Garland Making 101

06 Dec 2008 26 Comments

by Tater Mama in Holidays Tags: How to make magnolia garland

Tater Daddy gave his magnolia garland tutorial yesterday afternoon, and you know what?  Once you get the first couple of pieces latched together, it’s not as difficult as you might think.  

For several years before Tater Tot came along I bought pine garland at one of the nurseries in town and draped the doorway with it.  Little did I know, my husband took it apart one year to see how it had been made.  Either he had this magnolia thing in the back of his mind, or he was horrified at how much I was spending on something he was pretty sure he could figure out how to make.  Perhaps it was a combination of both.  At any rate, that’s the man I’m married to.  He’ll figure out how to do something and then give it a try.  It usually turns out pretty well.

I did the best I could with the pictures and all.  Tater Tot was with us, and our hostess has a cat, Simba.  Tater Tot has never been around a cat, so this was a big day.  They loved each other.  Until our little man tried to love Simba way too much, and then the cat disappeared.  You KNOW I’m going to post those pictures.  I can’t help myself, and I’ll get those out of the way.

 

Okay, so here we go.  To make the garland, you need magnolia, florist wire, and a good pair of clippers.

Clip the magnolia off the branches, leaving enough stem for wiring.

Then you start latching the pieces together.  You’ll need to wire the pieces together at the top and bottom of every new piece and probably several places in-between.  Otherwise, it’s going to flop all over the place!

You also need to keep the leaves going in the same direction.  It’s easy to get them all switched around, and then you’ve got a great big mess.  One thing that helps is to stretch it out on the ground and work that way.

If the garland looks a little bare in one spot, just wire in a piece until it looks like you want it to.

When you’re finished, you’ll have a beautiful magnolia garland that will definitely be different from any other house in the neighborhood.  And it will last several weeks, too.

Here’s what ours looked like a couple of years ago.

We may get really crazy this year and add some little white lights.

If you decide to try it, I hope these tips help.  If you have questions, feel free to leave me a comment and ask!  And let me know if you make one. I’d love to see pictures.

Merry Christmas!