How to Make Dried Flower Swags

Flower swags are very easy to make and do not take much time either. You do not have to use exotic flowers and spend a lot on expensive, commercially sold wreaths, and swags. If you have a garden, you can use the flowers from your own backyard in order to make a flower swag.

However if you do not have the right type of flowers, you can always walk up to the nearest flower store and buy a bunch of sturdy and long-lasting flowers. Swags are age-old and unique way of making flower arrangements.

The first rule while making a floral swag is that you need to be very careful about the flowers you choose. These flowers must be able to retain their color even after they have dried up. Before you learn to make dried flower swags, it's even more important to learn about, the various flowers which are suitable for drying.

The flowers mentioned here look spectacular when dried, and can be easily dried if you have a nice drying rack at home.

• Broom Bloom
• Achillea or Anthemis (Both are bright Yellow)
• Ageratum
• Ammobium
• Blue Salvia
• Canary Grass
• Caspia
• Cat Tails
• Cockscomb
• Eucalyptus

• Everlasting
• Globe-Amaranth
• Larkspur
• Lavender
• Misty
• Oregano
• Roses
• Safflower
• Silver King
• Star Flower
• Sunflower

Here, we will explain how to make four different types of dried floral swags. In order to make a long-lasting swag, it is best to use dried leaf branches. You can dry these using drying racks.

The reason being that fresh leaves tend to rot after a few days, and the entire swag needs to be discarded. Which doesn't really make sense, considering all the time and efforts put into drying the flowers, or the money spent buying them. Look for attractive dried leaves such as palm or quake grass, which can be used as the base for your floral swag.

• All you need to do is collect some dried palm leaves or fall leaves, eucalyptus leaves or lemon leaves. You can even use wheat or oat leaves as these look very attractive and delicate.
• Cut the stems off from any one of the selected leafy plants, in such a way that there is a decent grip created.

• Take a normal cloth hanger and stretch it so as to make it look, diamond-shaped.
• Now you will need to fix some fish-wire onto the hanger. This wire will help hold the flowers and branches together.
• Once the fishnet wire has been firmly fixed, you will need to fix the leaf branches.

• Take 6-7 branches and ensure that all the longer branches make the base of the swag.
• Add the smaller branches on top of the longer ones. Now, tie the branches together onto the fishnet using flexible plastic coated wires.
• The next step involves using the dried flowers, which you can place along with the branches. Try and color co-ordinate the flowers.

• If suppose, you wish to use big as well as smaller flowers, try to place bigger flowers at the base. Which means that, on the swag, the smaller flowers will be placed on the stems of the bigger flowers. It basically means that you must create a vertical 'Z'.

• Trim the uneven edges using a scissor and tie the base of the swag with a ribbon or golden threads.
• Use the hook of the hanger to hang the dried flower swag. Remember to cover the hook winding using a ribbon or colored wire.

You can make a bow-shaped floral swag by using two cloth hangers. These will make big swags and can be used on walls. However if you wish to make a rather small and delicate swag, you can simply collect a few dried branches of the type mentioned earlier. Collect these branches to make a small bundle, which tapers out from the stems.

Now tie the naked stems using a rubber band. Now decorate the branches with dried flowers and color coordinate them. Now, fix the flowers to the stems using more rubber bands. You will basically need to make two separate flower swags in order to create the bow-like appearance.

Once, both the swags are complete, you will have to fix the tips of the two swags using a strong flexible wire. If your swags are light, you may not need to use a wire at all. Use a ribbon to tie the two swags together or you could wind the area using bold silver or golden threads.

This one is really easy to make. You can use flexible metal/plastic wire, to start making this flower swag. Bend the material into an arch, after which you can tie the dried flowers over the arch, using a thin wire/thread.

Wind the wire/thread at three basic points, which include both the tips of the arch and the mid-point. You may use golden/silver/bronze strings to wind over the flowers, for added decoration. Make a loop at the center of the arch, so as to hang the swag with ease.

A hanging swag looks like a bouquet, or a simple flower arrangement, made with an assortment of dried flowers. The key is to blend the colorful with the dull flowers and the long-stemmed flowers with shorter ones.

Once you have an esthetically appealing bunch ready at hand, the next step requires that you make a loop for the swag to be hung upside down. You can make a theme based bunch, which includes dried medicinal flowers, or, gourmet flowers.

The mentioned methods will help you get started on making dried flower swags. You can even add herbs and make herbal swags, which can be hung in the kitchen or gifted to friends and family. You can even make swags by placing dried flowers on top of a silk cloth, which you can fit around the hanger or wooden cross-shaped frame.