How to make a eucalyptus wreath from a garland
I wanted to dress up my mantel with a simple, classic looking wreath that didn’t have too many “fall” colors or decorative items on it. I settled on a eucalyptus wreath for it’s loose, romantic greenery that is also on trend. I actually wanted faux eucalyptus so it could last more than one season. I also wanted to keep the wreath simple and elegant with two colors max: green and an accent color. I’m generally not big on DIY, but in this case I couldn’t really find exactly what I was looking for, so I decided I would try and make one myself. After searching how to make a eucalyptus wreath a bit online I decided to cheat it a little by starting with a ready-made garland, hoping to make the process quicker and the results less DIY-looking. I found this faux eucalyptus and lavender garland and thought it was almost perfect. There are groves of eucalyptus trees in the hills next to my home, and I have lots of lavender planted in my yard because it’s easy to grow in my climate. So the garland felt fitting. I say almost perfect because the garland looked a little thin in the photos so I ended up purchasing some additional eucalyptus bundles to use for filling out the wreath a bit more.
Here’s my step-by-step on how to make a wreath from a garland from a first time wreath maker.
Materials:
One 6’ faux eucalyptus garland, 3 small bunches faux eucalyptus (only if your garland is not the fullness you desire), Floral tape*, 24” wire wreath frame*, black wire twist ties*, scissors or wire cutters.
Step 1: Secure the garland to the wreath frame
I used black twist ties to tie the garland to the wreath frame. I first tried to do it by myself but realized the garland was pretty stiff so I asked my husband to help hold the garland in place to the round shape of the wreath frame while I twist tied. This was much easier. Originally, I thought I’d use the floral tape but also quickly realized it wasn’t strong enough so I switched to the twist ties which worked much better. I twist tied the garland onto the middle two wires of the frame and placed the twist ties about 6 inches apart all the way around. I added extra ties at the start and end of the garland so that they wouldn’t stick out. Side Note: I wasn’t sure about how the garland would look because I could only see the pictures online. I liked the look of this garland when I received it. It doesn’t look too fake. However, it is not very well made. The lavender pieces kept falling off, some right out of the box and more when I was working with it. I wasn’t too concerned because there are still plenty on the garland, but I didn’t expect so many of them to fall off. I could glue them back on if I wanted to, but I'm not going to worry about it.
Step 2: Cover all the twist ties with floral tape
My twist ties were black so already kind of blended in, but I went ahead and wrapped all of them in green floral tape. Because my garland is not very full it didn’t cover the frame as well as you can see. If you have a full garland you might be able to skip this step. Also, if your garland is full or you like it exactly the way it is then you’re pretty much done and can hang the wreath up! Pretty easy!
Step 3: Fill in with extra eucalyptus stems until desired fullness
My garland didn’t have the fullness that I wanted, and you could still see much of the wire frame so I started clipping stems of the faux eucalyptus bundles off so I could individually attach them to the wreath where needed. You can use more twist ties or just the floral tape, which is what I did.
Step 4: Fluff or shape the branches
Faux garlands usually have wires within the stems and out of the box they are not the most attractive. So I just bent and shaped the stems to achieve a look I liked. I was going for stems that were more tamed and shaped with the wreath rather than a wilder look with stems splayed out in all directions. This is personal preference. In some cases, I used floral tape to tie down some of the stems.
Step 5: Hang wreath, step back and enjoy!
Once you’re done shaping the wreath you can hang it up. There are various ways you can hang it. You can either hang it from the wire frame or add ribbon to it. My garland had a rope weaved into it which had a loop at the end, so I could hang it from that or you could add rope to yours.
Time for project: 1-1.5 hours
If you have a garland that is the way you like it then it will probably take you under an hour. But if you need to fill it in as I did or add things to it then it might take a bit longer.
Cost of Materials: ~$50
I already had the twist ties and wire cutters.
Hope you found this an easy way to make a simple, pretty wreath to dress up your home! For more simple greenery holiday decorating ideas visit this post.
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Happy Decorating!
Rosanna
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