DIY Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween Hoop Wreath

Create a glow-in-the-dark Halloween hoop wreath using HTV and an embroidery hoop! This wreath is a fun way to decorate your home for the holiday. 

It’s officially October and time to decorate for Halloween! This year I wanted to make a new wreath for our door and decided to make a Halloween hoop wreath. The best part? It glows in the dark! I love making wreaths and home decor with embroidery hoops. They are easy to work with and I always have fabric around. They are perfect to use with heat transfer vinyl and Iron-on.

I’ve made a few hoops with Iron-On before like my Christmas Tree Hoop and my Friends Valentine’s Day Hoop. This is my first time using glow-in-the-dark HTV and it was so fun to use –  it really glows! 

The HTV glows really well in the dark after it has been charged. It looks amazing hanging on the inside of our door, something I love to do with wreaths so we can enjoy them. It charges all day inside from the lights and then when we turn off the lights it glows brightly. I tried my hoop wreath outside as well, but it didn’t glow as brightly. I hung the hoop on our door facing west so it could charge all day from the sun – it did, but by the time it was dark out it, the HTV had lost a most of it’s charge.

If you want to display it outside, for trick-or-treaters or to welcome guests to a gathering, I found keeping it inside in a bright room and then hanging it outside after it is dark out works the best! This way the HTV doesn’t loose its charge during those dusk hours.

Whether you enjoy its glow inside or outside, the hoop also looks great in the daylight! I painted my hoop orange and added cute rick-rack around the entire thing. The trick-or-treat and circle files are from Cricut Design Space. Below is the tutorial for making your own glow-in-the-dark Halloween hoop wreath!

Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween Hoop Wreath Tutorial

Supplies Needed:

• Glow-in-the-Dark Heat Transfer Vinyl
• Cricut Design Space Cut File
• Cutting machine
• Cutting Mat and Cutting machine tools
• 12″ wooden embroidery hoop – I bought mine at Joanns
• Black fabric
• Large orange rick-rack – optional
• Orange twine or ribbon for hanging
• Black felt 
• Sewing Needle and black thread
• Hot Glue or Fabric Glue

The Step by Step Tutorial

Step One: Start by painting the outside hoop orange with acrylic paint.

Step Two: Create your design! I created my design in Cricut Design Space using two image files, “Trick or Treat Cobweb” and “Circle Frame with Circle Accents”. Use my Design Space Project. My hoop was 12″ so I created my design to fit a 12″ circle. You can highlight the entire design to resize it. Be sure to hide the circle before cutting, since this isn’t a piece that needs to be cut.

Step Three: Cut out the design from Glow-in-the-Dark HTV.  Once my image was ready, I hid the black circle (since I wasn’t actually cutting that out) and I was ready to cut. Don’t forget to set your machine to Iron-On and mirror your image!

Weed the design using a weeding tool. Make sure you get all the little cobwebs weeded. I compared my weeded image to my image in Design Space to make sure I didn’t miss any spots!

Step Four: Iron the design onto black fabric.

I’d recommend using a black cotton. I ended up using a black silk dupioni fabric, which is what I had on hand. Dupioni is a beautiful fabric, it has a sheen on one side and slubs that give it a little texture. The texture did show through my HTV – you can see it if you look closely at the white lettering. I don’t mind it and the black fabric looks really pretty because of the sheen, but if you use a smooth black cotton your lettering will be smooth too! Step Five: Stretch your fabric in the hoop.  Carefully stretch your fabric in the hoop until it is taught and centered the way you want it.

Trim the extra fabric to about 1.5″ inches. 

Use black thread and stitch around the ends of the fabrics, about 1/4″ from the edge, using a small running stitch. As you do this the fabric will gather toward the back of the hoop.

Step Six: Add the hanging loop and finish the back of the hoop with felt.  Add a hanging loop to the top of the hoop using yarn, string, or orange twine as I did.

Next, finish the back of the hoop with a piece of felt. Trace the hoop onto a piece of black felt and cut the felt circle out. 

If you want to add rick-rack like I did, do this now before covering the back of the hoop. I used hot glue to secure large orange rick-rack along the back edge of my hoop. *Tip – you will want to trace the hoop onto your piece of black felt before adding the rick-rack.

Glue the piece of black felt to the back of your hoop using hot glue, tacky glue or  fabric glue. 

The hoop is finished and ready to be hung and enjoyed!

I really had fun making this and trying out glow-in-the-dark heat transfer vinyl. It really does look cool when it is glowing! Be sure to read my tips on how to get the best glow from it at the beginning of this post.

I’m sharing this craft as part of the Creative Crafts October edition of Halloween crafts hosted by Laura of Me and My Inklings, Beth of Creatively Beth and Lindsey of Artsy Fartsy Mama. You can check out all of the fun Halloween-themed projects by clicking the links below! 

• Paint Chip Jack-O-Lanterns by Laura of Me and My Inklings
• Meow-lloween Shirt by Lindsay of Artsy Fartsy Mama
• Pumpkin Halloween Sign by Laura of Laura’s Crafty Life
• Halloween Bookmarks by Smitha of Smiling Colors
• Glow in the Dark Hoop Wreath by Kimberly of Crafting Cheerfully
• Halloween Printable Bingo Cards by Shani of Sunshine & Munchkins
• Halloween Reverse Canvases by Erica of 5 Little Monsters
• DIY Recycled Pumpkin Crayons by Justine of Little Dove

• Wine Cork Spider and Lace Hoop Web by Beth of Creatively Beth
• Clay Witch’s Cauldron Earrings by Lindsay of Artsy Fartsy Mama
• Trick or Treat Bag with Free Cut File by Liz of Liz on Call
• Mermaid Halloween Costume by Natalie of Doodle Craft
• Trick or Treat Sign by Kelsey of Poofy Cheeks
• Cute DIY Jack-O-Lantern by Ginger of Ginger Snap Crafts
• Ghost Earrings with Free SVG File by Teresa of Simply Made Fun
• Jack Skellington Cupcake Toppers by Elise of Polka Dotted Blue Jay