How to make a seasonal garland

At Christmas I love decorating the house with seasonal foliage – it instantly adds a bit of festive cheer, and it fills the air with the most magical scent. In the past I’ve stuck to placing clusters of it in vases and on mantelpieces, but this year I decided to create a minimalist, eye-catching garland instead.

This garland is quick and easy to make, and it’s the perfect weekend project if you haven’t yet decked your halls. I’ve used my old favourite, eucalyptus, together with some soft ruscus, but you could choose almost any greenery you wanted. Ivy, fir, pine, olive branches… the options are endless!

You’ll need:

• Seasonal foliage
• Sturdy string (I used brown garden twine as the colour blends in nicely)
• Floristry wire
• Scissors or secateurs

Start by snipping the foliage into short sections. Stick to single branches if you want a linear-looking garland; if you’d prefer something a little more rustic, add in a few sprays with branches that will stick out in different directions.

Next, cut the string to the desired length, and start securing individual pieces of foliage to it with a twist of floristry wire. If you want a simple garland with no swooshy bits (techinical term!) then begin at one end and continue along; if you’re aiming for a more stymmetrical look like mine, start in the middle and work outwards.

Continue adding foliage, slightly overlapping each piece to cover up the bare stems.

And voila! A finished garland which you can hang up using a little bit of masking tape, a nail or a pin. It would look great dangling from a fireplace, twisted up a staircase or draped above a doorway; you could even string it along a plain wall, or run it along a dining table as a centrepiece.

If you have a go at making a garland yourself, do let me know how you get on!

All photography by Abi Dare

P.S. If you need any weekend reading, I’ve written a guest post for Habitat with lots of tips and tricks for creating feature shelving. There are plenty of great posts from other contributors, too, including some festive inspiration.