How to Make an Autumn Door Swag

This autumn door swag is the perfect way to decorate for fall when you have a front door with an oval glass center. A wreath just won’t do on a door like this!

I just love decorating this time of the year.  But much of what is out there is very holiday-centric.

I like something that goes over both Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I decided to do a decorative door swag that would work for both holidays.

We redid the entry of our house this summer and changed from a plain white panel door to one that had an oval glass panel on it.

I’ve always used round wreaths on my front door but since the makeover, that just doesn’t look right. But a swag is long and narrow and fits into the glass panel perfectly and really adds to the look of my front door.

If you read my blog, you will know that I don’t like to spend money on decorations.  I change them out like I do my underwear, so spending a lot on one project just won’t cut it with me.

So my first step in doing a project is to see what I have on hand for supplies AND what is out in my yard that I can use too. 

Luck was with me.  I didn’t have to purchase anything new for this project.

Well…I must tell a bit of the truth.  I went to the Dollar store about a month ago and picked up some autumn floral stems, so I guess you will have to count those!

Decorate your entry with a festive autumn door swag

If you are not as lucky to have all everything you need on hand, you’ll need the following supplies.

• Five stems from a large fern that I have growing outside. (3 large, 2 small) It will change color as the swag ages, but that will add to the look of it.
• 2 stems from my pine tree.  (one large, one small)
• Sunflower floral stems
• Green pipe cleaners – to tie the branches together
• 2 1/2″ wide autumn edged wrapped ribbon
• fall floral pics with pussy willows
• 1 glass wreath hanger (If you have a glass panel on your door as I do. Otherwise a normal wreath holder works fine.)

To start the swag, you need to keep in mind that it needs to be balanced top and bottom and also needs to be balanced side to side. I did this by making the bottom section of the base first.

I used three fern leaves and topped it with a large pine tree stem with two branches. Next, I added the sunflowers. I layered them with the large one at the top and the others below it and then added my pussy willow stems.

My lighter-colored sunflowers had burlap petals on them and worked really well for the rustic look of the base of the swag.

Now it was time to balance out the top of the swag. I basically repeated what I had on the bottom but made it smaller in size so the swag would drape well and be balanced from top to bottom with my door panel.

Crafting Tip: When you join them with the pipe cleaners, leave enough room for the bow to sit in the middle. I had to take mine apart when I first made the swag since the top and bottom were too close together. The next step is to make a floral bow from your wire-edged ribbon. I make these all the time (even to decorate my Christmas presents!) and they are very easy to make. See my tutorial here.

Attach the floral bow to the middle area and poof it out.

All that is left to do now is attach your glass door wreath hanger to the glass panel of your door and add some wire to the back of the swag so that it hangs well.

The glass door wreath holder that I use is one that will hold 15 pounds, but this swag was light, so the door hanger had muscle to spare. I love the way the glass panel on my door is balanced. The size and shape of the swag match the shape of my panel and the color of the door is a great background for my pops of color from the sunflowers on my door swag.

To show how well the project worked, my husband, who is anything BUT holiday walked into the house and said “I love the way that looks on the front door.”

That is high praise coming from someone who doesn’t notice stuff like this!

See how I changed the look of my front door and used the same sunflowers for my St. Patrick’s Day door swag. And see the pastel-colored Easter Door swag here.

How do you decorate the front of your door if you have a glass panel?  Tell me your ideas in the comments below!

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