Fall-Inspired Garlands Made from Natural or Upcycled Materials

The coming of fall signals many things: spiced lattes, autumn leaves, pumpkin carving, and getting your craft on by decorating your porch and home for the season.

Using predominantly natural or recycled materials is a fun way to spruce the place up. It keeps things cheap, cheerful, and practically waste-free. At the end of the season, you can either recycle or even compost your out-of-date ornament.

If you are fortunate enough to live near a wooded space, foraging for decorative items such as fall-colored leaves, acorns, and pinecones adds an extra adventure to the project. However, craft stores and online suppliers can keep you well-stocked in autumn-inspired accouterments.

Check out these fun DIY garlands to adorn your fall-themed porch, mantle, or staircase.

Scrap Fabric Garland

Source: Kimberley Hind/YouTube

If you are into fabric work, the chances are that you have a whole pile of scrap pieces waiting for the perfect project. And, here it is—an autumn scrap fabric garland. Root out all the pieces that are autumnal in color- browns, beiges, dark greens, reds, yellows, and oranges. Patterned material is just fine as it will add texture and interest.

Cut the fabric into strips about 2 inches wide and 24 inches long. The number you cut will depend on how long you want your garland to be. Next, take a piece of natural twine as long as you want the garland to be. Leave a few inches on either end for fastening.

Now, fold one strip in half and place it underneath the twine so that there is a loop at the top edge. Then, thread the tail end of the fabric through the loop and pull so that it becomes fastened to the twine. Repeat this until you have the desired length of garland.

Rainbow Corn Garland

Source: COLORED PENCIL magazine/Flickr

The winter holidays bring popcorn garlands, and now fall can bring rainbow corn garlands. This project involves a power tool, so caution is required. You will need a drill with a very small it—about 1/8 inch, needle-nosed pliers, a sewing needle, and strong thread.

Holding each kernel of colorful dried corn with the pliers, carefully drill a hole through each one. Next, tie a good knot in one end of the thread, and using a needle, start to thread the now ‘kernel beads’ onto it. Keep going this way until your garland is as long as you want it.

Leaf Garland From Old Books

Source: Mid Modern Mama | Angela K. Nickerson/YouTube

Use the pages from old books to create a garland of leaves. Remove the pages from the old book. Use either free-hand or a template to draw out leaf shapes. Next, cut them out. The number of leaves you cut out will depend on how long you want your garland to be. You can use pastels or old teabags to ‘age’ the paper leaves if you want a more vintage look.

Next, you can start to thread leaves together or glue them into bunches before tying them to a piece of natural twine.

Pinecone and Acron Garland

Source: The Rustic Hen/YouTube

This garland requires that you get out into the forest and rummage up some pinecones and acorns. There is no strict way of attaching these to the twine. Anyway, you can get them to stay put is fine. You could try tying small pieces of string to each cone and acorn, almost like a tree decoration, before threading them onto the main length of twine.

You could also use hot glue, as shown in the video above, but this would make it not compostable. Otherwise, you could carefully drill small holes into the stems of each item and thread them onto the twine. Think about adding autumnal-colored ribbons and wooden beads for extra frills and festivity!

Dried Orange Slice Garland

Source: Jan Howell/YouTube

First of all, you are going to need a bunch of dried orange slices. These can be bought at a craft shop or easily made following the tutorial in the video above.

Once you have your dried orange slices, the possibilities are many. As in the above example, you can string your orange slices together so that you can see the whole orange slices side by side. Alternatively, you can thread the orange slices through the center so that the orange slices make a long cylindrical garland. The garland can be broken up by alternating between an orange slice then a bunch of colorful autumn leaves. You can tie the ends off using a couple of cinnamon sticks.

Related Content:

• 5 DIY Ways to Make Your Home Smell Like Autumn
• How to Decorate for Fall Without Wasting Pumpkins
• Holiday Decorations You Can Make from Natural Materials
• DIY Decorations for Thanksgiving Dinner
• Halloween Done Sustainably: How to Cut Down on Packaging, Waste, and Woe
• 7 DIY Spooky Halloween Decorations Made From Recycled Trash and Old Items!

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