it also creates a Western-style vibe you won’t get from other shimenawa.
When you give it a try, look for a large mizuhiki on online shops.
If you want to add ornaments, choosing white or black ones will bring everything together nicely.
Try working while keeping the color scheme in mind.
Handmade New Year’s Wreaths! A Collection of Gorgeous Ideas Using Shimenawa and Mizuhiki (11–20)
Paper string shimenawa wreath
This is a shimenawa-style wreath made by braiding bundled paper cords like a rope.
Using simple brown paper twine gives it a soft feel while recreating the color of real rope.
Arrange three strands with their ends taped, twist each one, then first braid two strands together and afterward add the remaining strand along them, following the rope-braiding method.
Once you’ve braided the whole length and shaped it into a ring, decorate it with New Year–themed floral motifs, mizuhiki cords, and the like to finish.
Because the rope itself is a simple color, be sure to make the decorations vividly stand out.
New Year wreath made of craft tape
This is a beautiful wreath woven by twisting craft tape, featuring striking color shifts and a three-dimensional look.
Choose auspicious combinations like red and white, or attach lucky charms such as fans or mizuhiki cords to evoke the feel of a New Year’s shimenawa.
The most important step is repeatedly creating the rope with the Ishidatami (checkerboard) weave—focus on learning the sequence and weaving tightly.
Because the base is three-dimensional, it’s recommended to use decorations like chirimen fabric crafts to further emphasize the dimensional effect.
wire shimenawa decoration
Why not try making a Scandinavian-style wire shimenawa decoration? The base is a shimenawa made of wire.
It’s sometimes sold under the name “iron shimenawa,” so try searching for that.
If you buy decorations that already come with wire attached, you can assemble them without a glue gun.
After that, just add the decorative cord and you’re done.
If you feel traditional Japanese decor doesn’t suit your home, give this a try.
Shimenawa wreath made with 100-yen shop materials
This is about using a simple shimenawa decoration as a base and transforming it into something more festive by adding embellishments.
From the original shimenawa, we’ll use just the rope part with the decorations removed, so carefully detach the ornaments so they can be reused later.
Then attach artificial flowers—starting with nandina (heavenly bamboo)—and other decorative elements that add a sense of splendor to the rope.
If you want to highlight the knot in the rope, place decorations on the other sections; if you prefer to hide the knot, attach decorations over the knot itself.
If you also rearrange the original ornaments with a sense of balance, you can clearly convey the celebratory feeling of the New Year.