How to make faux garland look fuller (without buying a new one)

So many garlands look full and lush in the photos, then show up looking like a pipe cleaner! I’ve bought my share of those. The good news is that a “thin” garland is usually just a flat one, and flat is fixable. Today I’m sharing exactly what I do (in the order I do it) so you can make your garland look fuller without buying a new one! Fluff every tip in three directions, layer a second plain garland underneath, tuck in about 20 to 25 stems and picks per 9 feet, and add more lights than it came with. Do all four and that skinny garland will look twice as thick!

What You’ll Need:

1. A plain base garland - I use the 9 ft Winchester Pine

2. 22 Gauge Green Paddle Wire

3. Real-Touch Cedar Stems

4. Eucalyptus Stems

5. Berry and Pinecone Picks

6. Battery Fairy Lights with a 6 Hour Timer

7. Wide wired ribbon (2.5 inches or more) - optional

Step 1. Fluff It in Three Directions

Garland comes out of the box crushed flat. Most people pull the tips out sideways and call it done, but that just makes it wider, not fuller!

Do this before you hang it. Lay it on the floor or a table and work tip by tip:

• Some tips up, toward the ceiling.
• Some tips out, straight toward you.
• Some tips down, toward the floor.

Then bend a few back toward the wire spine. This is the part that hides the wire and fills the see-through center. It’s the same V trick I use when I fluff a fake tree, just on a smaller scale. It takes longer than you think, so put on a Christmas movie!

Step 2. Scrunch It Into Less Space

This is the easiest trick of all, and almost nobody does it. If you have a 9 ft garland on a 6 ft mantel, don’t stretch it all the way out with tiny tails. Push it together on the hooks so the same number of tips fills less length. A 9 ft garland hung across 7 feet looks so much thicker than the same garland stretched to 9.

If you haven’t bought your garland yet, this is a good reason to buy more than you think you need. I shared exactly how much in how much garland do I need.

Step 3. Layer a Second Garland Underneath

This is the one that changed my mantel completely! Put a plain, inexpensive garland down first as a base, then lay your nicer garland on top of it.

• Offset them. Don’t line up the two garlands’ tips. Shift the top one a few inches so its gaps land over the full spots of the base.
• Mix the type of greenery if you can. A spruce base with a fir on top looks more natural than two of the same, because the needle lengths are different.
• Wire them together every 12 to 18 inches with 22 gauge green paddle wire so they move as one piece.

My usual base is the 9 ft Winchester Pine. It’s plain, it’s unlit and it’s one of the cheaper ones, which is exactly what you want for a layer nobody sees.

Some people twist two garlands together into a rope instead. That works too, but it makes them shorter and can look braided up close. I like laying them side by side better.

Step 4. Tuck in Stems, About 2 to 3 per Foot

Picks and stems are what make faux garland look real, because real greenery is never just one kind of green. (I shared a lot more about this in faux garland that doesn’t look faux.) For a 9 ft garland I plan on about 20 to 25 additions:

• Most of them should be greenery. Real-touch cedar stems are my favorite because they’re soft and flat and they drape, which no molded pine tip does. Just know a 12 pack covers about half of one garland!
• A few should be a totally different shape. Eucalyptus stems are round and silvery, which isn’t very Christmas-y at all, and that’s why they work so well. Your eye stops seeing the same pattern over and over.
• 5 to 8 should be accents. Berry and pinecone picks give your eye somewhere to land. Pinecones also add shadow, and shadow is a big part of what makes a garland look full.

To put them in, cut the stems to 8 to 12 inches. Slide each one in at an angle (pointing the same direction the garland’s tips point) and twist the stem’s wire around the garland’s spine. If it still flops, add a twist of floral wire. Bunching two or three stems together before you put them in fills a hole faster than one at a time.

Step 5. Add More Lights Than You Think

Light fills in the dark spots between branches, which makes the whole garland look thicker. A lot of pre-lit 9 ft garlands only come with 50 lights, and I think that looks sparse. I aim for about 150 to 200 lights per 9 ft piece.

Weave the strand deep into the base layer, close to the spine, not on top. You want the glow coming from inside the garland. On a mantel I use battery fairy lights with a 6 hour timer so there’s no cord to hide, and the thin wire disappears completely.

Step 6. Use Ribbon to Add Volume

Ribbon is more than just decoration here. A wide wired ribbon (2.5 inches or more) woven in loose loops along the garland adds bulk and covers any spots where the wire still shows. Pinch it into a loop every 12 to 18 inches, tuck the pinched part down into the garland, and wire it to the spine. Wired ribbon holds the loop shape, so it looks puffy instead of flat.

Step 7. Step Back and Fill the Holes

Once it’s hung, go stand across the room. Up close you see branches, but from 10 feet away you see the holes. Fill those with whatever stems you have left. Turn the lights on before you decide you’re done, because the lights change where the dark spots are.

If you want to go a step further, a few clippings of real greenery tucked in for a week or two make a faux garland smell amazing. I shared how in adding fresh greenery to your decor. And if you’re still hanging your garland, here’s how I hang it on a mantel without nails.

Do you have a skinny garland that needs some help? I hope this gave you some ideas for making it look full and lush! If you try any of these, be sure to post on Instagram and tag me @sugardesignco because I love seeing the beautiful decor y’all create (and I love a good before and after)!

-Ciera

Made something with this? Tag me @sugardesignco — I love seeing them.