This pine cone garland is very easy to make and has the added advantage that it is made from natural materials, as well as looking and smelling beautiful!

Pine cones are usually easy to find as long as there are the right kind of trees near where you live!

Dried fruit can often be bought at craft fairs, but it is easy to make your own. Instructions for how to do this are here.

You Will Need: 180 cm cord, raffia or twine, pine cones, dried fruit slices, dried whole clementines, tape, 50 cm ribbon, a darning needle or a small piece of wire.

I used 7 pine cones, 4 dried clementines and 20 dried fruit slices.

My finished garland was 80 cm long including loops for hanging.

How to Make a Pine Cone Garland

1. If you are using cord, wrap some sellotape around the last 2 cm at either end. This will stop it from fraying and also make it easier for threading on the dried fruit.

2. Fold the cord in half to find the middle. Tie the cord around a pine cone so that the pine cone is in the middle of the cord.

3. Onto the cord thread 5 dried fruit slices. Arranging the fruit slices so that the larger slices are in the middle and the smaller ones are at either end will give a better shape.

4. Tie another pine cone onto the cord. It is easiest to tie the cord into a loop, slip the pine cone into the loop and then pull it tight.

5. Next, thread a dried clementine onto the cord. This can be a bit tricky. Either using a darning needle or a piece of wire to thread the cord through will help.

6. Tie another pine cone onto the cord.

This is the pattern now: pine cone, slices, pine cone, clementine, pine cone, back to slices again.

7. Keep going until you run out of cord/ fruit and pine cones/ get bored.

8. Repeat for the other half.

9. Fold one end of the cord over to make a loop. Use a piece of tape to hold it in place.Cut the ribbon in half so that you have 2 pieces measuring 25 cm. Tie one piece in a bow round the cord to hide the tape. Repeat for the other side.

10. Find somewhere to hang your pretty garland!

Tips

If the holes in the dried fruit are not big enough, enlarge them using a knitting needle or a small screwdriver.

Make the holes through the centre of the clementines before threading.

If the cord you are using is to thick for a darning needle, wrap a piece of wire around the end of the cord and use that to thread it through.

Attaching the pine cones is easier if the loops are tied first, then the pine cone slipped inside the loop and the cord pulled tight.

Instructions for making a garland just from dried fruit and without pine cones can be found here.

You might also like to make some decorations using dried fruit. The instructions for these are here.